James Traynor pays tribute to the Jungle and the football it used to
enjoy.
LET no-one say ever again that today's game is better than the
football played two and three decades ago. That simply isn't true.
A return to the Jungle at Celtic Park, where passions and adrenalin
course powerfully, might have given this disillusioned soul a more
refreshing slant on the game, but it didn't. The problem was that, even
allowing for the nostalgia which swept over Parkhead on Saturday, the
team were playing their last match of a miserable season and they were
not very good.
In fact, the only time there was genuine excitement was when the
Lisbon Lions emerged from the tunnel during half-time in Celtic's 2-0
win over Dundee and, led by Billy McNeill, just as they had been all
those years ago, they strode straight to the Jungle.
It might have been misty-eyed longing for a return to those better
days of the 60s into the mid-70s but McNeill and his team, Auld,
Johnstone, Murdoch, Simpson, Craig, Lennox et al, looked as though they
appreciated the Jungle inhabitants more than the current group of
players.
Also, after a first half which had been a crushing bore, the Lions
could have sucked in their thickening middles and played out the second
period. They couldn't have been much worse, although goals from Paul
McStay and Frank McAvennie helped to put a better complexion on the
afternoon. The fans left the Jungle for the last time singing, although
the majority remained disappointed that the terracing will be
transformed into an all-seated area.
The feeling and enthusiasm for the team will be diluted if the fans
have to sit, seems to be the argument, but the directors feel they have
no choice but to seat the Jungle, even though the club have been granted
outline planning permission for their new stadium complex in Cambuslang.
If that dream is realised it will be several years down the line and in
the meantime Celtic Park will have to be made safer.
It is impossible to argue against safety but a chapter on the Scottish
game's history closed on Saturday evening when the last fan left that
compact area across from the main stand. When empty and silent, the
Jungle is insignificant, just a few concrete steps, but when more than
8000 people squeeze in, it takes on life. It becomes vibrant, exciting,
and intimidating.
However, the great sadness about this terracing, in front of which
have been played out some of the most memorable European ties, is that,
in recent years, the people who stand there have become more
unwelcoming. While the club will always have Irish connections, some of
the songs, which glorify hatred and sectarianism, leave the more
balanced Celtic supporters disgusted and depressed.
There is a venom now, sometimes also the air is heavy with a
malevolence which was not always there. Unfortunately, religious bigotry
has been, and probably always will be, present during Old Firm matches,
with Rangers' fans just as bad, but there was a time when it was
possible to go to Celtic Park and rejoice in nothing more than good,
often great, football. I know this, because I was there.
I watched, often from the Jungle slopes, McNeill and his side knock
the ball around with swift, confident strokes on their way to numerous
trophies. They were the best, just as Rangers are now.
It may be too difficult for some of the people who go to both these
grounds to comprehend but it is possible to be a supporter of football
rather than any particular club. There are people prepared to travel to
see whichever side are willing to play with more panache and style and
vision than the others. These people are football fans as opposed to
club fans, but the behaviour of those who go to places like Celtic Park
and Ibrox for other reasons makes it increasingly difficult for the
person committed only to the game to show up.
Still, it was necessary to return to the Jungle for the first time in
almost 20 years. Too many good matches, a head full of memories, had to
be relived before the seats are laid down and, the standard of play
apart, it wasn't a bad day out, although the club are due little credit.
Frankly, Celtic's directors have no sense of occasion. The closure of
one of the most famous terracings in football should have been marked by
more than a shambling fancy-dress contest -- which should, incidentally,
have been won by the Jungle parrot, which leapt on to the track as the
judging was taking place.
The Jungle people gave everyone else the bird, demanding the parrot be
taken into consideration, but he was shooed back into the Jungle.
Naturally, he was sick as he climbed on to his terracing perch.
There were a couple of gaudy clowns in the parade and someone wondered
aloud why the directors had been allowed to enter. Another suggested the
entire Celtic team should have won the fancy-dress prize for
masquerading as footballers.
Just for a moment it was like old times when humour reigned in the
Jungle.
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