SENTINELCELTS

Some Celts will have heard of Gabriel Hanot. Some perhaps not. Exactly who is this man, who happened to play a pivotal role, in the greatest day in Celtic’s history? Albeit, indirectly. 

I will address that question shortly. Before that, we must travel to England in the 1950s. English football was in a state of flux in the early-mid 1950s. This was not helped by two significant events, which rocked English football to the core. On the 25th of November 1953, England played the Hungarian national team at Wembley, and were promptly annihilated by a scoreline of 3-6. This was England’s first ever defeat at Wembley, outside of the so-called ‘Home Internationals.’ The return fixture, played in Budapest on the 23rd of May 1954, brought even worse news, for admirers of English football. The result? Hungary 7 England 1. Both of these games were friendlies.

Fans of English football needed something to smile about. Salvation came, in the form of a game played between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Hungarian side Honved, on the 13th of December 1954. Wolves won by a scoreline of 3-2. Sections of the English press went wild about this result, proclaiming the English side:

‘Champions of the World.’

Which brings us back to our old friend, Gabriel Hanot. But first, a few details about the man himself. Gabriel was born in Arras, France, in 1889. To say he led a fascinating life would be an understatement. He played professional football in France, before becoming a fighter pilot during The Great War. He became a POW, but managed to escape. In later life, Gabriel turned his hand to journalism. At the time of the Wolves v Honved game, Gabriel worked as a journalist, at the Paris based Football newspaper, L’Equipe. Gabriel, and the other journalists at this paper, were outraged by the claims of some English newspaper men. These gentlemen, proposed a tournament, made up of the champions of certain European countries, to decide who should be declared the Champions of Europe. In season 1955-56, the competition known as theEuropean Cup, came into being.

The participating clubs in the first five seasons of the European Cup, were selected by journalists from L’Equipe.  In the tournament’s first season, Real Madrid, Anderlecht, AC Milan, Rot-Weiss Essen, Stade de Reims, Djurgarden, AGF and Aarhus, were chosen to take part in the new competition. All these clubs, were champions of their respective countries. English champions Chelsea, initially agreed to compete, but were banned from doing so by the bosses of the Football League, who feared that the new tournament would harm the domestic game. Chelsea were replaced by Polish champions, Gwardia Warszawa. Similarly, in Scotland, champions Aberdeen, were asked not to take part by the SFA. Hibernian had no such qualms, and promptly took the Dons’ place. Hibs therefore, became Scotland’s first representatives in the European Cup. In addition, Holland Sport, Honved and AB, rejected the opportunity to represent their respective countries: The Netherlands, Hungary and Denmark. These teams were replaced by PSV Eindhoven, Varos Logobo and AGF Aarhus. These teams, with the addition of Hibs, became the last teams until the 1997-1998 season, to qualify for the European Cup, without being their country’s Champions, or the current holders of the European Cup. This first tournament, was the only one to include a representative of the Saarland region, which was re-absorbed back into Germany, in 1957.

The first round pairings, were fixed by the organisers, and not drawn by lottery, as would be the case for all future European Cup matches. The cynic in me, wonders if the current bosses of the Champions League, have not reverted to the original system.

The very first final of the European Cup, was played at the Parc des Princes, in Paris, on the 13th of June, 1956. In a thrilling game, Real Madrid beat Stade de Reims, by a scoreline of 4-3.

The European Cup, from the beginning, was a sensation. The tournament was particularly popular in Spain, Italy, Portugal and of course, Scotland. I would contend that from the beginning of the European Cup, the winning of the league championship became THE priority, of the top Scottish teams, rather than The Scottish Cup, as was the case previously.

As the years rolled on, EUFA began to take more than a passing interest, in the tournament. This was made official at the end of the 1965-66 season, when the competition was taken over by EUFA. One consequence of this, was that the first version of the European Cup trophy, was given to six times winners of the competition, Real Madrid, in perpetuity.

Which brings me to the best part. For the season 1966-67 competition, a brand new trophy was commissioned by EUFA. The makers of the new cup, Stadelman Jewellers, based in Bern, Switzerland, produced a masterpiece. The trophy cost 10,000 Swiss Francs, was made of silver, stood at a height of 74cm and weighed 11kg.

…and so, it came to pass, that on the evening of the 25th of May 1967, at the Estadio National, in Estoril, Celtic captain Billy McNeill, hoisted that new trophy aloft. In that one shining moment in time, by that very action, Cesar proclaimed to the whole world,  that Celtic Football Club had became the latest:

Champions Of Europe.

Gabriel Hanot, we owe you a great debt.

Magua 

I am indebted to general Wiki…and to ASWGL, whose new brilliant background of Cesar and the Lisbon Polis, with the Big Cup, gave me the inspiration for this article.