Happy 30th birthday to the Huddle | OneFootball

A piece of Celtic history and tradition is celebrating its 30th anniversary today… because on July 23, 1995 the first ever Celtic Huddle took place.

It was a pre-season friendly against German side, Kickers Emden, though the match took place at VfB Jheringsfehn’s ground because of renovation work at Emden’s stadium.

Celtic lost the game 2-0 although, like the majority of pre-season matches, the result and most memories of it have been lost in the annals of time.

However, the pre-match Huddle which the Celtic players took part in would become a distinctive part of Celtic’s pre-game ritual and an often galvanising sight for supporters to witness before a crucial game.

The 11 men who took part in that first Huddle were: Pat Bonner, Lee Martin, Tosh McKinlay, Malky Mackay, Tony Mowbray, Peter Grant, Brian McLaughlin, Rudi Vata, Pierre Van Hooijdonk, Andy Walker and John Collins.

The idea for the Huddle came from Tony Mowbray, who was captaining the side in the absence of Paul McStay, who thought it would be a great show of togetherness by the players.

And Mowbray, who would later have a brief spell as Celtic manager, was proud of what he started back in 1995.

“Every player likes to leave something that people can remember them by and maybe the Huddle is mine at Celtic,” he said.

“I’m delighted to see it’s still going strong, because it’s a brilliant way of uniting the players and the fans. It’s in the fabric of Celtic now.”