George unveils definitive history of St Bernard's

IT HAS taken 24 years to complete, but today football historian George Park revealed the spark that led him to telling the story of St Bernard's, one of Scotland's greatest pioneering clubs.

The 65-year-old former Royal Bank of Scotland accountant never saw the team in action but his life-long interest in the club started when he looked out of his bedroom window in the family home at Royal Crescent on to the remains of the rickety stand at the club's ground, Royal Gymnasium, in Stockbridge.

He said: "While sorting out some old records in the bank, I happened to come across a copy of an old branch inspection report compiled in 1946 that contained a reference to the St Bernard's Football Club Grand Stand Company and an overdraft that was causing some concern. That discovery triggered off many years of research on my part that culminated in this book. I felt I just had to find out more about my local club."

St Bernard's won the Scottish Cup in 1895 and were among the founder members of the Scottish Leagues.

Hibs legend Lawrie Reilly, who became part of Hibs' Famous Five, took his first tentative steps in to football at the Royal Gymnasium. Alex Cropley, another famous Hibee, wore the St Bernard's colours.

The book, St Bernard's Football Club or When the Well Ran Dry, is a fascinating account of a club that played a great part in the growth of the game of football in Scotland and it contains a foreword from the late Bob Crampsey, possibly the doyen of all football historians in this country. There are 102 pages relating to the beginnings of the club and readers are taken along every step of the way from 1878 until its demise at the end of the Second World War.

It is priced at 5.99 and all proceeds will be donated to the children's cancer and leukaemia charity CCLASP, based in Leith.