Street Traders & Terrracing Traders

Miscellaneous

Details

Ref: Unofficial merchandise, street traders, hawkers, fake goods, cheap Celtic items

Street Traders

Times have changed at Celtic, however one thing that has never changed are the hard-working men and women who stand outside Celtic Park on match days selling unofficial Celtic-related wares to the passing support. The Street Traders work with ‘barras‘ or back-ups filled with goods to sell on, or even just try to sell from the back of a car.

Years back until the mid-1990s, Celtic weren’t very professional or adept when it came to trading merchandise, the club shops being incredibly poorly resourced and given scant priority by the board. This is what gave room for the traders.

The range of wares has increased over the years. At first, it was simply a range of badges, flags, rosettes and scarves. However, with printing and mass production now far faster and cheaper than ever, you get t-shirts, scarves and flags adorned with witticisms reflecting the latest events, as well as crass humour that no official outlet would ever touch.

From the 1980s, with the growth in the fanzine scene at Celtic, the street traders had to stand along with these new traders, and in time they were able to work off of each other. The traders themselves ended up doing a trade in collectables like old issue fanzines, magazines and books, and then later videos and DVDs.

Up until around 1994 when all-seater stadia was enforced, you even had traders hawking around the old standing terraces. They used to walk around with their large boards covered in badges and small trinkets for sale (see below pic), as well as trying to sell sweets. You could hardly miss some of them as they shouted out “Macaroon Bars and Spearmint Chewing Gum“.

We’ve all bought something from these traders, it’s a bit cheaper and easier than having to trudge over to the official shop, and the quality can be quite fair for the price. They’ll always be there despite the club’s efforts to get them shifted, but the more the club try then the more that the street traders will find ways around the rules.

Where there’s a demand there will always be a supply.

(By Burning Pride of the CGS forum)
Below is pictured my great grandfather – John ‘Jonah’ Burns (he is the one selling/pinning on the rosette).

Below that is one of these rosette, which I still have, albeit a tad faded now (it was originally green).

My gran Anne (John’s daughter) and Martha (Johns wife) helped to make the rosettes that John and his brother Alec would then sell at the ground.

John and Alex were amongst the very first programme sellers at Parkhead, they also sold chewing gum and macaroon, back in the day.

Just before he died, I was lucky to sell programmes with my granda in 87/88/89. Our pitch was right in front of the main car park on LR (the Jewish programme memorabilia programme seller, stood right behind us), his (Johns) brother Alex was just right in front of what is now the main entrance. Both have featured a number of times in various Celtic videos, which I have saw but do not have in my possession. They were both very distinctive, old men in the 1980’s, both wore a bunnet. If anyone has any of this footage, I’d dearly like to see it. John is also the guy I have been desperately seeking the pic of in the KDS thread (the Citizen pic, where he is standing, just next to the tunnel as the players come out).

I think it was a cup game and we lost, btw
Street Traders - Pic