August 20 1924
There should be a great crowd and unmeasured enthusiasm at Celtic Park this evening when Belfast Celtic meets Linfield preparatory to the opening of the season on Saturday.
Not since 1920 have the famous colours of the Celtic been seen on the football field, and their appearance this evening will be applauded by all followers of the most popular of winter sports.
It has always been conceded that when the “Blues” and “Stripes” antagonised each other the spectators were treated to a clean, manly exposition of the game, and when these famous rivals come together this evening Belfast will be afforded, as they were in the past, a game of surpassing interest.
The grounds at Donegall Road have undergone a complete “dressing” and were never in better condition. The goalposts have been freshly painted, and, in fact, every detail has been attended to with scrupulous care.
The old team who last did duty for Celtic has gone, and in its place is an entirely new combination.
After withdrawing from football for four years, mainly due to the sectarian violence and disturbances in Belfast from 1920 to 1922, Belfast Celtic returned to the Irish Football League in August 1924. It withdrew permanently in 1949.
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The Mystery Deepens
Why did Sir L Worthington Evans come to occupy the principal guest chamber of Stormont Castle while the fragrance of Mr Stanley Baldwin’s favourite “mixture” still clung to its window-hangings, like “the scent of the roses” to Tom Moore’s broken and shattered vase?
Sir L W Evans was a coalitionist cabinet minister; his name is only remembered in connection with two incidents of his career: he signed the Treaty, and he tried to organise a tremendous newspaper “puff” of himself as a man and a statesman.
His position in British politics is quite inconsequential; but a minnow amongst minnows can attract attention to itself by various devices, and the latest visitor to Stormont has carefully studied the useful art of self-advertisement. Still, like Mr Baldwin, he did not cross the Sea of Moyle on pleasure bent.
