Leith Harp Football Club was a

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association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club based in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, near

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 ...

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 SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility fo ...

, 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

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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

and entered the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Erin Rovers of

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, 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 Leith Athletic Football Club is a football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. They compete in the East of Scotland Football League, Conference A. First team matches are played at Peffermill 3G. The present club considers itse ...

. 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 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

and

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a 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 km sout ...

winner with Hearts in 1894–95, played for the Harp until 1888 *

Sandy McMahon Alexander McMahon (16 October 1870 – 25 January 1916) was a Scottish footballer who spent most of his career with Celtic. Career Born in Selkirk, McMahon started his career with Woodburn F.C. then Darlington St Augustine's before relocating ...

, 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 Foo ...

regular *

Willie Groves Patrick William Groves (20 August 1868 – 13 February 1908)
Spartacus Educational was a

King Cup

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed Defunct football clubs in Scotland Association football clubs established in 1881 1881 establishments in Scotland Association football clubs disestablished in 1891 1891 disestablishments in Scotland Football clubs in Edinburgh Irish diaspora sports clubs in Scotland