Eclipse 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. St Bernard's had a notably smaller band of regular followers, although some Hearts and Hibs fans would elect to go to a St Bernard's match if their own favourites were playing away. Their lower gates meant less money for wages, and so they were unable to prevent English clubs snapping up their best players. When the club reached the cup semi-final in 1896, losing 1–0 to Hearts, just five of the cup winning team were left in the line-up. Ironically, St Bernard's went on to host the 1896 Scottish Cup Final. 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. In 1900, the club was relegated to the Second Division after losing a test match to St Mirren. Although St Bernard's won the Second Division at the first attempt, they were not elected to the First Division by the other clubs. 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. In 1907 they won the Second Division again, but failed to gain election once again. 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). The post war years In 1916, the club was mothballed as the Royal Gymnasium was used by the War Department, when they were given it back the pitch was destroyed and the ground damaged: it took until 1922 and a protracted legal battle for inadequate compensation to be paid, and not until 15 November 1924 that the Royal Gymnasium was fit to play in again. In the meantime, the club took over Old Logie Green from Leith Athletic. Furthermore, the Scottish League refused initially to have them back. Joining the rebel "Central League" (made up of other debarred sides or those objecting to the lack of automatic promotion/relegation between the two divisions), St Bernard's became part of the new Second Division when the Scottish League capitulated to its rival in 1921. Much of the credit for St Bernard's resurrection during