Richard Dennis Harris (21 October 1911 – 30 September 1993) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) between

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

for the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

. Harris played mainly as a rover and was highly successful in front of goals. He also represented Victoria at interstate football, playing a total of nine games for his state including the 1937 Perth Carnival.

Early life

Born and raised in

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...

, he started his playing career with Victoria Ward in the Warrnambool Junior FA in 1927. His father had told him he would get a shilling for every goal he kicked. His first game he kicked seven goals. In 1931 he joined the main town side

in the Western District Football League. He kicked 96 goals in his first season and was the league's leading goalkicker. In 1933 Warrnambool moved to the

Hampden Football League The Hampden Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league based in South-Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns along or near the Princes Highway from Camperdown to Portland. The league is a major country ...

and Harris was again the league's leading goalkicker with 85 goals.

VFL career

At the end of 1933 recruited him and he made his debut for them in 1934. Harris played mainly as a rover and was highly successful in front of goals, kicking 51 goals in his debut season. He topped Richmond's goalkicking on three occasions and his career best 64 goals in the 1937 home and away season was the most in the VFL that year. A premiership player in 1934, Harris was a member of another Richmond premiership team in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

when he kicked seven goals in their five-point

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

win against

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

VFA career

At the end of the 1944 season he left the league and joined

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFA) club Williamstown, helping them to the 1945 premiership. Later, after two seasons at Williamstown, Harris was cleared to

Yarraville Yarraville is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Yarraville recorded a population of 15,636 at the . Yarraville i ...

as captain coach in May 1947.

Later years

He moved onto the Federal league club

Mordialloc Mordialloc is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the . ...

, and captain-coached them to a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of premierships from 1950 to 1952. Harris later was appointed as Reserves coach for

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

in the VFA in 1953. Harris returned to Richmond as the Reserve grade coach in 1956. He held the position until the end of 1965. In 1964 he acted as the senior coach of Richmond when their current coach, Len Smith, had a heart attack, Harris stepped up and coached to the end of the season.

References

Sources

* Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . * Hogan P: ''The Tigers of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
Richmond Football Club – Hall of FameDick Harris' playing record
from The VFA Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Dick Richmond Football Club coaches Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Williamstown Football Club players Mordialloc Football Club players Yarraville Football Club players Warrnambool Football Club players VFL Leading Goalkicker Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) 1993 deaths 1911 births Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players