Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
club based in
Leith
Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith.
The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...
, near
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 ...
.
History
Leith Harp's first recorded matches were in the 1881–82 Edinburgh Shield, in which it reached the fourth round, made up of six clubs. The club played at a junior level for most of its existence, and was successful in the Leith Cup on three occasions; it is first noted as having won the competition in 1884–85, and was good enough to hold Heart of Midlothian to a draw in 1885–86.
Despite the club staying outside the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
, the Harp proved to be a tough side. Although it could not get past the senior sides in the Edinburgh Shield, it had success in the Consolation Cup, for clubs eliminated before the final. In 1885–86, the Harp was so strong that it beat Pumpherston 5–0 despite playing the match with ten men; the club reached the semi-final, and held the eventual winners
Bo'ness
Borrowstounness, commonly known as Bo'ness ( ), is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically part of the county of West Lothian (historic), ...
to a draw. The replay went to extra-time before Bo'ness won through 4–1. The club at least had consolation by lifting the Leith Cup, goals from M'Bride, M'Parland, Boyle, and Smith seeing the club past Leith Thistle.
The Harp equalled its best run in the Edinburgh Shield was in 1887–88, by reaching the quarter-final again, losing to Hibernian, but reached the final of the Consolation Cup, where its opponents would be Bo'ness. The match was of particular importance to Bo'ness, which had won the competition twice in a row, and a third success would ensure that, under the terms of the deed of gift, the club could hold the trophy in perpetuity. However the Harp came from behind to win "rather unexpectedly" 2–1.
For the 1888–89 season, Leith Harp turned senior by joining the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
and entered the
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Erin Rovers of
Bathgate
Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...
, but came an unexpected cropper, losing 6–0. The Harp had turned senior too late; it lost unexpectedly to the Cameron Highlanders in the East of Scotland (formerly Edinburgh) Shield in the first round, and started to shed players during the season, with two players leaving for Darlington St Augustines, and others for Hibernian or new club Leith Athletic. Matters were so bad that for one friendly with Queensferry Hibernians, the Harp only had six men for a time. Worse was to come in the King Cup, a competition in which the Harp had never had much success, when it was hammered 9–1 at home by East Linton, a side of no pedigree, in the first round.
The club was more or less moribund after the 1888–89 season, and was struck off the Scottish FA register in August 1889. The last recorded match for the club was a 5–0 defeat at Burntisland Thistle in October 1891.
Colours
The club's colours were green jerseys with blue knickers.
Ground
The club played at Seafield.
Notable players
* Barney Fagan, full-back, Scottish Cup winner with Hibernian in 1886–87, played for the Harp in 1885–86
* Walter Cox, goalkeeper, later of
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...
and
Scottish League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 k ...
winner with Hearts in 1894–95, played for the Harp until 1888
* Sandy McMahon, forward, later a
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 ...
regular
*
Willie Groves
Patrick William Groves (20 August 1868 – 13 February 1908) , Spartacus Educational was a Scottish associat ...