Why Celtic Women have won something more important than the SWPL

Visiting your home ground twice in one weekend is a unique and rare experience for any supporter.

This was the case for many Celtic fans during the most recent round of fixtures, given that the men’s team took on St Mirren on Saturday, and then the women's side played Hearts in their final SWPL match of the season at Parkhead a little over 24 hours later.

While the men played out a drab end-of-season 2-2 draw, it was Fran Alonso’s team who secured Champions League football by defeating Hearts.

A record 15,822 supporters made their way to the stadium, hoping to see Celtic win their first-ever SWPL title. The bare minimum required was a win and then hope that the result went their way in the match between Rangers and Glasgow City, which was being held at Ibrox.

READ MORE: The Celtic numbers: How Hoops were held by St Mirren

As events transpired, Celtic went on to comfortably beat Hearts 2-0 thanks to a stunning strike from Caitlin Hayes and a well-placed header from Natasha Flint, enough to grant the team three points for their efforts. However, a late goal from Lauren Davidson was enough to secure the victory and title for Glasgow City.

Walking to the stadium for the match, you could feel the energy and excitement of what was about to take place. It was clear to anyone attending that interest in the women’s game is undoubtedly growing, given the increased support in numbers for the team. There was certainly a buzz about the place, not unlike a men’s matchday, and a hope that the team could finish the job off on their end.

As expected, ‘The Celtic End’ was back following its appearance at the Glasgow City game the week before and they were generating as much noise and atmosphere as you would expect from them. Their constant singing and chanting gave the spectacle more of a big match feel and their efforts must be applauded again.

The whole afternoon was an inspiring spectacle to bear witness to. By scanning the demographic of the crowd on Sunday, you could gauge that there was a mixture of supporters, both young and old, all cheering the team on to victory at Celtic Park.

What was most inspiring as a spectator was the number of young people who were at the game to support the team. Now more than ever before, at matches, there is far more of a mix of fans in terms of gender, and it was uplifting to see so many people out in force to watch the women’s team.

On Sunday, you could barely move a few hundred yards without passing a young girl with a pink headband on, reminiscent of the aforementioned Hayes, who also sports this attire during games.

For young boys supporting Celtic, they will no doubt look up to players in the men’s first team, such as Kyogo Furuhashi or Jota, in terms of adoration, so it is great to see that young women have their heroes to support.

This is not to say that there were not any young men supporting the women’s team at the match. In fact, far from it as you could spot groups of teenagers all sporting Celtic colours heading to the match. In an ever-changing world where it seems that division is rife, this was a great example of solidarity and togetherness from the younger contingent of the Celtic fanbase.

There were also plenty of parents taking their children to the game. For some of those young people, this may have been their first game at Celtic Park, and what better way to experience it than a title decider with everything to play for? It is these moments that they will never forget, and by introducing them to the women’s game, it normalises the idea of having more than one iteration of Celtic to follow.

READ MORE: The importance of Celtic not resting on their laurels

Without sounding cliche, these young people are the next generation of Celtic fans. Their support is vital as they are the future custodians of the club. By lending their backing last weekend, it shows that Celtic is in very good hands when it comes to the future of the football club. Coming out of that game, it would have been extremely difficult not to feel inspired and proud of the players and the supporters, who both contributed to a great day at Celtic Park.

In short, the experience at the Celtic Women’s game was an enlightening one to be a part of. The fans came out in their droves to support the team, and the Celtic team put on a great display as a show of thanks to them. One can only hope that a similar level of backing is with them on Sunday May 28 as they take on Rangers in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

While Celtic didn't lift the SWPL, they won the admiration of the next generation of fans and that is much more important.

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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