Celtic In Oz (warning for girls and Mince - football related thread)

[Malc]

The Celts are touring down under at the moment. Last night they played against our A League team Queensland Roar (the nearest we have to a Premier League side), and beat them 3-0 in a well contested game.
Tonight I was invited to partake in a Celtic coaching seminar during which Greig Robertson, Celtic's head of Youth Development, held a couple of sessions and a promotional talk afterwards. As a Celtic fan I was very happy to be asked (one coach per club was the limit) and I got to talk to the two main coaching development guys afterwards.

I thought of Roger when one guy at the back piped up at question time with "do you think Dundee United will ever win the Premiership?".

He was asked to leave. They were apparently only answering serious questions.

[Roger Kettle]

I read a couple of reports about that match, Malc, and it seems to have been a lot tighter than the scoreline suggests. Apparently, the fat Polish madman in the Celtic goal played rather well.
As for United, well, I am quietly confident about the coming season. A titanic struggle will see us clinch sixth place in the league and we will reach the second round of the cup by beating Forres Mechanics on penalties.
I enjoyed the first Ashes Test, Malc---the highlight being the Aussies complaining about gamesmanship by the English!

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Forget Celtic and Rangers - it'll be the same old same old. For me, the real titanic tussle will be to see who comes out tops between St Johnstone and Dundee United. Bring it on!

[The Peepmaster]

Wolves are playing in Oz at the moment too!

[Malc]

So they are! Blimey, this is such a wide brown land we on the Pacific coast don't pay attention to what's happening on the West coast (it's a six hour flight, for goodness sake).

[robbie62]

celtic, rangers, dundee, st johnstone ! these words seem familiar but i don't know what they mean? 

[Vulture]

celtic, rangers, dundee, st johnstone ! these words seem familiar but i don't know what they mean? 

Well, Dundee's a cake - is that any help?

[Joan]

I enjoyed the first Ashes Test, Malc---the highlight being the Aussies complaining about gamesmanship by the English!

I was in New Zealand when the underarm incident took place. Luckily, I was actually on my way to Australia for the first time, so was still considered purely Scottish and untainted.

Much prefer football to cricket anyway. I even used to play football with the boys next door. I remember I had a Celtic shirt at one point - probably the only one I could get, as I would have thought I would have been more likely to be a Rangers supporter, if anything. Queen of the South would have been the ones, but I think they were in the 2nd Division in those days.  The local team was Threave Rovers, but I don't think they were in any division at all. 

[Malc]

Not to bring a note of sectarianism onto this but being one of seven kids, and a Celtic supporter with a name like McGookin, people just assumed I was Catholic, but my family are ostensibly Proddies, not that we were brought up with any religious orientation at all.

[Joan]

My sister and I were talking the other day about the fact that half the west coast of Scotland have Irish roots.  I had only just discovered that our maiden name (Welsh, as in the surname, W-e-l-s-h) is Irish in origin.  Always thought it was Scottish.  We also have Kennedy on Dad's side and no doubt a few other Irish influences.  Not surprising really.  Also read somewhere on the internet that the language originally spoken in the south-west of Scotland and north-west England was closer to the Welsh language than to the gaelic spoken in the north.

[Malc]

I think that's true, Joan.
What I remember of my Scottish history includes that the West of Scotland and Northern Ireland were one kingdom, named Dalriada, with the same Gaelic language.

I don't think that Welsh these days is easily understood by Scots or Irish Gaelic speakers, but I remember hearing that it's closer to Manx, Cornish and Breton.

My in-laws are Irish Gaelic speakers but they're from Mayo in the West, and they reckon their Gaelic is distinct from even northern Irish Gaelic such as that spoken in Donegal or British Ulster. This strengthens the case for the Northern Irish and Western Scots Gaelic being similar, and distinct from the rest of Ireland.