HOW THE CELTIC HUDDLE INSPIRED JAPAN AND KOREA TO WORLD CUP MILESTONES
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Jul 23
- 4 min read
Today marks 30 years since Celtic, under the direction of then player Tony Mowbray, performed the now famous pre-match huddle for the first time.
But did you know, in doing so, Mowbray started a trend that would leave a worldwide legacy. A legacy that stretches as far as my current home of Japan.
Yes, Japan and Korea Learned The Celtic Huddle from Us, Indirectly
The Celtic Huddle was performed for the first time on July 23rd 1995 in a pre-season friendly against German side Kickers Emden.
The pre-match ritual quickly gained traction, becoming a focal point to fire up the fans before kick-off.
It proved especially useful in games against Rangers (Requiescat in Pace) throughout the late 90s. Not only did it give the Celtic players and fans that extra lift, but it often seemed to visibly agitate them and their supporters too.
Fast forward to the year 2000, the Celtic Huddle remains a bedrock of matchdays for the club, but it is perhaps the only thing about the team that’s stable at that time.
John Barnes was fired after Celtic were unceremoniously dumped out of the Scottish Cup by Inverness Caley Thistle. So, Celtic, far adrift in the championship race, were desperately searching for a new manager to take the club forward.
One name who was seriously considered was Dutch coach Guus Hiddink.
Having managed the likes of PSV Eindhoven, the Dutch National Team and even Real Madrid, Hiddink was an international manager of the very highest calibre.
You certainly can’t fault the Celtic board for going big with this audacious attempt at getting a new manager in.
After several weeks of rumors, back and forth discussions and gossip in the papers, Hiddink came out and said that he would, regretfully have to decline the opportunity to become Celtic’s next manager.
However, he said that Celtic were a team he had huge respect for, and that, having watched the way they played, he was confident that whoever did come in next would do a fine job.
It was about as nice a knock-back as you’re ever likely to get in world football.
In the end, Celtic went for another manager, some guy called Martin O’Neill and I think we can all agree he did not too bad in his tenure with the club!
Hiddink however, took forward one thing from his time observing Celtic: The Huddle.
About 6 months later, he took on the unenviable task of leading South Korea, a perennial cannon-fodder team at the World Cup to the 2002 tournament. To add to the pressure, they were co-hosting the tournament with their regional rivals, and historic enemies, Japan.
Failure was not an option. Hiddink had a team of talented but disparate players. Those fortunate enough to play in Europe outnumbered those playing domestically, which made building team unity a bit of tricky issue in those first few weeks.
Thankfully, Hiddink had the idea of taking the Celtic Huddle to his new job. From the moment he first became the South Korea manager, the pre-match huddle became a fixture of South Korean squads, one that remains to this day.
It seemed to do the trick. Whilst a few, erm, “helpful” decisions from referees certainly played their part too, Korea astounded everyone, probably even Hiddink himself, by going all the way to the semi-finals.
This caught the attention of Japan, who also overperformed, by reaching the knockout phase in what was only their second ever World Cup.
Despite this incredible showing, Japan were disappointed that their rivals got further than they did. What was the secret? What did the Koreans have that The Japanese didn’t.
Italian and Spanish fans might argue it was simply down to corrupt refereeing. However, ever the optimists, the Japanese wondered if it might be this pre-match huddle, that gave the otherwise mediocre Korean team a boost.
So, Japan, imitating Korea, who in turn had imitated Celtic, started doing the huddle too. It soon caught on here in Japan too. Not only do both the men’s and women’s national teams still perform it before every match today, but the recently closed Japanese football museum even had its own, permanent monument to the strength of the huddle. A bronze monument of 11 players gathered in that famous circular formation.
There was also a gap in the statue, just wide enough for one person to join this permanent huddle, in tribute to the fans, often referred to in Japanese football as the “12th man”.
Indeed, if you ever go to a J-League game you will notice that an inordinate number of fans wear the number 12 on the back of their shirts. This is why.
And it all leads back to Celtic, and the first Celtic Huddle, 30 years ago today.
