A Thousand Individual Tales Of Triumph And Tragedy, And Of Lights That Never Go Out.
Aside from the stories already recounted, there are hundreds – literally – that each could justify their own section of this article, and as such I’m loathe to group them together because of how major they are and how they resonate through our support.
Stories like that of Martin “Kano” Kane, whose personal tragedy inspired the CQN site to phenomenal feats of fund-raising and generosity, and which enabled his family to virtually rebuild their home and their lives around his care.
Martin, who was a prominent CQN contributor, fell ill with what was later diagnosed as Devic’s Syndrome, a neurological condition, in 2008.
Overnight, it left him almost completely paralysed.
His family was devastated, and would have struggled to cope in the aftermath without the support of what started out as a small number of amazing people, but grew to encompass the Celtic Family as a whole.
They raised enough that Martin was able to go home, once his house had been made accessible and special equipment installed for him.
When he passed away in January of last year, those who knew him mourned his passing privately and the Celtic support celebrated his life publicly, with a minute’s applause at the home game against Motherwell.
Yet Martin left behind more than just a name on a blog and the warm memories of those who had known him.
He left behind a magnificent legacy, the Kano Foundation, which his friends and supporters had founded in his name, and which, by that Wednesday evening, had already helped over 3000 children to enjoy free days out at Celtic Park.
In addition, their work has branched out into other areas, and has helped many, many more.
Then there’s Oscar Knox, whose all-too-short life was such an inspiration to every single one of us.
His incredibly sad story, about how he was diagnosed with Jacobsen’s Disease (affected less than 1 in every 100,000 children) and then neuroblastoma (also affected less than 1 in every 100,000 children – Oscar was the only child in the world affected by both), was also an incredibly uplifting one.
His struggle, fought with a cheeky smile and a spring in his step which few of us would have been able to find, touched our hearts and even lifted them.
People today still share their memories of Oscar.
The picture of him on the pitch at Celtic Park, hugging Hoopy the Hound, still makes a lump in your throat and brings a tear to your eye.
Oscar was one of those special people who made the world a better place simply by being here; his spirit touched all of us, and lit a light in our hearts that never goes out.
Everyone in the Celtic Family feels the same way, and over the course of his illnesses that Family rallied round him and his and made his last days better.
He was our ambassador, and our standard in the title winning year of 2013-14, and his death touches all of us even today.
So too does the spirit and enthusiasm of another one of our ambassadors, the Celtic superfan Jay Beatty, who’s family’s most devout wish was that could live his life without being subjected to unkind treatment because he was born with Down Syndrome.
The Celtic Family made sure of that, and a lot more, making him an instant hero from the moment Georgios Samaras plucked him from the crowd to celebrate Celtic’s title win in 2014.
Now Jay is one of the most recognisable faces amongst our support.
He has a huge following on social media, and his fame throughout Scotland and beyond is such that when Hamilton invited him to take a penalty at half-time in the match against Celtic last year that the strike won the SPL Goal of the Month competition after an overwhelming “write in” from fans and a whopping 97% of the vote.
A similar story is that of the world famous Thai Tims, who’s phenomenal videos are a huge hit with Celtic fans across the globe.
There’s is a story of triumph, tinged with tragedy, which resonates far beyond Celtic Park and which continues to inspire us today.
Their adoption of Celtic came about because of one of their teachers, but their impact was felt beyond the club itself.
Nevertheless, it’s the Celtic Family that’s most widely embraced them, and how could it not?
Their classroom is a shrine to our club, and their songs about its players are always joyous and often times hilariously witty.
The kids themselves have enjoyed memorable visits to Scotland, paid for partly by the club and partly by the fans.
They even got a song into the charts!
But it’s impossible to tell their story without telling that of Reamonn Gormley.
Reamonn spent time in Thailand, with those wonderful kids as a volunteer for The Good Child Foundation.
His year there was of tremendous help to those children, who loved him dearly, and a source of great pride to those who knew him.
He was a true ambassador for this Family, spending his gap year in such a way.
On 1 February 2011, his life was horribly cut short when he and a friend were attacked as they were coming back from a pub where they’d watched Celtic play Aberdeen. His death was shocking to the whole of Scotland.
In the end it galvanised the Celtic Family to one of its greatest, and most lasting, achievements; a memorial hall, in the Thailand school where he had taught.
The fans had set a fund-raising target of £1967. (The significance of the number will definitely not be lost on anyone.)
Such was the reaction of our fans that they exceeded it … by a staggering 1674%.
The total sum raised was £32,936.03.
Paul Lennon, of the Good Child Foundation charity, said, when the Hall was built, “I once talked with Reamonn about the construction of such a building for the charity, and it fills me with sadness when I think of that day. It’s a hall built from tragic circumstances, but will bring enjoyment and be a place of learning to many children for years to come. We believe that Reamonn’s spirit is here with us.”
It remains so.
Like Oscar and Martin Kane, his is a light than never goes out, for the way it touched so many others and who’s legacy continues to build better lives even today.
These are the stories of a mere handful of causes for which Celtic fans can be justifiably proud.
I could have featured many, many, many more.
