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.