Celtic FC have signed a Call Of Duty esports team

I’m going to open this story with the strangest disclaimer you’ll ever read on RPS: as a young man who grew up in the Glasgowy part of the country, I was a supporter of Glasgow Rangers. Generally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but when you’re dealing with the Old Firm, well, they like to know. In my own defence, I started back when Davie Cooper was plying his trade down the left wing, and that was all I really cared about at the time. That man had a left foot that could bend the Stanford Linear Accelerator. I left all that behind 20 years ago, but that won’t matter in some circles.

Anyway, Celtic FC has signed an esports team to take part in the Call of Duty World World League, making them the first football club in the UK to make a serious investment in electronic sports, and I’m colouring it green to make sure everyone knows I’ve moved on.

The Bhoys (Shea "QwiKeR" Sweeney, Sean "Seany" O'Connor, Ben "Bance" Bance, Byron "Nastie" Plumridge, and Sam "Chain" Dineley) are in LA this week, having already triumphed in the (deep breath) CWL Finals MTN DEW® AMP® GAME FUEL® Open Bracket. Celtic will be proud of their winning start against the ludicriously typographied Team WaR, which was the first time two teams from the United Kingdom faced off in the final. Seany and QwiKeR are both Celtic fans, which is heartening to hear. Having fans adds a little bit of legitimacy to it. They haven't just signed a bunch of random players; they've brought in a group of people that care about the club as much as they care about winning the trophy.

I can make a statement like that and know it's correct. I left Scotland 20 years ago (and just returned two weeks ago, though I'm not on the West Coast), and I still get a twinge of something on the days of an Old Firm game. I won't watch it, and I don't care who wins or loses, but I understand that the connections run deep.

And now I await the Rangers FC team, because there's a grim inevitability about such a thing happening.