The Life and Times of Willie Maley – ‘The Man Who Made Celtic’

In Glasgow, the Maley family made the Cathcart area their home. Willie was educated locally, and on leaving school found work in different roles before training as an accountant. This was in the days before footballers could be paid, and so a profession was required.

Willie was a lover of different types of sport. He played football, gaining a positive reputation, being involved with various sides including Third Lanark. He was also a successful athlete, competing in numerous running events. But in all of these, he was in the shadow of his brother, ‘Handsome’ Tom Maley, as he was sometimes known.

One night in December 1887, all of these events – including those back in Dublin in 1867 – came together to shape the future course of Willie’s life.

The previous month, a new Irish football team had been set up in Glasgow’s east end, known as Celtic. This club needed footballers and sought to attract the best of Irish talent to be found in Scotland.

Brother Walfrid and John Glass – the two key men in the rise of Celtic – made a journey to Cathcart, joined by another man, Pat Welsh, the Republican who had been helped by Tom Maley senior to escape Ireland. Welsh’s connections with the Maley family made them hope that Tom Maley junior could be persuaded to become one of Celtic’s first players.

However, on arriving at the Maley household, it was discovered that Tom was not present. He was said to be out ‘courting’ with the woman that would become his wife. However, Willie Maley was at home. Whether it was always the plan, or the embarrassment of only trying to recruit one Maley brother, Willie was asked to come with his brother to try out for Celtic.

By the following May – in 1888 – Celtic were ready to start as a football team. They had a ground, the original Celtic Park, which was opened in an “exhibition game” by Edinburgh Hibernian and Cowlairs. And then on 28 May 1888, the Bhoys took to the field for the first time.

Playing against Rangers, the team that would become their greatest rivals, 11 men wrote themselves into Celtic legend when they became the club’s first team. Willie Maley was one of those men. By the end of the game, the Bhoys had claimed a 5-2 victory, and Tom Maley had become scorer of Celtic’s first ever hat-trick.

Willie soon became an essential part of the Celtic XI, playing as a half-back (midfielder). Over the next few years he had a key role as the Bhoys achieved numerous club firsts. Willie played – and scored – in May 1889 as Celtic beat Cowlairs to win the Bhoys’ first trophy, the Glasgow North Eastern Cup.

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