Harold W. "Harry" Collyer (born c. 1885) was an English

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 for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

as a full back.

Career

Collyer joined Palace in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

, the club's second season and their first in the Southern League First Division. He made his debut on Boxing Day away to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, and initially played as a left back. However, he quickly switched to right back and established himself in the team, remaining at the club until the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Described by former Palace chaplain Reverend Nigel Sands as "a tough, sturdy, strong, muscular full-back with a giant-sized heart", Collyer was the first Palace player to earn a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

, the

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

home match against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. Collyer made 263 Southern League appearances for the club, and a further 18 in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, totalling 281 outings at Palace, netting just one goal. By the time of the First World War, Collyer was the longest serving player at the club, his total not beaten until

Albert Harry Albert Edwin Harry (1903–1981) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s. Harry lived in Hurstville, New South Wales and played half-back in the lower grades for St. George in the mid 1920s. He played first grade th ...

in the 1930s.

References

1880s births English men's footballers Crystal Palace F.C. players Southern Football League players Year of death missing Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from Bromley {{England-footy-defender-1880s-stub