Harry Edward Cooksley (born 15 November 1994) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

professional footballer Association football is the world's most popular sport and is worth US$600 billion worldwide. By the end of the 20th century it was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries. Around the world, the sport is played at a professi ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Farnham Town. Cooksley previously played for

Limestone College Limestone University, formerly Limestone College, is a private Christian university in Gaffney, South Carolina. It was established in 1845 by Thomas Curtis, a distinguished scholar born and educated in England. Limestone was the first women's c ...

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

, St. John's University in

NCAA Division 1 NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

as well as senior football for

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

and

Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart (district), Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet, Hampshire, Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of ...

Career

Cooksley joined the

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

side

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

at the age of eight and progressed through the youth system of ''The Royals'' up until his release at the age of sixteen, at which point he joined the Academy of

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. Following his release from QPR in January 2012, he joined the Academy of

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on trial, but was ultimately unsuccessful in his pursuit to earn a contract with ''The Bees''. However, on 10 August 2012, he was able to sign his first professional contract with

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

on a one–year deal. The 17–year–old midfielder made his league debut for Aldershot Town on 18 August 2012 in a 2–0 victory over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

as an injury time substitute for

Josh Payne Joshua James Payne (born 25 November 1990) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder. He has previously played for West Ham United, Cheltenham Town, Colchester United, Wycombe Wanderers, Doncaster Rovers, Oxford United, Aldershot Town ...

, in what would prove to be his first and last appearance for the club. Aldershot Town struggled throughout the season and were eventually

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

after finishing 24th in the league. On 1 May 2013 it was revealed that the club had failed to pay players their wages for the previous month. On 2 May 2013 Aldershot entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...

. On 16 May 2013, the administrators of Aldershot Town, Quantuma Restructuring, were forced to make 13 players redundant. Thus with the club in a state of financial turmoil and the possibility of a new contract rendered unfeasible, Cooksley left Aldershot Town. The 18–year–old midfielder subsequently joined League Two side

on trial, making his first appearance for the Development squad in a 2–1 win over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on 13 August 2013. On 19 September 2013 it was announced that Cooksley had signed a professional one–year contract with ''The Dons'' after impressing during his month on trial. After four years playing college soccer in America, Cooksley signed for

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

side

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

. Cooksley made three appearances for the club's

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

in the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

during his time with the club. In January 2019, Cooksley joined Southern League Premier Division South club

and was subsequently sent out on a short-term loan deal to Combined Counties Premier Division side

Badshot Lea Badshot Lea is a small village in Surrey, England, and close to Aldershot. Badshot Lea has access in either direction to the A31 and A331 and is connected to railway stations in the nearby towns with regular bus services. The village is part o ...

. He returned to his parent club a month later and went on to make 12 appearances, scoring once. In July 2019, Cooksley joined

Austrian Regionalliga The Austrian Regionalliga (german: Regionalliga or plural , means Regional League) is the third-highest division in Austrian football, after the Austrian Bundesliga and the Second League. It is divided into 5 groups: East (), covering the sta ...

club Pinzgau Saalfelden. In December 2020 was released by Austrian side Pinzgau. On 6 June 2021, it was announced that Cooksley would return to Farnborough ahead of the 2021–22 campaign. Cooksley later joined league rivals,

in January 2022 on loan. On 29 May 2022, it was announced that Cooksley would leave the club at the end of his contract in June. On 11 June 2022, Cooksley agreed to return to Hartley Wintney following his release from Farnborough. Upon his arrival he was appointed club captain. On 27 May 2023, Cooksley made the switch to

Combined Counties League The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Jersey, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half and sou ...

Premier Division South side, Farnham Town ahead of the 2023–24 campaign.

Career statistics

Honours

Farnham Town *

Premier Division South: 2023–24

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooksley, Harry 1994 births Living people Footballers from Guildford English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Reading F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players RCD Mallorca B players Farnborough F.C. players Badshot Lea F.C. players Hartley Wintney F.C. players Farnham Town F.C. players English Football League players Tercera División players Southern Football League players Combined Counties Football League players Austrian Regionalliga players Limestone Saints men's soccer players St. John's Red Storm men's soccer players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Spain English expatriate sportspeople in Austria