Exclusive – A classic and rare piece of Celtic memorabilia comes to life

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The Celtic Star

·2 Juli 2025

Exclusive – A classic and rare piece of Celtic memorabilia comes to life

A classic and rare piece of Celtic memorabilia comes to life…

Of all the individual items from the collection of memorabilia shared by the great-grandson of former Celtic, Scotland and Ireland trainer Will Quinn recently, there was one which stood alone for me. Something I never thought I would see.

Celtic in the Thirties, Vol 1 & 2 by Matt Corr. Published by Celtic Star Books.

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As part of my research for the two Celtic in the Thirties volumes published late last year, I came across some distinctive headgear worn by the Celtic party for their historic tour of the USA and Canada in the spring of 1931.

Until now, these berets bearing the ‘CFC’ logo have been confined to black-and-white images taken on the ship as it headed across the Atlantic, then worn by Will Quinn as the team lined up for photocalls in the ‘New World.’

The Celtic party captured wearing the distinctive green berets aboard the SS Caledonia on their historic Atlantic crossing in May 1931. The great McGrory is kneeling third from left and Peter Scarff extreme right.

Will Quinn (seated on the right) wearing his beret for Celtic’s first photocall on US soil in May 1931.

Will Quinn (standing extreme left) wearing his beret for Celtic’s opening match of their 1931 tour of the USA & Canada.

Will Quinn (standing extreme left) wearing his beret for Celtic’s opening match of their 1931 tour of the USA & Canada. The match was against an East Pennsylvania XI at Frankford, PA on 23 May 1931. Jimmy McGrory played that afternoon but is not in the photo, perhaps doing other media duties at the time?

So imagine my surprise when I am confronted with one of these berets in remarkably good condition, considering it will now be over 90 years old. It’s an incredible piece of Celtic history and I believe may be the only one of its kind still in existence. Of course, I’d love to hear of any others and will be more than happy to be proved wrong, as these are pretty special.

So here is Will Quinn’s CFC beret from the tour of 1931 to enjoy in all of its glory.

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With grateful thanks to Steven Quinn for sharing his incredible collection.

Hail, Hail!

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on X/Twitter @Boola_vogue

Here are larger versions of Will Quinn’s CFC beret from the tour of 1931 to enjoy in all of its glory.

Will Quinn’s CFC beret from the tour of 1931 to enjoy in all of its glory. Photo Matt Corr

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Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books.