George Harris (born 1877) 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 lea ...

who played at

inside-left In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

for various clubs in the 1900s.

Football career

Harris was born in

Rocester Rocester is a village and civil parish in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. Its name is spelt ''Rowcestre'' in the Domesday Book. It is located on the Derbyshire border. Geography The village is about north of Utto ...

, Staffordshire and started his football career at nearby

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Staffordshire borough of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. The town is from Burton upon Trent via the A50 and the A38, from Stafford via the A51 ...

, from where he joined the local

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side,

Stoke Stoke may refer to: Places Canada * Stoke, Quebec New Zealand * Stoke, New Zealand United Kingdom Berkshire * Stoke Row Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stoke Gifford * Bradley Stoke * Little Stoke * Harry Stoke * Stoke Lodge Bucking ...

in November 1900. At Stoke, he was initially used as cover for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international Willie Maxwell, who had been a regular fixture at

for six seasons. After Maxwell left Stoke in 1901, Harris had more opportunities and made 15 appearances, scoring three goals, in the 1901–02 season. For the following season, Stoke recruited Arthur Capes from

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and Harris once again became only an occasional player, often at

outside-right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

, spending the whole of the 1903–04 season in the reserves. In his four years with Stoke, Harris made only 23 appearances, scoring five goals. In 1904, he moved to Southern League

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where his career "''blossomed''", scoring eleven goals in 28 games, resulting in an international trial. In April 1905, he was one of nine players signed by fellow Southern League side,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. The "Saints" were anxious to regain the Southern League title which they had taken six times in the eight years up to 1904, but had finished in a disappointing third place at the end of

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. Harris made his Southampton debut in the opening match of the 1905–06 season, a 1–0 defeat at home to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

, but after two games was replaced by Harry Brown. For the rest of the season, the No. 10 shirt would alternate between Brown and Harris. Once settled into the side, Harris "''developed into a consistent striker, with a powerful and accurate shot''". In his first season at The Dell, Harris made twenty appearances, scoring four goals, as the Saints finished as runners-up, five points behind champions

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Harry Brown moved to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

in the summer of 1906, enabling Harris to establish himself as the first-choice at

. In the 1906–07 season, Harris formed an effective striking partnership with Fred Harrison and Alex Glen, scoring five goals from 28 league appearances, as the Saints finished eleventh, their lowest placing since the inauguration of the Southern league in 1894. Two of his goals came in a 5–0 victory over

on 18 March 1907.

Later career

In the summer of 1907, Harris decided to retire and became the landlord of a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

Tutbury Tutbury is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is north of Burton upon Trent and south of the Peak District. The village has a population of about 3,076 residents. It adjoins Hatton to the north on the Staffordshire–Der ...

, near

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

. In 1908, a year after his "retirement", he turned out for his home-town side in the Burton & District League.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, George 1877 births Year of death missing People from Rocester English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Stoke City F.C. players Reading F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players People from Tutbury Footballers from Staffordshire