Harry Williams (born 1951) is a former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player. He was the first recognised Indigenous Australian to play for the senior Australian national football team, the Socceroos. He was part of Australia's

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

squad.

Early life

Williams was born in 1951 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. From the age of nine, Williams played junior soccer for St George Police Boys side in Sydney.

Career

Williams played in the New South Wales competition for

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

. He was recruited to the national side at the age of 19, and went on an overseas tour with the team in 1970. In 1974, having only played six matches for Australia as a senior, Williams was part of Australia's first foray into the World Cup Finals in West Germany. Including qualifiers, Williams played six World Cup matches for Australia during his career. In total, he represented Australia 17 times between 1970 and 1978.

Recognition

A 2005 photo of Williams by photographer Sahlan Hayes was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia.

Family

He is the first cousin of basketball player Claude Williams, who was the first and only Aboriginal basketball coach. Claude is the son of musician

Claude "Candy" Williams Claude "Candy" Williams (1929–1983) was an Aboriginal Australian musician, known for his country and western singing, often termed the Aboriginal country music. He was an active advocate for the advancement of his people, and also appeared in ...

References

External links

* 1951 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Indigenous Australian soccer players Australia international soccer players 1974 FIFA World Cup players Association football defenders Australian soccer players {{Australia-footybio-stub