Michael Edward Harrison (born 9 April 1956) in

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

) is a former first-class

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

footballer, playing on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

for

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was educated at QEGS Wakefield and played for Yorkshire schools at under 16 and 19 levels and North East Schools against Australian schools. He also won a schools athletics vest for Yorkshire as a sprinter and triple jumper and competed in the national schools championships. He was involved in a serious car accident in 1975 and eye injuries prevented him playing rugby for more than two years. In 1978 he joined

Wakefield RFC Wakefield RFC was an English rugby union club, founded in 1901 and folded in 2004 as a result of poor finances, with a trading loss of £105,000 for the season and unsecured creditors' loans of approximately £640,000. The club's final season w ...

as a scrum half in the third team before moving to centre and finally right wing for the first team where he played in over 300 games. He has played 53 times for Yorkshire between 1981 and 1996. He also represented the North of England against Fiji (1982) and Australia (1984). Harrison made his

debut during the 1985 tour to

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 ...

at the relatively advanced age of 29. England lost both tests, but Harrison scored a breakaway try in each to earn himself the nickname "Burglar Bill". Subsequently a local brewery named a drink "Burglar Bill" after him. By 1987, Harrison had become a regular fixture in the side, playing in 14 of the next 15 England matches, including all four games of the 1987 Five Nations, one of which was as captain. His appointment came about when current skipper and scrum-half Richard Hill was suspended for allegedly inciting a violent clash with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Mike's first game in charge resulted in victory over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

and he marked the occasion with a try. He kept the captaincy for the inaugural World Cup in New Zealand in 1987 where he led by example and enjoyed good try-scoring form. In the opening match against

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 ...

, Harrison scored another breakaway try to give his side a surprise lead. England remained in contention at 6–6 but could not respond to losing full-back Marcus Rose to concussion and a highly controversial try scored by

David Campese David Ian Campese, AM (born 21 October 1962), also known as Campo, is a former Australian rugby union player (1982-1996), who was capped by the Wallabies 101 times, and played 85 Tests at wing and 16 at fullback. He retired in 1996 and was aw ...

. England lost 19–6, but came back to crush

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Harrison himself grabbing a hat-trick in thirteen minutes as England racked up ten tries. He scored his fifth try of the tournament against the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, but England lost to Wales in the quarter-finals, thought by some to have been the worst match of the tournament. Harrison played the first two games of the 1988 Five Nations but was then dropped and never again called upon to represent his country. Mike Harrison currently works in banking and occasionally works as an expert summariser on the radio. Harrison is married to Marion with three children; Fiona, Anne and Simon.

Mike Harrison's International Record

1985 v

(Christchurch) L 18–13 1985 v New Zealand (Wellington) L 42–15
1986 v

(Murrayfield) L 33–6 (FN)
1986 v

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

(Twickenham) W 25–20 (FN)
1986 v

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(Paris) L 29–10 (FN)
1987 v Ireland (Dublin) L 17–0 (FN)
1987 v France (Twickenham) L 19–15 (FN)
1987 v

(Cardiff) L 19–12 (FN)
1987 v Scotland (Twickenham) W 21–12 (FN) (Captain)
1987 v

(Sydney) L 19–6 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1987 v

(Sydney) W 60–7 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1987 v

(Sydney) W 34–6 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1987 v Wales (Brisbane) L 16–3 (W. Cup) (Captain)
1988 v France](Paris) L 10–9 (FN) (Captain)
1988 v Wales (Twickenham) L 11–3 (FN) (Captain) Career Record: P15, W4, L11 Test Points: 32 Tries: 8

References

Sources

*Wakefield Rugby Football Club—1901–2001 A Centenary History. Written and compiled by David Ingall in 2001 *England v Ireland official match programme 1 March 1986
Sporting Heroes.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Mike 1956 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby union players People educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield Rugby union players from Barnsley Rugby union wings Wakefield RFC players Yorkshire County RFU players