Pollokshaws Harp Football Club was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team, based in

Pollokshaws Pollokshaws () is an area on the South side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bordered by the residential neighbourhoods of Auldhouse, Glasgow, Auldhouse to the east, Eastwood, Glasgow, Eastwood and Hillpark, Glasgow, Hillpark to the south ...

, now part of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

(at the time a separate

burgh A burgh ( ) is an Autonomy, autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots language, Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when David I of Scotland, King David I created ...

History

The club was founded in 1888 and promptly joined 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 ...

. Although drawn in the

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

section of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

in 1888–89 rather than the

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest team ...

. Its Glasgow Cup entry was a mixed blessing - the Harp beat the hapless Govan Athletic 8–2 in the first round, but lost 10–0 at

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

in the second. In November 1888 the club played a friendly against its town rival

and lost 8–0. The club also entered the Scottish Cup in the same season, but lost 5–2 at home to

Thornliebank Thornliebank ( Scots: ''Thonliebank'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Bruach nan Dealgan'') is a suburban area in East Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, it is located on the Auldhouse Burn about ...

in the second round, after walking over Greenock Northern in the first. The Harp also lost in the first round in the next two seasons. In the

1889–90 Scottish Cup The 1889–90 Scottish Cup was the 17th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Queen's Park defeated rivals Vale of Leven 2–1 in a replayed final. Calendar Teams All 158 teams entered the competition in the ...

, M'Donald gave the club the lead at the 1st Renfrewshire Rifle Volunteers, but the Volunteers scored seven goals without further reply. In the

1890–91 Scottish Cup The 1890–91 Scottish Cup was the 18th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. Heart of Midlothian defeated Dumbarton 1–0 to win the trophy. Teams First round Glasgow and Lanarkshire district Glengowan receive ...

, the Harp lost at

Cathcart Cathcart (; , )
is an area of

Cambuslang Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...

, but there is no record of the match taking place; Cambuslang played Clyde on the day the tie was meant to have taken place, and the Harp seem to have ceded the tie. The final match the club is known to have played was a 3–2 defeat at Clydesdale of

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

, and in August 1891 the club was deleted from the roll for non-payment of subscriptions.

Colours

The club originally wore white jerseys and dark blue knickers. In 1890 the club changed its shirts to green.

Ground

The club played at Norwood Park, which had been used by other clubs in the area, most recently

Shawlands Shawlands () is a Southside suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, located two miles south of the River Clyde. The area, considered the "Heart of the Southside", is known for its independent restaurants and cafés, art scene, public parks, period terrace ...

and Granton.

References

{{Defunct Scottish football clubs, state=collapsed

Pollokshaws Football clubs in Glasgow Association football clubs established in 1888 Association football clubs disestablished in 1891 1888 establishments in Scotland 1891 disestablishments in Scotland Football in Renfrewshire Irish diaspora sports clubs in Scotland