Did Buckie Thistle receive their green and white hooped shirts from this weekend's Scottish Cup opponents Celtic
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Celtic host Buckie Thistle this weekend in the Highland League club's biggest-ever match, and both clubs share a common denominator.
It's those green and white hooped shirts, made famous by the Glasgow football giants but also worn for more than a century by the Jags.
Ahead of Sunday's Scottish Cup clash between the teams, Buckie put in a cheeky request for their hosts to put aside their home colours for one match and allow their north visitors to wear the hoops at Celtic Park.
Of course, the request was denied by the Scottish champions, but it raised the question about how both clubs came to wear the same distinctive shirts.
One story commonly told in the north suggests that Celtic donated a set of their strips to Buckie after a match between the sides.
However, Jags' long-serving committee member and historian, Easton Thain, was saddened to discover that this urban myth has no truth in it.
The Celts first wore the green and white hoops in 1903, five years before Buckie did.
But the clubs' first meeting wasn't until 1913, leading Thain to discover the story about how his club first became cock-a-hoop about their kit.
"It’s a lovely myth that we got the strip from Celtic but unfortunately it’s not the truth.
"We started wearing the hoops in 1908," he said.
"As far as I recall there was a team in the town called Buckie Wednesday. They were shopkeepers and Wednesday was a half day for them so shopkeepers and businessmen played in this team and it eventually phased out.
"Buckie Thistle absorbed them and they wore green and white hoops which had been worn by Buckie Wednesday (Jags used to wear black and white). How they got the strips in the first place, that is lost in the mist of time."
He revealed how Celtic have met Buckie four times in their history, all in friendly matches played at Victoria Park. They played at Thistle's ground on another occasion when the Jags joined forces with neighbours Keith to entertain the Celts.
The first meeting was in April, 1913 with the Glasgow visitors triumphing 3-1. Eight years later they returned for a 4-1 success over Jags.
Celtic toured the north in 1949, playing a team made up of players from Highland League rivals Fraserburgh and Peterhead. Then they headed west to compete against the Buckie-Keith XI.
In the ranks of the Celtic team for those matches was the late Tommy Docherty, who would go on to manage both Scotland and Manchester United - among many other clubs.
Fast forward to March, 1981, when an appeal to save St Peters Church in Buckie from closing drew support from Celtic, who agreed to play a benefit match at Victoria Park to help raise money for the cause.
It was meant to be a reserve Celtic team but included long-serving first team goalkeeper Peter Latchford and Johnny Doyle, a Scottish international who was tragically killed only months later after being electrocuted in his home, aged just 30.
In Celtic's defence that day was another stalwart in Alness-born Roddy MacDonald, whose career started in the Highland League at Brora Rangers before his talents drew the attention of the Celts, and later Hearts.
That 1981 side also gave a platform to a 16-year-old prospect called Paul McStay, who would go on to become one of the club's greatest-ever midfield players.
Eight years later, with Buckie celebrating their centenary, one club fitted the bill as perfect opponents for the milestone occasion and it was Celtic, who sent a powerful team north and packed out Victoria Park.
The Glasgow side handed a first appearance to new signing from Poland, Dariusz 'Jackie' Dziekanowski, who would go on to become a cult hero in the hoops.
The late, great Tommy Burns, a club legend and future manager, starred in Celtic's midfield that day and scored twice in a 3-0 win - current TV pundit Andy Walker scored the other one. He was denied a hat-trick by a great save from Buckie keeper Alex Innes, whose performance in this match is still spoken about today as he performed heroics to keep the score down.
