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Fullname: Bernard Battles
aka: Barney Battles, Gentle Barney
Height: 5'11"
Born: 13 January 1875
Died: 9 Feb 1905
Birthplace: Springburn
Signed: 1895 & 1898
Position: Defence, Full or half-back
Internationals: Scotland / Scottish League
International Caps: 3 / [...]
International Goals: 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, 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 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. 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 1898 after he broke his wrist and yet he still played the next two games, albeit it with his arm in splints and held in a sling. After a victory over Rangers in 1898 the papers proclaimed "St Bernard Battles, Patron of Parkhead".

Not always an easy character, 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 by being suspended from play until the end of the season with his wages cut.

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 Barnes
Is back with the Celts again

Transferred in the summer of 1904 to Kilmarnock, Barney 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 cortege 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.

Battles had a wife and young daughters and was probably unaware that his wife was pregnant again. This child, a boy named after Barney, 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!".

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League Champions

• 1895-96

Scottish Cup

• 1899,
  
• 1900

Glasgow Cup

• [...]

Pictures

• Picture Gallery

Articles

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.