Mark Walter Harris (22 August 1947 – 15 January 2020) was an Australian 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 for the

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

(1970–79) and North Sydney (1980–81) clubs. He also represented the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. A destructive hard running , Harris made 190 appearances for the

Roosters The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

and a further 33 for the

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the North ...

Playing career

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

junior, Harris was playing in

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

for the Koni Tigers club when recruited into the

NSWRFL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

by Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club. Harris also won the prestigious media award ' Rookie Of The Year' in his first season. He was selected to represent Australia in the

1970 Rugby League World Cup The fifth Rugby League World Cup was held in Great Britain in 1970. Britain, fresh from defeating Australia in the Rugby League Ashes, Ashes during their Australasian tour earlier in the year (the last time as of 2017 that they would win The Ash ...

. In 1972 he won another prestigious award taking out the '' Sun-Herald'' player of the year award. He was also selected to represent Australia in the

1972 Rugby League World Cup The sixth Rugby League World Cup was held in France in October and November 1972. Australia started as the favourites to retain the trophy they had won just two years previously. New Zealand had beaten all three of the other nations in 1971 a ...

. Harris played in just the one test match for

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 ...

, that was against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1972.

Gridiron football career

Harris turned down a place on the 1973 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France to trial with an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team, the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. After failing to get a contract, Harris played

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

for the

in the

. Harris played 7 matches as a long range

kickoff specialist A kickoff specialist is a special teams position in gridiron football. They are responsible for kicking the ball in the kickoff. These players tend to have a strong leg, often capable of making touchbacks, and capable of keeping a ball in the boun ...

during the

1973 CFL season The 1973 CFL season is considered to be the 20th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 16th Canadian Football League season. CFL News in 1973 Both the Western and Eastern Conferences adopt the same playoff procedu ...

Return to rugby league

Harris returned to the Roosters and was a member of some of

greatest teams, winning premierships with that club in 1974 and 1975. He was selected to represent Australia 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 ...

. Harris was also a member of the 1974 and '77 pre-Season cup winning sides, the 1975 and '77 midweek cups. During the

1976 NSWRFL season The 1976 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 69th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundation clubs and another six from around Sydney ...

, Harris played as a for Eastern Suburbs in their

1976 World Club Challenge The 1976 World Club Challenge was an unofficial trial of what would later become the World Club Challenge concept, with the 1975 NSWRFL season's premiers, Eastern Suburbs hosting the 1975–76 Northern Rugby Football League season's Premiership a ...

match against British champions St. Helens in Sydney. He was selected to represent Australia in the

1977 Rugby League World Cup The 1977 Rugby League World Cup was the eighth Rugby League World Cup tournament and was held in Australasia, with games played during May and June in both Australia and New Zealand. It featured four teams: Great Britain and France in addition t ...

. Harris played out the final years of his career with the North Sydney club.

Post-playing career

Harris was a member of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

judiciary in 2000. He died on 15 January 2020 from throat cancer at the age of 72.NRL News: Former Roosters superstar Mark Harris loses cancer battle
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Mark 1947 births 2020 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian players of Canadian football Australian rugby league players Deaths from throat cancer Montreal Alouettes players North Sydney Bears players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Brisbane Sydney Roosters players Deaths from cancer in Australia