Harry Williams (born 7 May 1951) is a former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player. He was the first recognised

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

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 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, 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 ...

squad.

Early life

Williams was born in 1951 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

of Aboriginal and

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

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

Career

Williams played between 1970 and 1977 in the New South Wales competition for St George Budapest. 1978 he played for a year for

Canberra City SC Canberra City Football Club, also known for some time as the Canberra Arrows, is a semi-professional soccer club based in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It currently participates in the Capital Footballs Division One competi ...

. 1985 and 1989 he had brief comebacks with

Queanbeyan Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...

club

Inter Monaro Monaro Panthers FC (formerly known as Inter Monaro SC) is an Australian soccer club based in the city of Queanbeyan, New South Wales. The club was founded in 1967, and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football in the A ...

. 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 A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

Finals in West Germany 1974. In the third and last match of Oz at the tournament vs. Chile, which ended 0–0, he replaced Colin Curran, the first ever Australian scorer of a goal in World Cup finals, in the 83rd minute. 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 The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

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.

References

External links

* 1951 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney St George FC players Indigenous Australian soccer players Australia men's international soccer players 1974 FIFA World Cup players Men's association football defenders Australian men's soccer players Australian people of Welsh descent 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-footybio-stub