CELTIC opted for a minute's applause yesterday to mark Remembrance Day amid fears that a more traditional silence would have been disrupted by the home fans.
The club, which was hosting Motherwell in the Scottish Premier League, was facing the prospect of protest boos from a tiny minority of supporters.
Most fans, however, joined in the applause for the men and women who have lost their lives serving t
heir country.
The protest was sparked when the Scottish Premier League asked clubs to incorporate a poppy into their strips yesterday, to mark Remembrance Day.
A section of Celtic supporters had planned to walk out 10 minutes into the game to show their anger at the symbol, which they see as supporting British imperialism.
Fans had been leafleted before the game by an organisation called Cairde Na hEireann – a Scottish-based organisation close to Irish republicans – which urged fans to congregate beside the statue of the club's founder Brother Walfrid, which stands outside the main door. Only a few hundred fans did so.
Some veterans, however, had warned that they felt the applause was disrespectful and that they would rather supporters observed a minute's silence.
Major Ronnie Proctor, curator of the Black Watch Museum in Perth, said: "The minute's silence is a tradition in this country and people are expected to respect the silence. I'd like it to continue. I think the majority of people will respect it.
"I've been to Rangers, Celtic, Dundee and Dundee United games and the silence has been respected."
Clubs now routinely encourage applause rather than silence to remember the dead. Celtic fans have warmly applauded the late Jock Stein, their former manager.
Dundee United chairman Eddie Thompson, who died last month, was remembered with enthusiastic clapping by his club's fans, and his many admirers.
Celtic Football Club has distanced itself from any suggestion that the poppy campaign is political or from protesting supporters.
A spokesman for the club said: "These groups do not represent Celtic's support.
"The club, including playing staff, is pleased to play its part in supporting the Poppy Appeal.
"The vast majority of fans share our view."
Celtic is believed to have lost several thousand fans in wars over the last century. Games are regularly watched on TV by troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The full article contains 392 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
