A city and a soccer team with similar heritages paid tribute to each other yesterday in the shadow of Philadelphia City Hall.
In front of a crowd of about a hundred of its green-and-white clad fans, Scottish powerhouse club Glasgow Celtic was honored by City Councilman Jack Kelley (D-At Large) with a proclamation.
"We hereby welcome the Celtic Football Club and their supporters to Philadelphia for a friendly match against Manchester United on July 28, 2004," he said.
The two teams faced off against each other last night at Lincoln Financial Field, and a crowd of 55,421 saw Celtic pull off a 2-1 upset.
Kelley finished his speech with a flourish, chanting "Up the Hoops!"- a reference to the team's horizontally-striped shirts.
Celtic players Bobby Petta, Shaun Malloney, and - perhaps most appropriately- John Kennedy represented the team on stage, along with club president Brian Quinn.
"We think it's a unique and marvelous achievement and we're very, very grateful indeed to be here," Quinn said. Drawing a link between
Philadelphia's colonial past and Celtic's 116-year old tradition, he joked that "we're relatively young by Philadelphia standards, but we'll keep on going."
Quinn then presented Kelley with a small glass trophy as a token of his appreciation.
For fans such as yesterday's emcee Ray McKinney, a committee member of the Philadelphia Celtic Supporters Club, Celtic is much more than simply a soccer team.
"This team, this club, embodies the humble origins, struggle, and ultimate success of irish communities and immigrant communities in Scotland, Philadelphia, and all over the world," he said.
"So much of my life, so much of my free time is spent watching this team, so much of my upbringing has been spent worshiping this team and to actually be officially involved with the club is a major honor for me personally."
The global reach of the club and the size of its fanbase were represented by Andrew Fraser, who flew in for last night's game from Glasgow and sported an oversized green plaid hat along with a team jersey.
"It's just a big family, that's what Celtic's all about," he said. "You meet everybody from all over the world- Los Angeles, everywhere in America they all come over, as well abroad, France, Germany."
