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Fullname: Bernard Battles
aka: Barney Battles, Gentle Barney
Height: 5’11”
Born: 13 January 1875
Died: 9 February 1905
Birthplace: Springburn
Signed: 1895 & 1898
Left: 1 May 1897 (to Dundee); 28 Mar 1896 Loan to Liverpool, 1904 (to Kilmarnock)
Position: Defence, Full or half-back
Debut: Dundee 1-2 Celtic, League, 10 Aug 1895
Internationals: Scotland / Scottish League
International Caps: 3 / 2
International Goals: 0 / 0
Biog
Brave and bustling Barney Battles moved to Midlothian from Springburn when still a boy and played his early football in the Linlithgow area.
He joined Hearts in 1894 and Celtic the following year. A dominant defender of heavyweight proportions, whether at full- or half-back, Barney Battles was totally committed, being both enthusiastic and fearless.
Although he lacked pace, his excellent anticipation and finely judged interventions more than compensated for this one defect.
Big Barney Battles made his Celtic debut in a 2-1 away win at Dundee on 10 August 1895, and appropriately signed for the Dark Blues after a brief spell with Liverpool in May 1897.
He rejoined the Bhoys in October 1898, and so impressed the Scottish selectors with his consistent performances that he starred in all three Home Internationals of 1901.
Over his tenures with Celtic, Battles gained League Championship medals with Hearts (1895) and Celtic (1896), and two Scottish Cup winner’s badges at Parkhead (1899, 1900), and also represented the Scottish League and Glasgow v Sheffield in 1902.
In the 1896 Glasgow Cup final, Rangers fans kept jeering the Celtic defender Barney Battles, yelling “Oo-o-o! Dirty Battles!” Challenging this ‘unwashed group of Kinning Park loafers’ Barney shouted at them: “Step out of here, any one of you. Or meet me at the gate and I’ll teach you civilisation! Don’t wash your face or I’ll fail to recognise you!“. No one stepped out. No one met him at the gate. No wonder big Barney Battles was so popular with the Celtic support!
Not always an easy character, for example in 1896 he and several Celtic players were on strike over articles by some journalists and he refused to strip for a match until the respective journalists were removed from the Press Box. He lost, and was suspended from play until the end of the season with his wages cut.
In 1898, he broke his wrist and yet he still played the next two games, albeit with his arm in splints and held in a sling. After a victory over Rangers in the same year, the papers proclaimed “St Bernard Battles, Patron of Parkhead“.
After his return to Celtic in 1898 the support sang:
“Back to the Celtic again
Let us join in the happy refrain
Out with your rattles
For Big Barney Battles
Is back with the Celtic again!”
Transferred in the summer of 1904 to Kilmarnock, Barney Battles went down with influenza after playing in a League match at Ibrox on 21 January 1905. He felt well enough to watch a Scottish Cup tie against Beith the next week, but the flu developed into pneumonia and he died suddenly at home in Glasgow’s Gallowgate on 9 February 1905, at the young age of thirty.
A cortège of 2000 with another reported 40,000 people lined the route to Dalbeth Cemetery to pay tribute to this hugely popular player. He is buried in lair 412, Section 31.
Barney Battles had a wife and young daughters and was probably unaware that his wife was pregnant again. This child, a boy named after Barney Battles, would emulate the father he never knew by growing up to play for Hearts and Scotland.
In 1966, Barney Junior presented his father’s 1895/96 Championship gold medal to Celtic manager Jock Stein.
From the Alphabet of the Celts, p.23:
Barney Battles junior was born posthumously and himself fathered a son on Feb. 28th 1940. Barney’s own father once demanded free entrance at Tynecastle with the immortal words:
“I am the man that put the bone in him!“.
Barney Battle’s requiem mass took place at Sacred Heart Church, Bridgeton and he’s buried in Dalbeth Cemetery, not far from Celtic Park.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES (goals) |
LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 1895-87 & 1898-1904 | 110 | 26 | n/a | n/a | 136 |
| Goals | 6 | 0 | – | – | 6 |
Major Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Scottish Cup
Glasgow Cup
- 1
Glasgow Charity Cup
- 3
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Articles
This is a transcript of the obituary that appears in the Glasgow Observer of February 1905
Prominent Players funeral
Obsequies Of The Late Bernard Battles
A Great sensation in footballing circles in Scotland was caused on Friday of last week, by the startling announcement of the death of Barney Battles the famous footballer. Battles whose greatest games were played for the Glasgow Celtic was this season in the ranks of Kilmarnock. For a fortnight prior to his death he had been unable to play owing to an attack of influenza, but no one suspected that the stalwart physique would succumb to the attack. He passed away on Thursday night at his home in London Road Glasgow. Deceased who was forty two years age leaves a widow and two children. , as well as his aged parents who reside in Bathgate to mourn his loss. Battles came to the club from the heart of Midlothian, but his connection with the Parkhead club ceased for a while after the famous strike after he and two other players refused to play on account of what they considered unfair comment in a Glasgow evening newspaper. Returning to the ranks of the Celtic he blossomed out as one of the finest full backs in the country and figured in several international contests and in a match v England at the Crystal Palace in 1901 he played the greatest match of his career. Although playing for Kilmarnock this season, Battles continued to take an interest in the Celts, and was a great favourite with that clubs supporters. During his brief illness he was attended by Dr. Scanlan and received the consolations of the church from the clergy. The funeral which took place to Dalbeth cemetery on Sunday was was witnessed by 40,000 spectators who lined the route along London road to the cemetery gate. Two thousand walked in the funeral procession which included representatives from Queens Park, Rangers ,Celtic, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle, Third Lanark, Clyde and other clubs. The coffin was borne from the chapel gate by his former clubmates D.Doyle, John Campbell, Alex McMahon and W. Orr. The Rev. father Dugan Sacred Heart officiated at the cemetery.
Among others at the funeral it lists Mssrs. J.H. McLaughlin, John Glass, James Kelly and M. Dunbar of the Celtic Directorate.
Celtic made a donation to Battles’ widow; the takings from the stand in a Scotland v Ireland match played at Parkhead on the 18th of March, 1905
The Scotsman – Monday, 20th March 1905, page 10
. . . while at the stands £151 more were taken, the latter proceeds being handed over by the Celtic directorate for the benefit of the widow and family of the late player B. Battles.
