Talk:Melbourne Celtic Club

I object to any deletion of this article. This is an entry of some importance, and I am surprised that one has not yet been created for the club. In the nineteenth century in particular, Irish Australians (and Melburnians, more specifically) struggled to gain recognition as fully-fledged members of the colonial/British society and culture. Just as in the United States, institutions like the Celtic Club (and Celtic football and other sporting societies) assited them in gaining acceptance from the dominant 'WASP' element in the colonies of British Australia. This was largely achieved as late as the early twentieth century, with St Patrick's Day celebrations being attended by Australian Governors-General; though acceptance of the Melbourne Irish was shaken by the Easter Rising and the upheavals of the Conscription debate during the First World War. The Celtic Club assisted in reestablishing a distinct, but acceptable 'Irish Australian' identity, compatible with the growing multicultural ethos of the nation. The renewed sectarianism of the 1950s was also fought against, so that today, the club is one of the key links with the ancestral land of the millions of Australians claiming Irish descent.