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Harry Harrison (English footballer)

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Harry Harrison
Personal information
Full name Harry Harrison[1]
Date of birth (1893-11-21)21 November 1893[1]
Place of birth Redcar,[1] England
Date of death 30 October 1975(1975-10-30) (aged 81)[2]
Place of death Redcar,[2] England
Height 5 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1.74 m)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Redcar Wednesday
– Coatham United
19??–1913 Grangetown Athletic
1912 Newcastle United 0 (0)
1913–1924 Middlesbrough 31 (0)
1924–1925 Darlington 0 (0)
1925–1926 Durham City 36 (0)
1926–1928 Hartlepools United 68 (0)
1928–1929 Darlington 22 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Harry Harrison (21 November 1893 – 30 October 1975) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Middlesbrough, Durham City, Hartlepools United and Darlington, and in non-league football for Redcar Wednesday, Coatham United and Grangetown Athletic.[1]

Life and career

[edit]

Harrison was born in 1893 in Redcar, which was then in the North Riding of Yorkshire.[1] He worked as a fishmonger. It has been erroneously reported by many modern-day sources that he played local football for his hometown club Redcar, but this is not true. In fact it was his brother William, who had reached the FA Amateur Cup final with Eston United F.C. in 1909.[4][5] Harry did in fact play for Redcar Wednesday, winning the North Riding Junior Cup with Coatham United before playing Northern League football for Grangetown Athletic.[6] He signed amateur forms with Newcastle United in February 1912.[7] He never played for their first team, and in 1913, he turned professional with Middlesbrough,[6][8] whom he had earlier rejected in favour of Newcastle.[7]

Before the First World War, Harrison was restricted to reserve-team appearances, but when the Football League resumed, Middlesbrough dropped the long-serving Tim Williamson for the First Division match on 4 October 1919 against Manchester United at Old Trafford,[9] and Harrison made his debut.[10] The match finished as a 1–1 draw, and Harrison kept his place for three more matches,[11] before England international Williamson returned to the side and remained in it for more than two years.[12] Williamson caught influenza in January 1922,[13] and Harrison came into the team for the visit to Manchester City and kept his place for the rest of the season.[11] Harrison did not appear in 1922–23, but played 11 matches in 1923–24, which took his total to 31 over five seasons.[11]

He spent the 1924–25 season with Darlington of the Third Division North as backup to the ever-present James Crumley,[1][14] then signed for another third-tier club, Durham City. He was for the first time his team's main goalkeeper, and played in 36 of the 42 league matches.[1] Harrison moved on again in 1926, to Hartlepools United, who had just lost their goalkeeper Billy Cowell to First Division Derby County.[15] Harrison remained with Hartlepools for two seasons, making 70 appearances in all competitions,[16] before returning to Darlington for 1928–29. He began the season in the first team, and made 26 appearances in all competitions, the last of which was on 26 January 1929, a 3–1 defeat at home to Southport, but then lost his place to the 20-year-old future England international Harry Holdcroft.[17]

After retiring from football, Harrison returned to the fish trade in Redcar.[18]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. ^ a b Dykes, Garth (2010). Durham City FC in the Football League. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-905891-42-9.
  3. ^ "Season preview 1922/23 – Middlesbrough F.C." The Athletic News. Manchester. 21 August 1922 – via playupliverpool.com (Kjell Hanssen).
  4. ^ "Billy Harrison". Redcar Football. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  5. ^ Neal, Tom. The Famous Yorkshiremen: The Forgotten History of Redcar's Footballing Pioneers. Old Bird Publishing. ISBN 9781399906999.
  6. ^ a b "History of Grangetown St Matthews: Grangetown Athletic Football Club". This is the North-East/CommuniGate. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
  7. ^ a b "The English Cup ties". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 8 February 1912. p. 5.
  8. ^ "Middlesbrough". Star Green 'un. Sheffield. 26 April 1913. p. 8.
  9. ^ "Saturday's League matches to be played". Yorkshire Post. 3 October 1919. p. 12.
  10. ^ Daly, Ken (30 December 2016). "Theatre of screams". Middlesbrough F.C. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  11. ^ a b c "Henry Harrison". AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  12. ^ "Tim Williamson". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  13. ^ "Amateur international match". Yorkshire Post. 21 January 1922. p. 16.
  14. ^ Tweddle, Frank (2000). The Definitive Darlington F.C. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-899468-15-7.
  15. ^ "This year's team". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 31 July 1926. p. 5.
  16. ^ "Harry Harrison". Poolstats. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  17. ^ Tweddle, pp. 26, 103.
  18. ^ "Past local players of note". This is the North-East/CommuniGate. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
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