Dundee Harp
Some football clubs never made it to the 20th century; however, these would be some of the earliest football clubs to have existed in the game. Most of these clubs came from Britain, and indeed, Scotland. A country where clubs were simply created to accommodate certain religions and cultures in the cities and towns they came from. The greatest example of this is of course Glasgow Celtic, a club formed by Brother Walfrid, to help alleviate poverty in the Irish Scot community in the East End area of Glasgow. But this type of football club not just exclusive to Glasgow. In other cities in Scotland, football clubs were founded for that same reason. One of those cities was Dundee and one of those clubs was Dundee Harps. Here is their story.
Dundee Harps was founded 1879 and based near the gas works in East Dock Street. The club was founded to give the Irish community living the area, with a sporting interest something to follow and join in with, with Hibernians FC from Edinburgh being an example that they followed since their formation in 1875, four years earlier.
The club played in Green and White, and played their home matches various locations, including Magdalen Green, Tayside Park, Viewforth Park and East Dock Street. The club never competed in a national league, only ever competing in regional competitions in the East of Scotland.
The club won six trophies in their short history, winning the Forfarshire Cup three times, in 1884-85, 1885-86, and in 1886-87 and Burns Charity Cup in 1883-84, 1884-85 and 1885-86. But it was one match in particular that gained Dundee Harps recognition in the footballing world and almost cemented their name in footballing history.
On the 12th of September 1885, Dundee Harps played a match against Aberdeen Rovers FC in the Scottish Cup. Dundee Harsp won the game 35-0, and believed at the time, that they had recorded the largest margin of victory in senior football history. However, amazingly on the same day, Abroath beat Bon Accord by 36-0 in the Scottish Cup as well, meaning Dundee Harps were beaten by the one gaol to the record, a record that still stands today.
There have been disputes as to whether Dundee had won their game by 37-0, as the referee at the time had recorded it to be 37-0. However, a club official insisted that only 35 goals had been scored and that was the score that was sent to the SFA headquarters and the one that has been kept on record since. It’s safe to say, Aberdeen Rovers FC did not last long and they themselves disbanded in 1890, five years after they were founded in 1885.
The club did partake in thein the Scottish Cup on numerous occasions. Their first appearance came in the 1881-82 season when they played fellow Dundee Club, Dundee Our Boys in the second round. The first game finished 1-1 on the 8th October, 1881 which resulted in a replay being played on the 15th October. Dundee Our Boys, who were playing at home this time, proved too strong for their local rivals and won the game, 5-2.
Back then in the Scottish Cup, the early rounds were divided into reginal ties in an attempt to keep travel costs down for clubs. Dundee Harps played in the Forfarshire district. The next season the club played Perseverance (yes that is their real name) in the first round. They ran out easy winners, winning the game 7-2 on the 9th September, 1882.
The second saw the Forfarshire and the Perthshire Districts come together, and Dundee Harps were drawn against Aberdeen. The game was played in Aberdeen on the 7th October, 1882 in which the Harps won 4-1 to progress to the third round. However, that was as far as they got in that seasons edition of the cup, when they lost to Dunblane, 5-0 in Dundee on the 21st October, 1882.
In 1883, the regions were changed around a bit and Dundee Harps found themselves competing in the Northern Counties Region for the first round. They comfortably beat Angus, 9-0 in Dundee on the 8th of September 1883. Their second-round match was given as a walk-over to Harps, as their opponents, Vale of Athole withdrew from the competition, unable to field a side. It set up a third-round tie with Abroath on the 20th of October, in which the game was drawn 1-1. Dundee Harps won the replay back in Dundee on the 27th October, 2-1 and progressed to the fourth round, where all the regions were put together, meaning they could come up against a club from Glasgow, Edinburgh or anywhere else in the country. As it was, they came up against a very good Vale of Leven side on the 10th of November and lost 6-0 away.
But the 1884-85 season saw the club knocked out of the Scottish Cup in the first round by Abroath FC on the 13th September, 1993, losing the game 3-2. But that was not going to happen in second consecutive season, and in the 1885-86 cup edition, the club recorded that famous win v Aberdeen Rovers, winning 35-0. It was followed up with a 4-1 win the second round v Dundee Our Boys on the 3rd of October, 1885. He third round was an even easier mission, as the Harps beat Strathmore, 8-1 at Damley Park on the 23rd of October 1886. The club got a bye in the fourth round, meaning they reached the fifth round, where they met Dumbarton away, however, the club withdrew due to travel costs and so Dumbarton were awarded a walkover. This was not the end of the saga though as Dumbarton were offered to play a friendly match in Dundee, in which Dundee Harps would pay them an appearance fee of £18.
The game went ahead, although Dumbarton who were under the impression that the game was just a friendly, were unaware that Dundee Harps had advertised the game as a Scottish Cup game. It resulted in internal turmoil at the club, with the entire board being voted out as a result. The club was on the brink of becoming dissolved. They couldn’t even pay Dumbarton the £18 appearance fee and so the writing was on the wall for the club.
The club somehow survived for a decade longer, but rarely made any impression in the Scottish cup or made any noise on a national stage. It was in 1894 that they finaly succumbed to financial difficulties, and they were suspended from playing matches by the SFA when they failed to pay travelling teams any sort of gate money. And so, Dundee Harps disappeared and were replaced by Dundee Hibernians, an entirely new club, who gained a lot of the Dundee Harps paying squad. Dundee Hibernians are now known as Dundee United since 1923.
That is the story of Dundee Harps, one of the earliest clubs to have been founded in Dundee, but sadly could not make it into the 20th century. If only they had of scored two more goals in that game against Aberdeen Rovers, then they would have been remembered in the history books as winning by the largest margin ever in a senior football match. I suppose the second largest margin will have to do for The Harps.