(Failing) Adolescence, Ordo Amoris, Celtic Football Club & Goodbye to Scotland

How a visit to Celtic Football Club reminded me what Glasgow is capable of and how much we have lost.

It’s been Easter break in Glasgow with my 12 year old. (hence the delay in posting). So much has happened in the past two weeks (!!!). Not least the Supreme Court judgement in the For Women Scotland vs Scottish Government case wherein ‘woman’ was legally reiterated to be ‘adult human female’. (What a world). I have much to say on that (not least the predictable response from the Scottish Arts scene, hence my unemployment) which I will post on later in the week.

In the meantime my big news is my departure. In July my son and I will return to the United States to live with my family. It’s been a long haul (nearly 26 years). But I don’t think Glasgow, or indeed Scotland is good for me, or more importantly my son. And no where is it more evident than in the machine of Scottish football.

You can also make a one off tip/contribution via BuyMeACoffee

Celtic Football Club: Poverty to Triumph

Last week I took my son and his pal to the Celtic Football Club (soccer to the Americans) for their stadium tour.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” used to mean something deeper and more profound for the Celtic Club. Now as you survey the lack of opportunities for children *even to play football* it seems an empty slogan for the beautiful game.

Disclaimer: I’ve never been any good or liked sport (probably being hit too enthusiastically by dodge balls in PE didn’t help). God decided to gift me with a football mad son which has fast proven an inoculation against my discomfort. So now I watch games, I ferry my child to football camps, and we visit football stadiums. And I have gained a much finer appreciation for the sport and the history.

The origin story of Celtic is rooted in the history of the Irish in Scotland. Rafts of poor Irish immigrants flooded into the city of Glasgow at the height of the potato famine in the 19th century seeking better lives for themselves and their families. Between 1846-1851 over 80,000 Irish settled in Scotland, most in Glasgow. In 1850 the population of Glasgow was only 200,000 residents, so you can imagine it was a remarkable shift.

The East End of Glasgow fast became a ghetto, full of starving Irish immigrants, packed into cramped conditions with little means to support themselves. Out of the hellscape however, in 1887, came hope and change: Celtic Football Club. Brother Walfrid, a Marist Brother, founded the club with the aim to raise funds for food and foster social integration amongst the Irish and Scottish communities. The name ‘Celtic’ reflects the dual heritage, the bridge between the Irish and Scottish cultures.

Much of that history has been lost unfortunately within wider circles as many focus (understandably) on ‘the Troubles’": the sectarian rift that developed between the Catholic and Protestant communities with cries of ‘Papes’ or ‘Proddys’ shouted in equal measure and with an equal amount of violence at ‘The Old Firm’ matches. But let’s put that to the side for the moment and focus on the remarkable.

There may just be a lesson in here for us to return to….

When Brother Walfrid founded the club he was not a distant owner, or ‘change agent’ but a member of the community he worked. The suffering and the challenges he was addressing were *his* suffering and challenges to meet and manage. Funds made by the club were channeled right back into the East End of Glasgow to feed and clothe the poor. At the same token local men and boys had the opportunity to get involved and to develop talents. Listening to our tour guide it was evident to me that the East End of Glasgow felt a sense of ownership and responsibility to the club - and the club to the community it was based in. One might even suggest it was rooted in the concept of sustainability.

Local people activated for local people to create something to be proud of not just for then, but for future generations. Metaphorically they created foundations in place. As an example, when the original Celtic sports field owner raised the rent 9x the original rate, the club upsticked and moved to the adjoining field which was - at the time - totally unplayable. Littered with rocks and industrial detritus the community was undeterred and showed up en masse with shovels and hands to clear the space, so that it could be used by the players. Service was built into the matches, pennies would be collected so that local families could be fed.

There was a recognition of the responsibility to lift people locally from poverty into non-poverty. Nowadays we (like harm deduction measures) do not want to ‘stigmatise’ poverty but there is little route out. People are kept in a perpetual state of dependence. Economic plans seem to be 1. tax the already earning to fund handouts - 2. Give handouts to keep the non-working in poverty ad infinitum. Not for people to sustain themselves.

Whatsmore through the grassroots support and involvement and nurturement of local members Celtic cultivated world renowned players from humble beginnings. It is a history to be proud of. A history rooted in place.

One of the most remarkable testaments to this investment was in the manager Jock Stein who led the team to victory at the European Cup in 1967. Celtic were the first British club to win the European Cup. The players, save one, were all from Glasgow. Raised by the city they were born in, from humble beginnings (Jock Stein the manager of the club at the time had been a coal miner) to become champions.

It doesn’t half strike me looking at the team today how little it reflects Scotland. This is not a slight against the international talent but more a visible reflection of the lack of opportunities for Scottish children to bring themselves up into something remarkable. What this says to me is that Scotland is no longer cultivating quality local talent. As a result Scottish players are not competing globally as they once were.

And why? The answer lies actually and metaphorically in this cage.

When we went to the stadium tour my son brought his football with him (as per normal) and kicked it along the pavement as we walked. Next to Celtic Football Stadium is a public park called Cuningar Loop. To be fair it’s a beautiful regeneration project on former industrial land. What it lacks is recreation space for older children. The cage in the image above is the football pitch that was also built as part of the regeneration project. And the only football pitch in the vicinity. Locked up. Used by the adjoining school for PE classes, mostly it sits inaccessible and empty. This is endemic in Glasgow. (I have previously noted our local school has a similar set up with a locked pitch)

There are 190 days of school. Let’s say 5 hours a day are used for PE. (generous, as many times even in school hours these cages are empty). That’s 950 hours a year.

There are 365 days a year. Let’s say 12 hours a day are ‘available’ for play in this space. That’s 4380 hours available for play.

What that means is the pitch is used 22% of its potential time, and locked and empty 78%.

(this is not an exact science but hopefully you can see what I am driving at- the pitch is not used for a good majority of the time despite being a tax payer funded entity)

We live in a high concentration area on the Southside of Glasgow. As I have mentioned several times my son has been on a wait list for a football team for 2 years. Any football opportunities to access one needs a car. That said this Easter break there was only one football club available for one of the weeks (without car). Most activity clubs stop at 12 years old.

I live in a densely populated area with lots of football mad boys with lots of energy.

One parent friend pointed out to me that in her new housing estate they had provided play space for young kids and nothing for older kids. This is a trend I see across the city. Even in the recent redevelopment of the 300 acre Burrell Art collection and associated parkland the equipment in the refurbished play park is hardly appropriate for any child above the age of seven, let alone 12.

What are clubs like Celtic doing? I looked at their website and its charitable arm appears to offer opportunities ‘for the most marginalised and vulnerable youngsters’. Yet when I went looking further all I could see was their Easter club for 6-12 year olds offered at £90 per week. Which (whilst reasonable in terms of camps at £19 per day) is a lot for a low income family. I also shiver at the thought of my son being branded as ‘marginalised’ or ‘vulnerable’. We may be financially poor but I certainly don’t want him to be separated out as such. I don’t think this is good for kids or for the raising of communities. All my son needs is a field to play on. But even that is outwith what he can access.

Yet this is a reflection of the creation of the ‘football industry’ we see mirrored in the arts and education. Where the origin of all of these human relationship building endeavours was ‘in place’ now they are managed for stakeholders…. somewhere else. Looking at the Companies House filing for Celtic with a revenue in the tens of millions (which would be the same for any football club I imagine) and it’s apparent that they are focused on ‘the world out there’.

In the meantime, in the East End of Glasgow, where the club was founded, where the stadium sits, there is no place for teens to just… play football. Instead children are shadowed by an enormous stadium many will have no access to, and a pitch that is locked up 80% of the time. In my last podcast “Feeding Off the Poor"with

Annemarie Ward

she noted the industries that were being manufactured off the back of poverty. The East end of Glasgow is an area rife with problems of unemployment and addiction. One of the most significant investments by Scottish government for the local community in the past year is the ‘safe consumption room’. So what east enders *do* have access to, is a space wherein they can shoot up drugs ‘safely’. (with no route to recovery it must be said).

Ordo Amoris: Common Sense

American Vice President JD Vance courted controversy this winter when he related government policy needing to follow a logical path of directed compassion. This used to be called common sense (common as in what is shared, and sense, as in what is felt between us - that is the space between us to keep us alive and functioning). Of course I would be expected to feed my own child before directing energies to another, let alone one with whom I had no relationship in another country. This is not to say we cannot send aid abroad, I was a Plan UK sponsor for many years. However when the energy outwards exceeds the energy to personal or local connections our foundations become unstable and ultimately our existence put in jeopardy.

In Christian doctrine this is termed ‘Ordo Amoris’ (the order of love) as noted by theologian St. Augustine in his classic work ‘City of God’ and elaborated in ‘On Christian Doctrine’. St. Thomas Aquinas further elucidated on this in his works. Some Christians have taken it upon themselves to counter Vance by raising the idea of the Good Samaritan. James Orr writes in First Things the idea of aid needing to be ‘in place’ first. And it must be noted that the Good Samaritan helped those whom he met in his physical world, not some metaphorical ‘out there’ kingdom or peoples.

The message of the parable . . . is not that a person should help all victims wherever they may be, but that whatever differences may divide us from the suffering, we must care for those who fall within the compass of our practical concern. Suggestively, the Greek word for neighbor in the New Testament is πλησίον (plēsion), which is derived directly from πλησίος (plēsios), meaning “near” or “close by.” It is proximity that makes neighbors our objects of care and attention.

As Dr. Richard Clements elucidates in Word on Fire, loving ‘humanity’ is easy, loving your neighbour, less so. And yet this is the place where we must be to function and thrive.

Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote the following in The Brothers Karamazov:

The more I love humanity in general the less I love man in particular. In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually face crucifixion if it were suddenly necessary. Yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together. I know from experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs me and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he’s too long over his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I hate men individually the more I love humanity.

Getting along with people can be hard. This is why finding a common space - one might discover in the football field or a drama club can be vital sources of human advancement. We can see how the ‘in place’ approach of early Celtic Football club allowed the team to thrive whilst nurturing the local community, it was a relationship rooted in place based on real time exchange - with all the associated challenges.

(Failing) Adolescence: Not Giving Boys what they need

And yet where is our focus for kids these days? And boys in particular?

The message: boys are not to be trusted.

Whilst I think this fictional piece of drama brought timely issues to the fore (most parents I know are concerned at least on some level about the increasing screen time that has infiltrated youth culture) it’s adoption by the privilege class was predictable. (and like the philosophy of Ordo Amoris, screen culture also separates our children from the world around them drawing attention to a space ‘out there’)

I couldn’t help noting that this program seemed perfectly timed around an increasing ramping up of talk of ‘toxic masculinity’ of boys something I have written about previously. As a solo Mother providing the nutrition my son needs to thrive is becoming more difficult. I spoke to Lottie Moore about her report for the Family Education Trust on the growing trend of ‘Toxic Masculinity Training’ that is being rolled out in schools. I wrote about the tracking of male play patterns being framed as something negative for

Scottish Union for Education

. So a fictionalised story that placed the mythology of ‘toxic masculinity’ in animated form into our imaginations was a powerful psychological validation tool.

To that end, the managerial and legislative class swept in immediately and pledged to put Adolescence in every school. Keir Starmer wrongly called it a ‘documentary’. After the initial flurry, I was glad to see online, as well as in personal circles the needed criticality about initiating such a program. Not least that it would be exposing sensitive content to kids who *may* not have seen or thought of such things before, therefore radicalising a whole new cohort of children. It was also noted that such initiatives were not trialed and therefore impossible to mitigate potential risks. That teachers would be out of their depth not being specialists themselves in male violence et al and be expected to manage the discourse around this seemed particularly egregious. And much more.

But the crucial aspect that was missing from these important critiques by and large was the acknowledgement that the fictionalised manifestation of harm in this program was of our own making - in not caring for children and demonising boys most specifically. As seen by Celtic Football Club with the lack of Scottish players in the team being a reflection of the lack of nurturing of children in place. We see activists parading for children in Palestine, for children in Ukraine and for ‘queer’ children. But not just…. children. And until we acknowledge societally, locally and personally that childhood is worthy of our attention, our celebration and our resources I fear the ‘big issues’ we are dealing with will not go away. Childhood is fleeting. And a good childhood is important for a stable and thriving future. Until then…. there are only cages.

Goodbye Glasgow

I fought for many years to bring good experiences to children. Not least creating work ‘in place’ here in Glasgow. I initiated dozens of programs on my street, in local schools and public spaces. Even as a solo Mother with limited financial resources and time, I made work for others. But now, with a son on the verge of High School I cannot trust that Scotland has the resources he will need to thrive. I needed the community around me to care for him. But it is not so.

So with a big old fat cancellation in tow from the arts sector, and ‘bigot’ branded on my forehead for stating that bodies are good and that we should take people as we see them, not based on an external characteristics, I will return to my birthplace. I came with nothing but two boxes and my dreams. And I leave with many good memories, and a child. It seems I am much the richer for my time despite the challenges or maybe it’s because of them. And perhaps that is is the order of love.

A brief selection of works I made 'in place' these past 20+ years here in Glasgow

Thanks for reading and thanks to current subscribers! All contributions will go towards my moving costs.

1. Subscribing monthly at Substack (or giving a gift subscription!)

2. Making a one-off contribution via BuyMeACoffee

3. Contributing via bank transfer to Tide Bank (Clearbank), account

   Sort Code 04 06 05, Account Number 0000 8583 (account MS KE DEEMING, use your email as a reference if you would like acknowledgement

Your support is what allows me to continue for which I am hugely thankful.