Lochee Harp F.C.
Lochee Harp Football Club are a Scottish Junior football club historically based in the Lochee area of the city of Dundee. Formed in 1904 and nicknamed "the Harp", they currently groundshare Downfield Park with fellow Junior side Downfield, having left their former home, Beechwood Park, in 2017.[1] The team will move into a new ground adjacent to the former one in late 2020.[2] Their strip (uniform) colours are green and white.
Full name | Lochee Harp Junior Football Club | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Harp | ||
Founded | 1904 | ||
Ground | Downfield Park, Balgowan Avenue, Dundee | ||
Chairman | Jim Kelly | ||
Manager | Michael Gormley | ||
League | SJFA East Region Tayside League | ||
2019–20 | SJFA East Premier League North (season abandoned) | ||
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Lochee Harp were formed among the Irish community in Lochee, and derive their history as an Irish Catholic football club. They were formed in much the same way as Hibernian, by local priests and church members to alleviate the boredom of the workers and provide some recreation. Dundee United have much the same origins, having been formed as Dundee Hibernian, and there was another Irish based club in the Lochee area as well, Lochee Emmet, named after the Irish patriot Robert Emmet.
They were members of the Tayside Junior League, but are presently competing in the East region of Scottish junior football which they, along with all Tayside junior clubs became a part in 2002.
Lochee Harp were formerly a hugely successful junior team, winning the Dundee Junior League in their first season of existence, but have found such success more hard to come by in recent years. Indeed, they are not even the top club in the Lochee area at present, playing two divisions below rivals and neighbours Lochee United.
The club reached the final of the Scottish Junior Cup in 1954 but lost 2–1 to Sunnybank.[3]
The team are managed since August 2016 by former player Michael Gormley.[4]
Honours
- Runners-up: 1953–54
Other Honours
- Tayside Premier Division winners: 1983 -1984 1984–85, 1985–86
- Tayside Division One winners: 1997–98
- Dundee Junior League winners: 1904–05, 1906–07, 1910–11, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1958–59, 1960–61, 1962–63
- Currie (Findlay & Co) Cup: 1980–81, 1985–86
- Division One (Downfield SC) Cup: 1997–98
- Tayside Drybrough Cup: 1982–83
- Tayside Regional Cup: 1980–81, 1985–86
- Courier Cup: 1927–28, 1928–29, 1933–34, 1938–39, 1942–43, 1943–44, 1948–49, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1958–59, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1966–67
- Cream of the Barley Cup: 1986–87
Notable former players
- Brian Alderson
- Ewan Fenton
- Jackie Mudie
- Jimmy Rooney
- Mike Kelly
References
- "Lochee Harp". Non League Scotland. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- "The Harps new ground". LocheeHarpJFC.com. 2 March 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
- McGlone, David; McLure, Bill (1987). The Juniors - 100 Years. A Centenary History of Scottish Junior Football. Mainstream. p. 101. ISBN 1-85158-060-3.
- Lochee Harp JFC [@LocheeHarpJfc] (30 August 2016). "Michael Gormley has been appointed as Manager" (Tweet). Retrieved 31 August 2016 – via Twitter.