Being politely asked to remove the Celtic-green sweater I wore into a Glasgow pub frequented by Rangers fans during a hometown visit 30 years ago was a jolting experience.
It illustrated how fierce the rivalry is between Glasgow’s two iconic soccer clubs — Glasgow Celtic and Rangers, supported primarily by Catholics and Protestants, respectively.
A conversation with Glass Tiger frontman Alan Frew during a charity golf tournament here in 2011 reminded me that such fan fervour still exists, if to a lesser degree.
“The interview’s off to a f---ing bad start right there!” the Scottish singer-songwriter deadpanned when I playfully suggested the longtime Rangers fan must be rooting for Celtic. “We take this seriously.”
Eoin O’Callaghan says while that “shadow of sectarianism” arose during pre-production on the film Celtic Soul, it wasn’t something the filmmakers wanted to explore, since its intensity “has dissipated,” he said.
“We didn’t want to pour more petrol on the flames,” recalled the Irish soccer journalist who originated the idea for writer-director Michael McNamara’s sports fandom documentary being shown at 7 p.m. Saturday at Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre’s Roxy Theatre.
O’Callaghan appears opposite his friend, Montreal-raised actor Jay Baruchel (Goons, Tropic Thunder), in the movie, inspired by Baruchel’s fixation on both Glasgow Celtic and the Montreal Canadiens.
“Sports now is about doping, drug scandals and violence, so there doesn’t seem to be much of a place for feel-good sports stories,” lamented O’Callaghan.
Their quirky film incorporates a Celtic origins story that might surprise those who aren’t already disciples of Celtic, as it follows O’Callaghan and Baruchel on a road trip through Canada, Ireland and Scotland. Their travels take them from Montreal to Westport, Ireland, and on to Glasgow, where Baruchel fulfils his lifelong dream — to watch a match at Celtic Park, a.k.a. Paradise — and then some.
McNamara, whose recent credits include The Trick With the Gun, said he was fascinated by what sets the Habs and Glasgow Celtic apart from many other sports franchises.
“Not every club has that,” said McNamara, who likes watching the World Cup, but doesn’t consider himself an obsessive football fan.
“I certainly didn’t know about Celtic’s storied history until we made this and I began to pull on those threads,” the Toronto-based filmmaker said. “It becomes quite contagious.”
McNamara was surprised to learn that rapper Snoop Dog was a big Celtic fan, and that the football club was born in 1887 when clergyman Brother Walfrid set it up to raise funds for impoverished local Irish immigrants.
The impetus for the film was a desire by Baruchel, whose mother has Irish roots, to explore his ancestry — a feat happily facilitated by O’Callaghan, whose former Fox Soccer Report Baruchel watched avidly.
After following O’Callaghan on Twitter, the actor contacted him and they became friends, united by their Catholic backgrounds and mutual love of football.
Equal parts road movie, comic bromance and sports documentary, Celtic Soul is funny and touching and picturesque, but it’s a lightweight diversion that takes a while to gain momentum.
“It’s a roots exploration and investigation into what it is to be a sports fan,” explains McNamara. “It’s about a team that can transcend the sport itself and embody something much bigger, much deeper.”
The film, which has been compared with the Steve Coogan road movie The Trip, albeit with more F-bombs, was shot with a skeletal crew over a week and a half last February.
“The bonus of working with Jay is that we had lots of doors open for us, but he’s a busy guy and he was making Goons 2, so we had a very narrow window of opportunity,” McNamara recalled.
“There’s a lot to be said for just letting the cameras roll. We didn’t prime the pump,” added the director, who strategically positioned three GoPro cameras in the car and hid microphones and a transmitter.
“They were always on,” said McNamara, who often followed the duo in a van through the Irish countryside, determined not to use reality-TV contrivances.
“It was a unique enough trip to begin with when you’re sharing a car with a Hollywood actor,” O’Callaghan adds.
“It’s not like sharing your car with your Uncle Ronnie.”
O’Callaghan said he was impressed by how open-minded and responsive Baruchel was to his concept.
“He could have just paid lip-service and said: ‘I’ll talk to my agent and get back to you,’ ” he said.
“From Day 1, Jay was unique in behaviour. You have this perception of how famous people are, and he broke it.”
A highlight was being so warmly welcomed after reaching out to Glasgow Celtic, McNamara said.
“We were all shaking. It was pretty amazing,” he said, recalling their reaction when they got to compete with Celtic snipers at the club’s Lennoxtown training facility, where Eoin met his idol, John Collins.
The other pinch-me moment was getting to walk through the tunnel and onto the football field wearing green-and-white jerseys at Celtic Park.
Paradise, indeed.