Harry Harrison (English footballer)

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 and Grangetown Athletic.[1]

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
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)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Harrison was born in 1893 in Redcar, which was then in the North Riding of Yorkshire.[1] He worked as a fishmonger and played local football for his hometown club[4] and Northern League football for Grangetown Athletic.[5] He signed amateur forms with Newcastle United in February 1912.[6] He never played for their first team, and in 1913, he turned professional with Middlesbrough,[5][7] whom he had earlier rejected in favour of Newcastle.[6]

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,[8] and Harrison made his debut.[9] The match finished as a 1–1 draw, and Harrison kept his place for three more matches,[10] before England international Williamson returned to the side and remained in it for more than two years.[11] Williamson caught influenza in January 1922,[12] and Harrison came into the team for the visit to Manchester City and kept his place for the rest of the season.[10] Harrison did not appear in 1922–23, but played 11 matches in 1923–24, which took his total to 31 over five seasons.[10]

He spent the 1924–25 season with Darlington of the Third Division North as backup to the ever-present James Crumley,[1][13] 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.[14] Harrison remained with Hartlepools for two seasons, making 70 appearances in all competitions,[15] 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.[16]

After retiring from football, Harrison returned to the fish trade in Redcar.[17]

References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-899468-67-6.
  2. 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. "Player search". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  5. "History of Grangetown St Matthews: Grangetown Athletic Football Club". This is the North-East/CommuniGate. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
  6. "The English Cup ties". Dundee Evening Telegraph. 8 February 1912. p. 5.
  7. "Middlesbrough". Star Green 'un. Sheffield. 26 April 1913. p. 8.
  8. "Saturday's League matches to be played". Yorkshire Post. 3 October 1919. p. 12.
  9. Daly, Ken (30 December 2016). "Theatre of screams". Middlesbrough F.C. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  10. "Henry Harrison". AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  11. "Tim Williamson". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  12. "Amateur international match". Yorkshire Post. 21 January 1922. p. 16.
  13. Tweddle, Frank (2000). The Definitive Darlington F.C. Nottingham: SoccerData. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-899468-15-7.
  14. "This year's team". Northern Daily Mail. West Hartlepool. 31 July 1926. p. 5.
  15. "Harry Harrison". Poolstats. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  16. Tweddle, pp. 26, 103.
  17. "Past local players of note". This is the North-East/CommuniGate. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
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