Harry Morris (11 April 1866 – June 1931) was an English 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 spent all his playing career with Small Heath (now Birmingham City). He became a successful businessman, joining the club's

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

in 1903, and was instrumental in the club constructing and moving to the St Andrew's stadium.

Biography

Morris was born in Birmingham and attended Small Heath Council School. On leaving school he took up an apprenticeship in the plumbing trade, which he combined with playing for

Small Heath Alliance 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 tea ...

from 1883 at the age of 17 – the club was one of the first to turn professional, but that was not until 1885. As a youth he played as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, but gradually moved into midfield, developing into an influential wing half and captain. Much of his playing career preceded the formation of the Football Alliance, of which Small Heath was a founding member, in 1889–90, so information is not readily available on how many games he played for the club, but he was a first-team regular by 1885, and played on long enough to make one appearance in the inaugural Football League Second Division in 1892-93. Over his career he saved £85 from his wages as a footballer, enough to take on the lease of a shop near the club's old Arthur Street ground, buy tools, and set up his own plumbing business. He made such a success of it that within ten years he was being invited to join the Small Heath board. By this time the ground at

Muntz Street Muntz Street is the popular name of a former association football stadium situated in the Small Heath district of Birmingham, England, taken from the street on which it stood. During its lifetime the ground was known as Coventry Road; the name "M ...

was becoming inadequate; a new stadium was needed, and Morris's business acumen again came to the fore. He identified an area of wet, sloping wasteland next to a railway as a potentially suitable site for a state-of-the-art football ground, convinced his fellow directors to back the idea, and served on the committee formed to organise the works. Within ten months of the land being acquired, the new ground, which would become known as St Andrew's, was opened. Morris's investments extended beyond football. When the first

talking picture A sound film is a motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decad ...

came out in 1928, he saw the potential and acquired an interest in several

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

cinemas. He remained on the Birmingham board until 1929, when his son Harry junior took his place; another son, Len, also served as a director. Harry junior became chairman of the club in 1933, and after 38 years unbroken service to the club was appointed president in 1967, the year of his death. Morris died in June 1931 in Birmingham, not long after watching his club lose to West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup Final. Forty-five years earlier, he had played against, and lost to, the same club in the FA Cup semi-final.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Harry 1866 births 1931 deaths Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands People from Small Heath, Birmingham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wing halves Birmingham City F.C. players Football Alliance players English Football League players Birmingham City F.C. directors and chairmen English football chairmen and investors