[5] Dunbartonshire was a hotbed of the game in the early years of organised football in Scotland, with the county's three leading clubs of the era, Dumbarton, Renton and Vale of Leven all forming in 1872, emerging out of shinty clubs in local factories who were turned to the association game by the influence of Queen's Park F.C.

[6] Renton's side was formed by employees of William Stirling & Sons, the dye factory of Alexander Wylie,[7] who provided the club with finance and support.

[9] During this period, Renton also lifted another prestigious trophy of the era, the Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup, four years in succession.

Given there were no league competitions as yet, a meeting between the English and Scottish Cup winners could reasonably lay some claim to deciding the leading club in the UK (albeit without any opportunity for the Welsh or Irish equivalents to compete).

The formation of the Football League proved disastrous for Renton, as, before the 1889–90 season, 9 of their first team players had left for English clubs.

[13] Renton successfully sued the SFA to have its suspension lifted and subsequently resumed its place in the Scottish League for 1891–92.

The St Bernard's case illustrated the growing creep of illegal professionalism in Scottish football, a trend no doubt encouraged by the introduction of regular league competition, and one which was to lead to the decline of small town or village clubs, who could never hope to match the financial muscle of the big city clubs.

They continued to run into trouble with the authorities, failing to turn up for their away fixture against Dundee Wanderers in 1894–95, in favour of playing a more lucrative friendly against Queen's Park.

In common with Vale of Leven and Dumbarton, the amateur game had favoured Renton, as the clubs all had backing from factories in the area; players could be de facto professionals by taking a factory wage for playing football - something that was common in England[14] - and gaining an advantage over clubs whose players had full-time jobs.

[20] The club's initial colours were red/scarlet and white striped (in the context of the time, this refers to hooped) jerseys and blue knickerbockers.

[23] The club retained dark blue for the rest of its existence, and was so attached to it that when playing local rivals Vale of Leven refused to change the jerseys; in the Glasgow Charity Cup final in 1886, the only difference between the sides was that Renton donned white knickers,[24] and in the 1887–88 Dumbartonshire Cup final the Vale was ordered to wear the white jerseys of the Dumbartonshire Association.

[25] The club originally played on a public park close to Renton railway station[21] at the north end of the village.