St Bernard's F.C.

St Bernard's Football Club were a football club based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The club was established in 1878 and joined the Scottish Football League. Their biggest success came in winning the 1894–95 Scottish Cup. They played at several different grounds before making the Royal Gymnasium Ground their long-term home. However, after having to sell it in 1943, the club was dissolved.

History

Early years

"St Bernard's" (with an apostrophe) were one of several rugby playing clubs in Edinburgh, with matches being reported back to 1876, another being United FC. United had taken to the Association code by March 1878 and later that year merged with the still-rugby playing St Bernard's club to form an association club. The oft-repeated claim of a link with 3rd ERV is spurious as only one of their members was associated with the new club. The famous St Bernard's Well sitting on the banks of the Water of Leith nearby was taken as the badge of the club.

Originally the club played at The Meadows along with Heart of Midlothian and later also Hibernian, before moving to their own ground, firstly at Powburn Park in Newington and then to John Hope's Park in Stockbridge, where its close proximity to the then playing fields of Edinburgh Academy helped them gain a following.

Joining ''The Gymmie''

In 1880 the club transferred to the grounds of the Royal Patent Gymnasium Grounds, affectionately known as the 'Gymmie'. First built in 1864 to cater for the growing Victorian passion for healthy recreation, the Gymnasium's centrepiece was a giant rotary boat seating up to 60 rowers, although it also provided equipment for stilts, quoits and bowls, and even ice-skating in winter.

When one of Saints' founding members, William Lapsley, took over as proprietor of the Gymnasium he opted to allow Saint Bernard's exclusive use of its football pitch. Lapsley was made Honorary President of Saints, and became the driving financial force behind the club. However, the ground proved too cramped for spectators and players alike, and St Bernard's played their games first at Powderhall from 1883 (later the ground for Leith Athletic), and then to nearby New Logie Green in 1889 (which had also been used before by Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian). After a year back at Powderhall in 1900, they returned to the Royal Gymnasium by 1901.

Entry into the Scottish League

The club was involved in the discussions that led to the formation of the Scottish Football League (SFL) in 1890. The club did not play in the 1890–91 Scottish Football League season, however, as they were not elected into membership by the other clubs. In September 1890, the Scottish Football Association (SFA) expelled St Bernard's from membership for concealed professionalism. Undaunted, the club members immediately formed another club called "Edinburgh Saints" and arranged to play a friendly against Renton. The SFA refused permission for the match to proceed, but the clubs went ahead regardless. This challenged the authority of the SFA, who expelled the two clubs from membership and suspended their players for the rest of the 1890–91 season.

After a year of playing exhibition matches all over Britain they were allowed to rejoin the SFA in 1892 and played in the non-league Scottish Alliance. A year later, St Bernard's applied to join the SFL and were admitted to the First Division. Remarkably, St Bernard's finished their first season in the SFL in third place, thrashing St Mirren 8–0 and beating both Hearts and Rangers in their own grounds in the process.

Scottish Cup Winners in 1895's 'Edinburgh Slam'

Come the summer of 1895, all three Edinburgh clubs were enjoying what was at that point their finest hours. Heart of Midlothian won the Scottish League for the first time, the resurrected Hibernian had won the Second Division and promotion, whilst St Bernard's had won the Scottish Cup