Aberdeen Harps (Scotland)
Another example
of Irish diaspora in Scotland, with this time a club from Aberdeen proving that
it wasn’t just exclusive to Glasgow. This club, while they weren’t around for
long, still have their place in footballing history, simply for being around.
The ‘Harps’ name seems to be a popular one that the Irish community in
different Scottish communities picked when thinking of a name for their clubs
that they founded. It is funny that in modern football there is only one club
that (knowingly by me) use the name Harps in the senior football, and they come
from Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland. They are Finn Harps FC, who currently
play in the League of Ireland First Division (As of writing in 2024) Alas, this
is the story of another club who couldn’t keep up the pace of being a senior
club. This is the story of Aberdeen Harps.
Aberdeen Harps
were founded in 1904 however there were an Aberdeen Harps before them, who only
lasted one season back in 1889-90. These two clubs are not connected. And the
club I am about to write about are a separate entity altogether. The second
Aberdeen Harps first appeared in competitive football when they played in the
Aberdeenshire Cup, a cup competition that was only exclusive to clubs in that
region. Back in the late 19th century and early 20th
century reginal cup competitions were a huge deal as national cups were often
seen as to expensive for some clubs to take part in due to travel costs and
time constraints.
The first time
they entered the competition they reached the final but lost to the newly
formed Aberdeen FC (There had been an Aberdeen FC 1881 before the original
Aberdeen FC were formed, however a few clubs in the area decided to merge to
form Aberdeen FC, the club who play in the Scottish Premier League currently.)
This Aberdeen FC team were seen as the reserve team of the first team squad of
the Aberdeen FC side. The final ended up 3-2 to Aberdeen, but the early success
for Aberdeen Harps encouraged the club to push on.
Whilst they
didn’t reach another Aberdeenshire Cup final until 1906-07, once again losing
to Aberdeen FC in the final, 3-1, the club did apply to enter the Scottish Football
Association in 1907, having been refused entry the season before. There
inclusion as a member of the SFA meant they were now seen as a senior football
club for the first time. The club entered the Scottish Qualifying Cup in the
1907-08 season. This competition was designed as to make sure the Scottish Cup
did not have as many mis matches in the early rounds and helped manage
fixtures.
Before they
played a cup game, they warmed up by playing Montrose in a friendly, winning
the game 5-3, making senior football look easy. The Granite City Irishmen as
they were nicknamed, followed that win with a win in the first round of the
Scottish Qualifying Cup, beating Peterhead, 3-2. They progressed to the second
round and faced Elgin City. The first tie was drawn, with Elgin scoring a
last-minute equaliser. The replay was lost to Elgin, however Aberdeen Harps saw
the season as a success and were determined to progress even further the next
season.
That is what
they did when they qualified to the third round of the qualifying cup in
1909-10. In the third round they played East Fife, who proved to be too strong
for the Harps, winning the game 3-0 thanks to a first half hat-trick from their
striker, Willie Wilkie. Wilkie had been the first ever player to score a
hat-trick in the Scottish League, a record he gained just one week previously.
Being knocked
out by East Fife in the third round of the Scottish Qualifying Cup was a bitter
blow, as qualifying for the fourth round of the competition meant an automatic
place in the Scottish Cup. The 1910-11 season saw the club compete for the last
time in the Qualifying Cup, beating Peterhead Hibernians 8-2 in the first
round, but in August 1911 the club was expelled from the Scottish FA’s
membership roll and that was the end of Aberdeen Harps as a senior club, and as
a club overall.
The club, who
usually played their games at Central Park, also played at Pittodrie for cup
games. Their expulsion could have come much earlier as they were left without a
ground in the 1909-10 season, which nearly resulted in the SFA kicking them out
of all competitions.
The men in
Maroon only existed for a short period of time, with little success, never
lifting a singe trophy, however they are still embedded in Aberdeenshire
football history and should never be forgotten.