Dennis Harper (born 12 October 1936) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. Primarily an inside forward, Harper also played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for clubs including Darlaston,

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

, Burton Albion,

Nuneaton Borough Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton t ...

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

and Brierley Hill Alliance.

Life and career

Harper was born in Wednesbury,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He signed amateur forms with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in February 1954, and also played football for Darlaston. Harper signed amateur forms with

at the start of the 1955–56 season, and turned professional the following August despite still having six months left of his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

commitments with the RAF. He was brought into the travelling party on 20 February as cover in case

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

' pitch proved too firm for Peter Murphy's troublesome knee; it was, Harper made his First Division debut, and Birmingham lost 3–1. He was transfer-listed at the end of the next season, but re-signed in June after joint manager Arthur Turner gave him another chance, believing that "the frail-looking Harper could make the grade if he put a bit more snap in his game." He made no more senior appearances, and was again transfer-listed at the end of the 1958–59 season. Despite interest from

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

club

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and Arthur Turner's new employers, Headington United of the Southern League, Harper signed for

, in their first season as a professional club. He helped Romford win the Southern League Division One title, and scored seven goals from 50 appearances before leaving the club in the middle of the next season to join Burton Albion. He moved on again in the close season to

, managed by his former Birmingham team-mate

Jack Badham John Badham (31 January 1919 – 1 January 1992) was an English professional footballer who played as a full back or left half. He played 175 games in the Football League for Birmingham City in the top two divisions. Badham was born in Birmi ...

, and played regularly at the start of the season, but was transfer-listed in December. He did not leave, and made three more appearances in March 1962, before being given a free transfer at the end of the campaign. He joined

, but found the travelling to training too onerous, and switched to Brierley Hill Alliance in September 1962.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Dennis 1936 births Living people Footballers from Wednesbury English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Darlaston Town F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Romford F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Nuneaton Borough F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Brierley Hill Alliance F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players