Say It Loud And Say It Proud

THE Proud Huddle Celtic Supporters’ Club has been up and running now since January 2018, and having seen the team secure the Double and Treble Treble, they, like the rest of the support, are hoping to emulate that success this time around, with the prospect of a ninth league title in a row an enticing one.

The CSC was formed by six individuals who hadn’t known each other prior to getting together at a meeting to discuss a variety of football issues.

The six – Chloe Divers, Iain Sharkey, Pauline Kelly, Lindsay Hamilton, Robert Cairney and Soraya Din – have two things in common. They are all Celtic supporters and they are all LGBT.

Their decision to form the Proud Huddle CSC – Celtic’s first LGBT supporters’ club – was motivated by a desire to develop friendships and to create a safe space to watch the Hoops.

Celtic’s 2-1 win at Firhill on January 23, 2018, courtesy of goals from Scott Sinclair and Leigh Griffiths, remains a significant one, as it was the first time the Proud Huddle CSC got together to cheer on the team. That was in the Admiral Bar in Glasgow’s city centre, and that remains their meeting place whenever Celtic are playing away from home. One of the founding members, Lindsay Hamilton, takes up the story.

“There’s an organisation called Leap Sports Scotland who got in touch to ask if we would be interested in sitting down and having a chat about support in football, about Celtic and any issues we had encountered,” the 24-year-old explained. “We were complete strangers but we were all Celtic supporters, and that was what connected us, along with the fact we are all LGBT.