Rowland Richard George Harper (April 1881 – August 1949) 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 ...

who made 34 appearances in the First Division of the Football League playing for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, Aston Villa and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

. Harper was born in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

, Staffordshire. He began his football career with Walsall Wood before joining

Small Heath Small Heath is an area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman times, sits on top of a small hill. ...

of the Football League First Division in 1904. He made his debut for the club, by then renamed Birmingham, on 16 December 1905, scoring in a 5–0 win at home to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, and played fairly regularly for the rest of that season, but lost his place to Charlie Tickle when the latter recovered from injury. Towards the end of the 1906–07 season he moved on to Burton United, but never played for the league team, and left for Aston Villa when Burton failed to gain re-election to the Football League. Harper played only twice for Villa before being sold together with

Jimmy Cantrell James Cantrell (7 May 1882 – 31 July 1960) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward for Aston Villa, Notts County, Tottenham Hotspur and Sutton Town. Football career Cantrell began his professional career at Aston Vi ...

in March 1908. After making only ten league appearances in two seasons he dropped into non-league football with Mansfield Invicta. Harper died in

in August 1949 at the age of 68.

Notes

References

1881 births 1949 deaths Sportspeople from Lichfield English footballers Association football forwards Birmingham City F.C. players Burton United F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Notts County F.C. players English Football League players Walsall Wood F.C. players {{England-footy-forward-1880s-stub