Harry Harrison (21 November 1893 – 30 October 1975) 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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

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

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Durham City,

Hartlepools United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Har ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, and in

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 Redcar Wednesday, Coatham United and Grangetown Athletic.

Life and career

Harrison was born in 1893 in

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

, which was then in the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as ...

. He worked as a fishmonger. It has been erroneously reported by many modern-day sources that he played local football for his hometown club

, but this is not true. In fact it was his brother William, who had reached the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

final with Eston United F.C. in 1909. Harry did in fact play for Redcar Wednesday, winning the North Riding Junior Cup with Coatham United before playing

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

football for Grangetown Athletic. He signed amateur forms with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

in February 1912. He never played for their first team, and in 1913, he turned professional with

, whom he had earlier rejected in favour of Newcastle. Before the First World War, Harrison was restricted to reserve-team appearances, but when

resumed, Middlesbrough dropped the long-serving

Tim Williamson Reginald Garnet "Tim" Williamson (6 June 1884 – 1 August 1943) was an English football player who made 602 appearances as a goalkeeper for Middlesbrough, scoring two goals, as well as 7 appearances for England. Playing career While he was y ...

for the First Division match on 4 October 1919 against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, and Harrison made his debut. The match finished as a 1–1 draw, and Harrison kept his place for three more matches, before

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

Williamson returned to the side and remained in it for more than two years. Williamson caught influenza in January 1922, and Harrison came into the team for the visit to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and kept his place for the rest of the season. Harrison did not appear in 1922–23, but played 11 matches in 1923–24, which took his total to 31 over five seasons. He spent the 1924–25 season with

of the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

as backup to the ever-present

James Crumley James Arthur Crumley (October 12, 1939 – September 17, 2008)Local author James Crumley dies at 68 url=http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/09/18/news/local/news02.txt date=2008-09-17 accessdate=2008–09=18Fox, Margali''New York Times'' (S ...

, then signed for another third-tier club, Durham City. He was for the first time his team's main goalkeeper, and played in 36 of the 42 league matches. Harrison moved on again in 1926, to

, who had just lost their goalkeeper Billy Cowell to First Division Derby County. Harrison remained with Hartlepools for two seasons, making 70 appearances in all competitions, before returning to Darlington for 1928–29. He began the season in the first team, and made 26 appearances in all competitions, the last of which was on 26 January 1929, a 3–1 defeat at home to Southport, but then lost his place to the 20-year-old future England international Harry Holdcroft. After retiring from football, Harrison returned to the fish trade in Redcar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Harry 1893 births 1975 deaths Sportspeople from Redcar English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Grangetown Athletic F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Durham City A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Northern Football League players English Football League players