football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Founded in 1879, the team went out of business in 1894.
History
Dundee Harp was founded to provide a focus of sporting interest for the city's large
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
community, largely of Irish descent, following the example of the leaders of the same community in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
who founded Hibernian in 1875 along the same principles. The club's ground was located near the gas works in East Dock Street. The club did not compete in a national league, mostly playing in local and regional competitions in the East of Scotland.
35–0 win over Aberdeen Rovers
Harp's most notable result was a 35–0 victory against Aberdeen Rovers F.C. in a game played on 12 September 1885. Remarkably, this occurred on the same day that
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902.
It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen.
The ...
beat Bon Accord 36–0, the largest margin of victory in senior football history.Dundee Harp Dundee's Footballing Victorians; accessed 27 September 2015.
There is a story that the referee in the Harp-Aberdeen Rovers game had noted 37 goals, Harp's secretary suggested a miscount must have occurred as he had recorded only 35. The match official, acknowledging that it was difficult for him to keep accurate details during such a deluge of goals, accepted the lower tally and wired the official score of 35–0 to SFA headquarters. However the contemporary reports mention 35 goals and apportion them between scorers.
Dundee Harp full back Tom O'Kane was an ex-Arbroath player, and persuaded the Dundee club's officials to send a telegram to his former colleagues at Gayfield Park boasting of his team's record breaking achievement. The Harp players and officials were not to know that Arbroath had actually gone one better against another unfortunate Aberdeen side on that same afternoon. On receiving the Harp telegram, Arbroath officials took great delight in sending a reply boasting of the Angus side's superior achievement. It was only when O'Kane arrived back in Arbroath on the late Saturday evening train that he discovered the truth. Locals were quick to tell him that the Arbroath result was no joke and Harp's record-breaking claim was about to be lost.
1886–87 Scottish Cup run
The following season saw the club's best run in the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1886–87 was made up of the last 16. The club was drawn to face eventual winners Dumbarton at the latter's
Boghead
Boghead is a small village in South Lanarkshire, west central Scotland. It is about southeast of Glasgow and sits nearby to the River Nethan and Avon Water. Boghead is a residential area, with working residents commuting to nearby villages and ...
ground. However Dumbarton instead came to Dundee, as Harp could not afford to travel to Dumbarton, given the expense of travel from the east coast to the west. The Harp twice fell behind and twice equalized - albeit Dumbarton protested both goals, the first on the basis that the Harp had claimed a free-kick but played on, the second on the basis that the Harp attempt to bundle goalkeeper M'Aulay behind the line had not succeeded - to draw 2–2. Even so, managing a draw against the Sons of the Rock was "to the surprise of many".
However, despite the tie being advertised as a Cup tie, it transpired after the match that the Harp had actually conceded the tie to Dumbarton, and had attracted Dumbarton to visit Dundee as a friendly match, rather than as a Cup tie. The Dumbarton club was unaware that the Harp sold the match as a Cup tie and the Dumbartonshire media reported the match as a friendly. The consequence of this was that the entire Harp executive was unanimously voted out at the end of the year. Even worse, Harp was so cash-strapped that it could not pay the £18 appearance guarantee to Dumbarton.
Death of the club
Dundee Harp was suspended by the SFA in 1894 for inability to pay match guarantees to visiting clubs and Harp then disappeared from the scene.
Plans to form a new club were reported in the local press only a week after Harp's demise, and as a result Dundee Hibernian was formed before a fortnight had passed. This club had no connection to the club of the same name that was founded in 1909 and became Dundee United in 1923. This Dundee Hibernian changed its name to Dundee Harp in 1896, but the following year the club went out of business, weighed down by debts which it could not meet. Although a club named Harp F.C. was founded in the Lochee district of Dundee in 1904, this was a junior club (the equivalent of a non-league club in England), the level at which it still plays today, under the name
Lochee Harp
Lochee Harp Football Club are a Scottish Junior football club historically based in the Lochee area of the city of Dundee. Formed in 1904 and nicknamed ''"the Harp"'', they play at Lochee Community Sports Hub. The team moved into this new groun ...
.
Colours
The club played in green shirts until 1892, changing to green and white "striped jerseys" by 1893.
Grounds
The club played at Magdalen Green from 1879 until moving to Tayside Park in 1881. In 1883 they moved to Viewforth Park, but moved again the following year to
East Dock Street
East Dock Street, also known as the Harp Athletic Grounds, was a football ground in Dundee, Scotland. It was the home ground of Dundee Harp, and was used by Dundee Wanderers at the start of the 1894–95 season.
History
The ground was home ...
, also known as the Harp Athletic Grounds.
Honours
; Forfarshire Cup
* 1884–85, 1885–86, 1886–87
; Burns Charity Cup
* 1883–84, 1884–85, 1885–86