Harry Beverley (11 April 1947 – 29 March 2022) was an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and at club level for

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

(two spells),

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

and Fulham RLFC, as a

Background

Beverley was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England. He died on 29 March 2022, aged 74.

Playing career

Beverley's professional career began in 1971 when he joined Dewsbury. Two years later Beverley played in

's 22–13 victory over

in the Championship Final during the 1972–73 season at

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, is the home of Bradford Bulls Rugby League team. It has also been used by the Bradford Dukes speedway team, BRISCA F1 and F2 stock cars, the football team Bradford City, following the Valley ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

on Saturday 19 May 1973. Another final appearance was in the 22–2 defeat by St. Helens in the 1975 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted ...

, St. Helens on Tuesday 16 December 1975. After six seasons with Dewsbury, Beverley joined Workington in 1978 and played in two Lancashire Cup finals, ending up on the losing side both times. Workington lost 13–15 to

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

in the

1978–79 Lancashire Cup 1978–79 was the sixty-sixth occasion on which the Lancashire Cup completion had been held. Widnes won the trophy by beating Workington Town by the score of 15-13 The match was played at Central Park, Wigan, (historically in the county of La ...

Final at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

on Saturday 7 October 1978 and again lost to Widnes the following year 0–11 at The Willows, Salford on Saturday 8 December 1979. In September 1980, Beverley was signed by Fulham RLFC for a fee of £20,000, becoming a member of the team in their inaugural season. He spent four seasons in London before returning to Cumbria. After a short spell with

, he ended his career with another year at Workington, retiring in 1986.

International and representative honours

Beverley made four appearances for Yorkshire in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

. Two international caps for

came his way. The first while at Dewsbury when he played in

's 0–25 defeat by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the

1975 Rugby League World Cup The 1975 Rugby League World Championship (also referred to as the World Series) was the seventh tournament for the Rugby League World Cup. The format differed from that employed in previous competitions; no single country hosted the matches, whi ...

Final at Headingley,

on 12 November 1975. The second was in 1979 in the 15–7 victory over during the

1979 European Rugby League Championship The 1979 European Rugby League Championship was a three-way tournament between the national rugby league football teams of England, France and Wales. Squads Source: France * Guy Alard * Jean-Marc Bourret * Delphin Castanon * Henri Daniel * Jean ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beverley, Harry 1947 births 2022 deaths Dewsbury Rams players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players London Broncos players Rugby league players from Leeds Rugby league props Workington Town players Yorkshire rugby league team players