"St Bernard's" (with an apostrophe) were one of several rugby playing clubs in Edinburgh, with matches being reported back to 1876, [1] another being United FC.

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.

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.

Strangely, it was Honorary President William Lapsley (who had insisted that the team drank from the St Bernard's Well before going to the match) rather than club captain George Murdoch who collected and lifted the trophy before the 12,000 strong crowd — a larger one greeting the team when they returned to Edinburgh's Waverley Station later that day.

However, despite the excellent facilities the Gymnasium provided for training, the dominance of Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian in the city was already beginning to tell.

With the other finalist being Hibernian, the SFA allowed the match to be played at New Logie Green, the only time the Scottish Cup Final has been held outside Glasgow.

[6] The decisive disaster for the club came in 1903, when their financial benefactor William Lapsley was killed when his cab crashed after the horse bolted.

[6] In 1915, the club finished joint top once more along with Cowdenbeath and Leith Athletic, but again lost out in two test matches (neither of whom were promoted in any case).

Much of the credit for St Bernard's resurrection during this period must go to Tom "Brandon" Ross, who doubled as trainer and groundsman, and was the winner of the annual Powderhall New Year Sprint aged 46, but there also came unexpected help from Heart of Midlothian, who allowed St Bernard's to play at Tynecastle during this time.

During the Depression, St Bernard's showed remarkable innovation in providing unemployed players with jobs whether in the Royal Gymnasium or with firms owned by the company's directors: resulting in them gaining talent that otherwise may have gone elsewhere or left football altogether.

Although this came at the expense of losing goals, it provided an exciting (and thus crowd drawing) spectacle — an idea later used successfully by George "Corky" Young at Third Lanark in the 1960s.

[6] Disaster struck, however, when one of the directors — a coal merchant called Cooper — died later that year, and the Executors of his Will demanded the immediate repayment of a loan he'd given the club.

With no means of income, the club was forced to sell the only asset it had — the Royal Gymnasium ground — leaving St Bernard's destitute.

The club was entered for the Scottish Qualifying Cup in 1946 – a gambit Abercorn had adopted under similar circumstances in 1920 – but the game never took place.

[9] St Bernard's hoped that they would be allowed to play at their ground until they could find themselves a new venue, but once the stand was acquired Leith Athletic promptly refused.