Final curtain: St Bernards FC play their last match, Edinburgh, 16 May 1942

FOUNDED in 1878, St Bernards were one of the best-known clubs in the early decades of organised football in Scotland. They began life in the Stockbridge district of Edinburgh, not far from the St Bernard's Well which gave them their name, and were Scottish Cup winners in 1895 when they beat Renton 2-1 in the final.

By the time of the Second World War, however, that solitary success must have seemed almost illusory, a feat which the club could not come close to emulating. Relegation from Division One just a few years after that cup triumph started a long, slow decline.

From Division Two, St Bernards fell into the East League in 1915. They were eventually welcomed back into the league for the 1921-22 season, and remained there until the outbreak of war, when fixtures were suspended four matches into the 1939-40 season.

Having failed to match the growth in support enjoyed by Hearts and Hibs, St Bernards had always struggled financially, and the privations of wartime hastened their decline. On paper, they lived on until 1946, but on the field of play they breathed their last in the spring of 1942, when they lost 3-2 to East Fife.

A supporters' club continued for a while, and there are still people alive who saw the team play. The most tangible aspect of their history, however, is King George V Park in Canonmills, a short walk from Stockbridge. The park was once the site of a major leisure attraction, a sort of funfair of its day, originally known as the Royal Patent Gymnasium. St Bernards took over a part of the pleasure grounds, as they were known, as early as 1880, and although they had to move out at various times, they spent the last 18 years of their active life at the Gymnasium.

At both entrances to the park – one off Scotland Street, the other in Logan Street off Eyre Place – boards have recently been erected giving brief information about the team which once played there. A map shows where the pitch was. Children and foxes play there now.