Harmonic F.C.

Association football club in Glasgow City, Scotland, UK

Football club

Harmonic

Full name

Good Templars' Harmonic Football Club

Nickname(s)

the Harmonic

Founded

1878

Dissolved

1882

Ground

Onslow Park

Match Secretary

George Falconer

Hon. Secretary

Andrew Watson,^[1]

Home colours

Harmonic Football Club was a Scottish association football club based in Dennistoun, in Glasgow.

History

The club was founded in 1878, as an athletic division of the Glasgow branch of the International Organisation of Good Templars, and its earliest recorded match comes from the end of the 1878–79 season.^[2] The club was often known as Good Templars Harmonic or similar, the Harmonic referring to weekly entertainments which the group used to hold.^[3]

The Harmonic entered the Scottish Cup from 1879–80 to 1881–82. The club reached the second round in every season, without winning a match, as in each tournament its opponent scratched or had disbanded before the first round.

The club's first Cup tie was therefore in the second round in 1879–80, at Alexandra Athletic, which its opponents won 5–0.^[4] A measure of the strength of Glasgow football at the time is shown by Harmonic, one of the minor clubs in the city, beating Hanover, one of the leading clubs in Edinburgh, 3–0 in a friendly in November 1879.^[5] The club was also good enough to beat Cowlairs in the same month.^[6] Harmonic's only competitive wins come in the same season, in the Royal Standard and Grand National Halls Cup for teams in and around Gorbals.^[7]

The Harmonic had a better Scottish Cup showing in 1880–81, drawing its second round tie 1–1 with Clyde, W. Smith equalizing a Clyde goal before half-time, and pressing its opponents for most of the second-half without breaking through.^[8] Clyde however won the replay at Barrowfield Park, scoring the only goal of the game "by some clever play".^[9]

The replay proved to be Harmonic's last Scottish Cup tie; when scheduled to face Rangers in the second round in 1881–82,^[10] the Harmonic scratched, allowing Rangers to play a friendly against St Bernard's instead.^[11] The club's last recorded fixtures come later in the month, against Paisley Athletic.^[12]

Colours

The club originally gave its colours as Oxford and Cambridge blue.^[13] In 1880 the club played in light blue jerseys, white knickerbockers, and blue stockings.^[14]

Ground

The club played at Onslow Park, two minutes' walk from the Dennistoun car stop, which had previously been the ground of the Dennistoun club.^[15]

References

^ Alcock, Charles (1879). Football Yearbook. p. 181.
^ "Argyll v Harmonic". Glasgow Herald: 9. 3 March 1879.
^ "Good Templars' Harmonic Association". North British Daily Mail: 1. 15 October 1875.
^ "Alexandra Athletic v Harmonic". North British Daily Mail: 7. 13 October 1879.
^ "Good Templars' Harmonic v Hanover". North British Daily Mail: 7. 1 December 1879.
^ "Good Templars' Harmonic v Cowlairs". Glasgow Herald: 7. 10 November 1879.
^ "Royal Standard and Grand National Halls Cup". Scottish Football Historical Archive. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
^ "Harmonic v Clyde". North British Daily Mail: 7. 4 October 1880.
^ "Clyde v. Harmonic (Undecided Cup tie)". North British Daily Mail: 3. 11 October 1880.
^ "Football". Paisley Daily Express: 2. 1 October 1881.
^ "Rangers v Edinburgh St Bernard's". North British Daily Mail: 7. 3 October 1881.
^ "Football". Paisley Daily Express: 2. 13 October 1881.
^ Dick, William (1878). Scottish Football Annual 1878–79. Cranstonhill: Mackay & Kirkwood. p. 67.
^ Fleming, J. S. (1880). Scottish Association Football Annual 1880–81. Gillespie Brothers. p. 38.
^ "Good Templars' Harmonic v Possilpark". Glasgow Herald: 7. 17 November 1879.