The 11th-tier Essex football club with a connection to Celtic

 

Catholic United, playing in Step 7 in the English non-league game, have a unique connection to one of Scotland's biggest clubs

Back in 1968, Essex-based team Catholic United were in their infancy.

Founded in 1959 as a way to keep the catholic community together in Southend, they just reached a local cup final but needed a kit to play in, so they reached out to Celtic chairman Bob Kelly, who sent a full set of green and white kits.

Catholic won the cup final, and have worn the green and white hoops, made famous by the Scottish giants, ever since, and the constitution of the club mandates that the team’s colours remain the famous green and white hoops as a nod to the historic gesture from Kelly and Celtic.

Catholic United chairman Tom Harding describes the Essex Bhoys as a 'unique club'

While there is no formal affiliation between the two clubs, being independent entities, their bond is maintained on historical goodwill.

“We’re a unique club”, says chairman Tom Harding, appearing on local football podcast The Back Post. “While we keep traditions in mind, we also find it important to balance it with modern expectations. We have a substantial online following, we have had some videos around the club made, a look behind-the-scenes at the club by volunteers.

“If we can do more of that content and try and push that a little bit more, I think that would help us get out there to not just our Celtic following, but to anyone locally as well.”

The links with Celtic do not just involve the gifting of a kit nearly 60 years ago. Back in 2021, Celtic secured the signing of Cameron Carter-Vickers from Tottenham Hotspur. Prior to joining the first team at Spurs, the USA international defender, born in Southend, started his youth career playing for Catholic United.

Such was the renewed interest in United from Hoops fans, the club’s social media platforms saw a substantial surge in new followers, Celtic fans bought Catholic replica shirts – so quickly that supplies ran out – and supporters have even travelled from Glasgow down to Southend to watch matches.

Links between the two clubs were renewed in 2021 when Celtic signed former Catholic youth player Cameron Carter-Vickers

Fast-forward to 2025 and Catholic United find themselves in the 11^th-tier Essex Olympian Premier League, and have enjoyed a perfect start, with five wins on the spin seeing them sit top of the table. Harding says he believes that success for the club includes ensuring that they are competing in the notoriously competitive Step 7 league.

“From a club perspective, we need to make sure we are competing in the top four in the division, or even the top three”, he states. “Cup success is always something I have personally liked to try to achieve, and I think Catholic have always done very well in that aspect.

“But from my own personal side, I want to see a team play really good football. Winning is wonderful, but if you can win by playing an attractive brand of football, I think that’s the pinnacle.

“We’ve had a good start this season, which helps to breed confidence, not just among the players but among myself and Eamonn [Kearney, Catholic United manager] as well.”

It is no secret that non-league football clubs rely heavily on volunteers to help keep the club tick over, and the involvement of local personnel who are willing to take on a role at the club is something Harding and Catholic actively encourage.

“You can never turn away a willing volunteer at grassroots level, we do what we do because we love the game”, Harding emphasises. “If I can pinpoint an area where we really need volunteers, I think our growing social media platforms, which blew up in ways that we never really expected, are something that we’re proud of.

“That is important, but also the general, day-to-day admin, keeping things afloat and ideas ticking over is also important.”

Finally, what are the club’s expectations on the pitch between now and Christmas?

“I’m very mindful that we’ve started well and had a good run in the league, but I’m also mindful that we’ve started well previously”, Harding explains. “We need to make sure that we don’t fall into the same passage, and make the same mistakes, as we have done in previous seasons.

“Something the Olympian League do very well is fixture planning, and of course you’re looking at those fixtures and planning for them well in advance; you can give yourself an idea of aims for when you play certain teams.

“We recognise that we’re not going to win every game, but we do need to keep the momentum going. There’s plenty of areas where you can slip up, and while we’ve had two 3-0 wins [and one 4-1 win since] in a row, they’re really close games. We know the games that are going to be really tough tests, but we’re scoring goals and we’re managing to defend resolutely at the moment.”