The Bahrain Bhoys are Celtic supporters who live and work in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The Bhoys & Ghirls get together from time to time to watch the live matches on the big screen and have a few drinks in our local, the true Irish & Celtic bar, ‘Fiddlers Green’ in the Diplomat Hotel in Bahrain.

The inaugural meeting of the Bahrain Bhoys occurred during the summer of 2001. They were formed by the chance meeting of three Celtic supporters in JJ Murphy’s Irish bar in Bahrain. Russel D’ Sousa (Bobby Petta look alike) was out for quiet drink with some friends on a Friday night when he was accosted by two Scottish guys, obviously drunk, shouting “F*in’ Hell… IT’S BOBBY PETTA!!!”.

The two Scottish guys were Doug McMillan and Paul Maginnis who had come over to Bahrain from Saudi Arabia for the weekend. The weekend in the Middle East countries is on Friday/Saturday and it is usually common for people working in Saudi Arabia to come over to Bahrain on the weekends to take advantage of the fact there are no alcohol and entertainment restrictions. Initially Doug and Paul were on their way back to Saudi hung-over on the Friday morning but they had decided to stay a little longer as the hotels’ sports channel was showing a repeat of the 1-0 game, when Alan Thompson scored against the Huns. Since the match finished at lunchtime they decided to get some lunch before driving back across the causeway to Saudi.

Unbeknown to them, during the summer months the hotels in Bahrain give free champagne with the brunch! So they chose to take advantage of this. After a few glasses of bubbly the hangovers were gone and with the memory of The Treble still fresh in their minds they decided to celebrate. By befriending the headwaiter, he was easily persuaded to keep the champagne flowing freely for the rest of the day. By 5 o’clock and a few bottles later there was no chance of getting back across the causeway, so it was off to the hotel bar for a few super strength cocktails (as you do after champagne). It was then time to go down the Irish Bar for some serious drinking i.e. pints of lager! Imagine their surprise when who should be at the bar trying to order a drink, none other than BOBBY PETTA!!!

But to their let-down it was only Russel.

Coincidentally it turned out Russel was not just a Bobby Petta look alike but a Celtic fan as well. A conversation of sorts was struck up and after a few more drinking sessions, the first three Bahrain Bhoys decided to get together to watch any Celtic matches that had live TV coverage in Bahrain. This soon led to the idea of setting up a supporters club with the aim of getting as many supporters together as possible…...and as they say the rest is history.

Following the launch of the website the numbers have been steadily increasing and the satellite coverage is improving as well, with more and more Bahrain Bhoys (& Ghirls) turning up to watch the live games. The last few seasons in Europe have attracted a bigger and more vocal support and the locals seem to like to join in the singsong as well even if they don’t know the words.

So if you’re a Tim and want to watch the games, make friends, have a laugh and a singsong then come down and join us, everyone is welcome!

Hail Hail.