Full-back 1895- 1897, Half-back 1898-1904

Brave and bustling Barney Battles moved to Midlothian from Springburn when still a boy and played his early football in the Linlithgow area.

He joined Hearts in 1894 and Celtic the following year. A dominant defender of heavyweight proportions, whether at full- or half—back, Battles was totally committed, being both enthusiastic and fearless.

Although he lacked pace, his excellent anticipation and finely judged interventions more than compensated for this one defect. Big Barney made his Celtic debut in a 2—1 away win at Dundee on 10 August 1895, and appropriately signed for the Dark Blues after a brief spell with Liverpool in May 1897.

He rejoined the Bhoys in October 1898, and so impressed the Scottish selectors with his consistent performances that he starred in all three Home Internationals of 1901. Battles gained League Championship medals with Hearts (1895) and Celtic (1896), and two Scottish Cup winner’s badges at Parkhead (1899, 1900), and also represented the Scottish League and Glasgow v. Sheffield in 1902.

Transferred in the summer of 1904 to Kilmarnock, Barney went down with influenza after playing in a League match at Ibrox on 21 January 1905. He felt well enough to watch a Scottish Cup tie against Beith the next week, but the flu developed into pneumonia and he died suddenly at home in Glasgow’s Gallowgate on 9 February 1905, at the age of thirty.

A reported 40.000 people lined the route to Dalbeth cemetery to pay tribute to this hugely popular player. Battles had a wife and young daughters and was probably unaware that his wife was pregnant again. This child, a boy named after Barney, would emulate the father he never knew by growing up to play for Hearts and Scotland.

In 1966, Barney Junior presented his father’s 1895/96 Championship gold medal to Celtic manager Jock Stein.






Celtic made a donation to Battles' widow; the takings from the stand in a Scotland v Ireland match played at Parkhead on the 18th of March, 1905

The Scotsman - Monday, 20th March 1905, page 10

. . . while at the stands £151 more were taken, the latter proceeds being handed over by the Celtic directorate for the benefit of the widow and family of the late player B. Battles.





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