Sports: A rare chance to view a legend

A rare chance to view a legend

Scotland's storied Glasgow Celtic plays a friendly match against the Mutiny at Pepin/Rood.

By RODNEY PAGE

Dominic Kinnear's career as a professional soccer player won't last forever, but he'll always have his green card.

Kinnear, a 33-year-old midfielder for the Mutiny, doesn't need the card to work in this country. But he does need it to follow his favorite team in another country -- Glasgow Celtic of the Scottish Premier League.

Kinnear is a card-carrying member of the Tampa Bay Celtic Supporters Club, a group with about 35 members that gathers for every Celtic game at Flanagan's Pub in Dunedin. Mutiny goalkeeper Scott Garlick is also a member.

Kinnear and Garlick, along with thousands of Celtic supporters from around the country, will have a rare chance to see their team play tonight in an exhibition against the Mutiny at the University of Tampa.

For Kinnear, who was born in Glasgow, it's a chance to rub shoulders with his favorite club.

"It goes back a long way for me," said Kinnear, who is recovering from abdominal surgery and will not play. "As long as I can remember, I was wearing the green and white hoop shirt. My mom and dad were huge supporters of the club. My dad still has season tickets."

Kinnear's parents, Hugh and Mary, made the trip from San Francisco to see tonight's match. Kinnear said his father still goes back to Glasgow to see games.

The exhibition didn't come together until last month. That's when Mutiny vice president Eddie Austin, a Scotlander himself, got a call from a Celtic supporter in Orlando who said the club was looking for a game.

That set off a series of calls between Austin and Celtic. The game originally was going to be in Orlando, but when the Disney Complex, Citrus Bowl and two area high school fields were booked, Austin thought the game was off.

"I told them the only way we might be able to play this is to play it in Tampa," Austin said. "They said, "We'll do that.' Tampa was a perfect intimate setting for this event."

This exhibition does not replace a midseason international friendly guaranteed to Mutiny season-ticket holders. In fact, Austin had to get special permission from Major League Soccer to begin practice before Feb. 1. Tampa's Pepin/Rood Stadium holds 4,000, and with Celtic supporters filling the seats, the match could be a sell out.

"This is the chance of a lifetime for us," Tampa Bay Celtic Support Club president John McCarron said. "I've gotten many calls from people all over the States and Canada saying they're flying down for the match."

For Kinnear it's a chance to see his boyhood team in person. He trained with Celtic when he was 17, and he has witnessed a few of the games against bitter rival Glasgow Rangers, known as the Old Firm game.

The only thing he regrets is that he can't play tonight.

"It would be great to play but there's a lot more than Friday night," Kinnear said. "There's still 28 games to play in the regular season."