Bernard "Barney" Joseph Battles (12 October 1905 – 15 November 1979) was a
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
Boston Soccer Club
The Boston Soccer Club was a member of the American Soccer League. They were renamed the Boston Bears for the Fall 1929 ASL season.
In 1925, the ASL and the St. Louis Soccer League (SLSL) boycotted the National Challenge Cup, now known as t ...
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and
the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
at full international level.
Family and early life
Battles was the son of former Scotland internationalist Barney Battles Sr., who played for and won honors with both
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
and Hearts, amongst others, in the 1890s and 1900s. Battles Sr contracted
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
and died aged 30, before the birth of his son, who was named in his memory. The monies taken from the stand at the 1905 Scotland v
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
match at
Celtic Park
Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...
were donated by host club Celtic to the grieving Battles family in tribute to their former player.
Battles Jr was raised in the
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
area, where he attended the city's Holy Cross RC Academy, and developed his footballing skills in the city's inter-school competitions. While he was still a teenager his mother decided to emigrate to the United States, and Battles and an elder sister accompanied her across the Atlantic.
Career
In the United States
On his arrival in the U.S., Battles began playing for the Boston Celtics, a Sullivan Square team. While playing for the Celtics, he caught the attention of a scout from the
Boston Soccer Club
The Boston Soccer Club was a member of the American Soccer League. They were renamed the Boston Bears for the Fall 1929 ASL season.
In 1925, the ASL and the St. Louis Soccer League (SLSL) boycotted the National Challenge Cup, now known as t ...
. Although not enjoying the popular status of
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
, soccer (as the sport was known) was buoyant in 1920s America, boosted by a ready supply of talent from the country's numerous immigrant communities and significant corporate investment from industrial giants such as the
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...
Corporation. Aged 19, Battles was offered a contract with the newly founded
Boston Soccer Club
The Boston Soccer Club was a member of the American Soccer League. They were renamed the Boston Bears for the Fall 1929 ASL season.
In 1925, the ASL and the St. Louis Soccer League (SLSL) boycotted the National Challenge Cup, now known as t ...
, playing in the American Soccer League (ASL). The club recruited extensively from British football and among his teammates were fellow Scots Johnny Ballantyne and Alex McNab, while former Rangers player Tommy Muirhead was appointed player-manager.
Despite his youth and the talent of his teammates, Battles enjoyed a successful first season with Boston, scoring seven goals in eighteen games, as the Wonder Workers won the 1925 Lewis Cup and the American Professional Soccer Championship. The latter was a three-game series held between representatives of the ASL and the St. Louis Soccer League in an attempt to determine a "national champion": due to geographical restrictions, the ASL primarily consisted of sides from the North-Eastern states, while the St. Louis area had been a traditional stronghold of American soccer. Battles played an important role in helping the Wonder Workers to a surprise 2–1 series win over the St Louis representatives, the Ben Millers, scoring the third goal in a 3–1 win in
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and the deciding goal in a 3–2 victory in St Louis.
That same year, Battles was chosen to represent the United States National side, earning what would prove to be his only American
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...
against
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. Selected as an outside right, he couldn't prevent the side from suffering a 1–0 defeat in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
.
Battles maintained a consistent level of form over the next three seasons, scoring in double figures in the 1926 and 1928 ASL campaigns and helping the Wonder Workers regain the Lewis Cup in 1927. The Boston side won the ASL title in 1928, however, at the season's conclusion, a dispute between league officials and the
United States Soccer Federation
The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...
destabilised the Wonder Workers and most other ASL clubs. This so-called "Soccer War", combined with the beginnings of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, led to severe financial difficulties for the club and Battles was one of several players to leave, opting to return to the land of his birth.
In Scotland
Battles arrived back in Scotland in 1928, joining Hearts for a reported £9-per-week wage. His impact was immediate, as he scored 6 times during two intra-squad pre-season trial games. More remarkably, the first of these exhibition games drew a crowd of 18,000, primarily to see the new recruit in action. He scored on his competitive debut, in a 3–1 defeat of Queens Park at
Hampden Park
Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...
, and followed that up by scoring twice in his next game and notching a
hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three.
Origin
The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...
on his third Hearts appearance. By the end of the 1928–29 season he had scored a club record 31 goals in 28 League games as Hearts finished in 4th position and was attracting transfer attention from the pre-eminent English sides of the era,
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football.
Huddersfield Town we ...
.
These overtures were resisted by the club's board, to the delight of the Hearts support, amongst whom Battles had quickly become a favourite, thanks in the main to an extraordinary feat of scoring against local rivals Hibernian. The sides contested three
Derby
Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
matches at the season's end, in the Finals of various local cup competitions, during which Battles managed to strike eleven times. He scored five times in an 8–2 triumph in the Dunedin Cup, twice in a 5–1 win in the Wilson Cup and four times in another 5–1 win in the Rosebery Charity Cup. Including the five goals Battles scored while representing the Scottish League against the Irish League (in an 8–2 win), he scored a total of 68 in all competitions that season.
Battles continued to score freely the following season, although Hearts inconsistent form ensured they finished no higher than 10th in the League, while Rangers overwhelmed them in the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, He was again selected for the Scottish League representative side and again the Irish League was to suffer as a consequence, with Battles notching all his side's goals in a 4–1 win at
Windsor Park
The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...
,
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
.1930–31 witnessed Battles reach the pinnacle of his goal-scoring exploits, both in the maroon of Hearts and the dark blue of Scotland. His final season's tally in the league, 44, not only surpassed his previous club record but ensured he was the top scorer in Scotland that season. This feat included a run of three consecutive matches in which he scored a hat-trick in November and was especially notable as he had missed several games while recuperating from
appendicitis
Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...
. Having again impressed in an inter-League match against the Irish League earlier in the month (he ''only'' scored three times on this occasion), Battles was awarded his first cap against
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
on 25 October 1930. He scored Scotland's equalising goal in a 1–1 draw at Ibrox but was never to have another opportunity at that level, largely due to the standing of his contemporary and rival for the center-forward berth,
Hughie Gallacher
Hugh Kilpatrick Gallacher (2 February 1903 – 11 June 1957) was a Scottish people, Scottish association football, football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 597 senior club games, Gallacher scored 419 goals, playing league football for Airdri ...
.
The following year was largely disrupted by injury, with Battles requiring surgery in September 1932 to correct a problem with his
knee
In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...
cartilage
Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...
. This would prove to be a persistent and recurring concern but while there may have been doubts concerning his health, Battles renowned goal-scoring prowess was not in question, as he demonstrated in a match against
Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...
at Tynecastle during the 1933–34 season. With Hearts trailing 4–1 with only twenty minutes of the game remaining, Battles rallied his side by scoring four times, helping them recover to a 5–4 victory.
The arrival of Dave McCulloch from Third Lanark in 1934 demoted Battles from the starting line-up and he decided to take a year's leave from his footballing commitments. This was in part a period of recuperation for his troublesome knee but it also allowed him the time to train as a masseuse. He returned to Hearts for a final season in 1935–36 but was unable to recapture his pre-injury form or earn consistent selection for the first team, even after McCulloch's mid-season departure to
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
. He finally retired from professional football in April 1936, aged only 30, his last match being a 2–1 home defeat by
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
. In total he had scored 218 goals in 200 competitive games with Hearts.
A later attempt by former Hearts manager Willie McCartney, then in charge of Hibs, to lure him back to the field was rebuffed by Battles, who stated his opinion that ''"Hibs...did not want to be embarrassed with my presence. I did not feel fit, much though I would have liked to resume playing"''
Retirement and later life
After his playing retirement, Battles worked as a physiotherapist before in the 1950s becoming a successful
sports journalist
Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a par ...
with firstly the '' Glasgow Evening Times'' then the ''Edinburgh Evening Dispatch''. He later became a publican in the Newhaven district of Edinburgh. He maintained an interest in Hearts after his journalistic retirement and was a regular spectator at Tynecastle during the 1970s.''Hearts historian Bill Smith's recollections in'' He died aged 74, in November 1979, and is buried in Edinburgh's Mount Vernon cemetery.