Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys – “St Bernard Battles, the Patron of Parkhead”

This evening we look at another incredible character from Celtic’s early history, a player who is featured in David Potter’s Early Stars section in Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys. The Celtic historian really does excel in this new book, telling the story of many of the players who were the supporters’ favourites in the first years of Celtic.

Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys is in three sections with David Potter telling so many fascinating and entertaining stories about the clubs Early Stars. Liam Kelly has done a fantastic job researching Celtic’s Founding Fathers and some of these men, admittedly rather belatedly, are about to receive the credit their efforts in creating and establishing a vibrant Celtic FC deserves. Matt Corr meanwhile takes us through every controversy and ball kicked in the club’s first ever season.

All that added together makes Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys a rather remarkable Celtic book. It is published on hardback on Wednesday by The Celtic Star.

Here’s an extract from David Potter writing in Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys about a very special early Celtic Star…

He won the League twice in the same year with two different clubs.

Then three years later he won the title for Celtic by scoring the winning goal against Rangers, whilst playing with a broken wrist…and as if that’s not enough to make him a legend he was playing for Dundee at the time!

Adored by the Celtic supporters of the day, he died suddenly, aged just 30, and never met his unborn son…

…who took his name then went on to emulate his late father by playing for Hearts & Scotland.

Meet Barney Battles: Celtic’s prodigal son

I suppose the very name might give you a superficial clue to his character. He was pugnacious, aggressive and a born fighter – at least on the field. He was well built, tackled hard (pardon the anachronism, but it could be said that he “went in like a tank”) and liked to win. And yet, there was a great deal more to him than that.

He was occasionally called “gentle Barney” in the Press. That is, of course, sarcasm, but those who knew him well – his family and those who played alongside him with Hearts, Celtic, Liverpool, Dundee and Kilmarnock – are all unanimous that there was indeed a gentle side to him. He was a loving husband and father, and a very supportive colleague. He probably made one bad mistake in his footballing life – for which he suffered – but he remained loved by the Celtic family. He was indeed a cult hero and his tragic early death saw an outpouring of grief which was hard to parallel.

Bernard Battles was born on 13 January 1875 in Springburn, in the north of Glasgow, but early in his life he moved to Musselburgh, and spent his early footballing life in the east of Scotland. He was a big boy, and his very size and comparative lack of mobility restricted him to a full-back or possibly a half-back position, but one of his strengths was always that he could play on either side of the field.

He cut his footballing teeth with Linlithgow Juniors, Bathgate Rovers and Broxburn Shamrock, before joining Heart of Midlothian in September 1894. This was a fine Hearts team, who indeed won the Scottish League in 1895 over a Celtic club, hamstrung by internal dissensions, which were a foretaste of what was to come. But Battles’ success at Tynecastle did not go unnoticed at Celtic Park, and there is a certain indication that he was ‘tapped and approached’ by members of the Celtic committee before he joined up at Parkhead in the summer of 1895. He would claim himself that he did not always “fit in” at Tynecastle.

Battles then performed the unusual, unprecedented and possibly unparalleled achievement of winning the Scottish League in consecutive years for different clubs. It was Celtic who won the League title the next season, 1895/96. In fact, strictly speaking, he won the League twice in the SAME calendar year, for the League title was won comfortably by December 1895, and Barney was one of the stars and well-loved by the Celtic fans, with the half-back line of Willie Maley, James Kelly and Barney Battles a very impressive one indeed.

Barney Battles (centre of back row); Dan Doyle to his left, W Ferguson to his right, Willie Maley and P Meechan sit in centre, Glasgow Cup and Dan McArthur sitting in bottom row

An indication of the value of Battles came in January 1896, when he was suspended for the Scottish Cup game against Queen’s Park, and Celtic lost. The circumstances of his suspension were controversial to say the least. Battles had been sent off in an insignificant friendly match and Queen’s Park were widely believed to have exercised undue influence on the SFA committee to get Battles suspended. He might have made all the difference in the Scottish Cup game.

Barney’s big mistake came in the ‘strike’ of November 1896, when he was foolishly prevailed upon to join Peter Meehan and John Divers in their refusal to play unless a journalist was removed from the Press Box before a game against Hibernian.

The journalist had come perilously close to libelling some Celtic players, saying that “they were always the aggressors” in the Glasgow Cup final against Rangers. In truth, the freedom of the Press being a very important Victorian concept, the ‘strike’ was foolish and ultimately self-defeating, with dire consequences for Battles himself and for Celtic. He did not play again for Celtic this year. Celtic’s season imploded after their shock Scottish Cup defeat at Arthurlie and Battles spent the 1897/98 season with Liverpool and then Dundee.

He never really settled in Liverpool – the truth was that he wanted back to Celtic – and his move to Dundee was a stepping-stone to that aim. His heart had never really left Celtic.

Barney had one great moment for Celtic while still playing for Dundee. On Saturday, 12 February 1898, he scored for Dundee against Rangers at Carolina Port, the home at that time of Dundee. As Celtic beat St Mirren that day, Barney, even though playing with a broken wrist and being “a glutton for work,” according to The Dundee Courier, scored the goal which won the League for Celtic! Sounds familiar?

Yes, Albert Kidd did a similar thing in 1986, did he not? It was by no means an exact parallel, although the similarities lie in the rain, Celtic playing St Mirren and the crucial Dundee goal being scored by a man who wished he was playing for Celtic!

In 1898, however, it made all of the Celtic family yearn for the return of the wayward and now repentant Battles, with The Glasgow Observer outspoken in its desire for the re-introduction of ‘St Bernard Battles, the Patron of Parkhead.’

Willie Maley, the recently-appointed Secretary, was all in favour, however, it needed a poor run of form in the early part of the 1898/99 season to convince the Directors that such an addition was necessary.

Barney had, in the meantime, returned to Liverpool and more unhappiness, but was clearly pining for home, and eventually in early October, Maley went down to Liverpool and brought him back.

The return of exiles is always a dramatic and even romantic occasion. This one was no exception.

Back to the Celtic again
Let’s join the happy refrain
Bring out your rattles
For Brave Barney Battles
Is back with the Celtic again!

By supreme irony, ‘St Bernard’ Battles’ first game back was against St Bernard’s on Saturday, 8 October 1898. It was a rather uninspiring 1-0 victory, but at least it was a start, and the rest of the 1898/99 season was a steady improvement, as Battles, all previous issues forgotten and forgiven, fitted in well with men like Dan Doyle, Sandy McMahon and Johnny Campbell.

David Potter

* This extract is from Walfrid & The Bould Bhoys – Celtic’s Founding Fathers, First Season and Early Stars by Liam Kelly, Matt Corr and David Potter,  published this Wednesday by The Celtic Star..

About Author

I am Celtic author and historian and write for The Celtic Star. I live in Kirkcaldy and have followed Celtic all my life, having seen them first at Dundee in March 1958. I am a retired teacher and my other interests are cricket, drama and the poetry of Robert Burns.

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