Celtic Women - Excelsior Stadium

Celtic FC Women

(Groundshare with Airdrieonians)

Excelsior Stadium

Craigneuk Avenue

Airdrie 

ML6 8QZ

Official Website

Twitter

Ground Number: 1282

Sunday 17th March 2024
Celtic 2-1 Rangers
Scottish Womens Premier League

CELTIC WOMEN FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

For the first 120 years of its existence, Celtic only fielded male football teams. In the early 1960s, Rose Reilly was noticed by a Celtic scout who wanted to sign her, but the scout found out she was female and withdrew the offer. A women's section was established in June 2007 when Celtic took over Arsenal North L.F.C, founding a Girls and Women's Football Academy at the same time. They reached the Scottish Women's Cup final in their inaugural year, losing 3–1 to Hibernian after extra time in May 2008. The team's first silverware arrived two years later as Spartans were beaten 4–1 in the final of the 2010 Scottish Women's Premier League Cup. In October 2012 Celtic were ejected from the Scottish Women's Cup: they had tried to force the postponement of a quarter final with Glasgow City, but the SWF did not accept Celtic's reason and instead awarded the tie to Glasgow.[8] In August 2013, Celtic faced being thrown out of the national Cup for the second successive season, following a complaint from beaten second round opponents Forfar Farmington: Celtic won the match 5–2, but had named former player Emily Thomson as a substitute in a bid to cup-tie her for the season at her new club, rivals Glasgow City.

Celtic reached their second SWPL Cup final in 2017 and their third in May 2018, but were beaten by Hibernian on both occasions; the latter match at Falkirk Stadium finished 9–0. Celtic announced in December 2018 that their women's team players would be employed as full-time professionals, with the transition beginning in the 2019 season. In doing so, they became the first-ever professional women's football team in Scotland. In 2021, Celtic achieved their best showing in the SWPL to date by finishing in runners-up for the third time, but by a margin of only three points to Glasgow City. This saw them qualify for the following season's Champions League for the first time; Celtic were subsequently eliminated from the Champions League at the first qualification round, losing 2–1 to Levante. In December 2021, Celtic won the SWPL Cup by defeating Glasgow City 1–0 in the final, their first trophy since winning the same competition in 2010. This was followed by a first-ever Scottish Cup victory, beating Glasgow City again, this time 3–2 after extra time. At the end of the 2022–23 season, Celtic came close to winning their first Scottish title. In a three-way decider on the final day of the SWPL, Celtic had to defeat Hearts while hoping their rivals Rangers could hold Glasgow City to a draw at Ibrox. A Rangers victory would also have been enough for Celtic to clinch the championship, assuming they won their match by a margin larger than Rangers. With Celtic defeating Hearts 2–0 in front of a record attendance of 15,822 at Celtic Park, Glasgow City scored a 92nd-minute winner. The following week, Celtic claimed the Women's Scottish Cup for a second time, beating Rangers 2–0 in front of a crowd of 10,446 at Hampden Park thanks to goals from Natasha Flint and Claire O'Riordan.

MY VISIT

For the second game of my Sunday, it would be a first for me - an Old Firm Derby. Though it would lack the fierce nature of the men's game, it was still an interesting prospect. It would also be another one off of the Scottish 42 for me though I had very limited experience in that respect. It was a bit of luck that the game would be televised as it meant we could get a double in as we were stopping in Newcastle overnight to split the journey up for the drivers.

From our game at East Fife, we made a quick exit and headed south. My laptop battery let me down again, so I'm going to seriously look at getting a new one. I still had enough juice in it to get my first blog up though. It was then a relaxed hours journey to Airdrie with us getting there at 3.30. Parking was £3, entry £10 and a scotch pie and Irn Bru £5. We got some pictures of the ground before settling down for the game. There were not as many at the game as I expected there to be.

It would look like Glasgow City's dominance of the Scottish Women's Premiership could be coming to an end as Celtic were in 2nd and Rangers top. Celtic women were unbeaten in six and had won 6-0 at Montrose in their last game. Rangers were unbeaten all season, their last game a 6-2 win at Hibs. Celtic took the lead after four minutes, Tash Flint following up after the keeper parried the initial shot following a great through ball. On 42 minutes, Flint got her second, volleying home following a poor defensive clearance. The game was plodding along lethargically until a strong challenge from a Celtic player provoked a minor scuffle. The 'offender' was only yellow carded but the game stepped up in pace. Rangers pulled a goal back through Jane Ross on 78 minutes following a good spell of pressure. Despite a series of corners, the bar being hit and a shot being cleared off of the line, Rangers could not force an equaliser and their unbeaten record was gone.

It had been a decent game for the last third, probably the best women's game I've seen. No attendance was announced, but there were not as many as it deserved. We left around 6.30 and headed south, having had a good day in Scotland. We were stopping in Newcastle en route and planning on going to a game at Northallerton Town on the way home. It would be a revisit for me but more games meant that I got more for the petrol and hotel money I'd laid out so it was fine by me. We were also looking to get another Wetherspoons in although I'd continue to lay off the booze until next Friday at least.

THE GROUND

EXCELSIOR STADIUM is a decent all-seater ground with a capacity of just over 10,000. comprising four separate, single-tiered, covered stands. At one side of the pitch, the Jack Dalziel Stand (named after a former Airdrieonians Chairman) is the largest of the four stands. Impressive looking, it has a row of executive boxes running across the back. The other three stands are of an equal height which gives the ground a balanced look. The food options are fairly basic but are pretty decent. Car parking is plentiful but I'm not sure about public transport.