On Wednesday night, there was a section of Celtic Park that was a little quieter than usual. On display was a Scottish Premiership match between St Mirren and their hosts, Celtic, who are among the world’s most successful club teams, having won over 100 trophies and amassed a global fan base.
Normally, the Lisbon Lions Stand, which honours the team’s most famous team, which won the 1967 European Cup in Portugal, would have occupied the space between the North Stand and the Green Brigade. The Green Brigade is a group of supporters that was founded in 2006.
However, the Scottish team declared on Tuesday that the season tickets of the approximately 250 individuals who were part of that group had been suspended indefinitely. The club claimed that this was the result of a “seriously rising escalation in inappropriate behaviours and non-compliance with relevant regulations.”
The match on October 7, which took place at home between Celtic and Kilmarnock just hours after the Hamas attacks in Israel, has received special attention. The Green Brigade carried two enormous banners that said “Free Palestine” and “Victory to the Resistance” during that game.
“Celtic is a football club and not a political organisation,” the club declared in condemnation of this action. Israeli midfielder Nir Bitton, who was a member of the team from 2013 to 2022, called out those supporters, saying they were “brainwashed” and had “zero clue about this conflict and you still act like you know everything.”
