STANDING VIEW

STANDING VIEW

You'll see Harry around the club and everyone knows him. If you've got a little time to spare, then it is well worth having a chat as there are plenty of facinating stories that he can tell you.

We were lucky enough to spend some time listening to some of the tales he has to tell...

When did you first get involved with Harrogate Railway?

In 1947, just after the war.

There was a policeman in Starbeck, we used to play in the field and he came and said Why don’t you go join the league. We said we had no money and no kit and that was all we’d hear about it. Then a fortnight later he came and said from now on you are Railway Juniors and that was how it all started.

Well in 1953 I got a very bad injury in my right and I’d been playing for the first team then and that finished me off with playing football was concerned.

At that time people were leaving the railway, you know they were closing this down and they asked me to go on the committee and I was first non-railwayman to be put on.

Then later on it go so bad that they had to put non-railwaymen on the committee and I made chairman.

Over the years we’ve had some great results. We played Harrison Parks in the Amateur Cup and then of course Bristol City here in the FA Cup. We’ve had some really good times and helped a lot of junior players on their way and a lot of ladies teams. So it’s been good and I’ve really enjoyed it.

70 years but I’ve really enjoyed every minute of it.

What have been the highlights for you?

Well I think the highlight was the Bristol City game to be quite honest, there were something like 3,500 here that day, but it was a really cold day.

For a little club like us, to get to play a club like Bristol City it was out of this world.

You’ve seen many changes in the league?

Oh yes, many changes. You know, now to be honest it is all money. At one time no one got a ha’penny for playing and we had good teams playing at that time as well.

But I’m afraid football has changed a lot over the years. So now I’m still vice-president and I still enjoy every minute of it.

How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?

86…87 shortly.

What makes you still come down to Harrogate Railway?

Ever since I’ve been a junior here, I’ve been involved and I’ve got myself up from nothing to committee man and it has just gone on and I’ve enjoyed it and we’ve had some really good football teams down here, some really good people.

Is it still the same for you as when you first started?

As enjoyment is concerned, yes. Yes Still enjoy every minute of it and we’ve done a lot for junior football around here and long may it continue.

You mentioned that you got an injury fairly early on in your football career, would you love to have played for longer?

Oh I’d loved to have played a lot longer. It was 1953 when I got the injury, and it was silly because we were playing Otley and I had the ball and this goalkeeper came out to tackle me and before I knew it I was laid on the floor.

I’d only been married three months and they took me home and the first thing the mother in law said was “you’re a married man now, isn’t it about time you packed up!”

Would you have loved to play in the teams today?

I don’t know whether I would to be honest or not. I still think that money has spoilt it all. We had some marvellous teams down here, marvellous footballers and they didn’t get a ha’penny.

Can you name some of the footballers?

Kenny Fountain, he went to Sheffield Wednesday. Jonny walker, he went to Manchester United. Some went to Huddersfield and Bradford.

There were some marvellous teams and lads up here, but those days are gone, it’s all about money.

Around the War, did that make a difference with the games being played here?

I was too young, but we used to have a lot of soldiers down, infantry regiments here playing each other, Middlesex regiment came here once and RAF Number One.

How has the ground changed over the years?

Well it still has the swell on it. But there was no stand; we built the stand in around 1951. There were all trees around and there was a cricket pitch as well.

So what happened, in those days the railway was still going but it was getting weaker and they brought all this stuff up to us. They would bring all the things up to one part of the site and we would have to unload it to another and that is why we have the beaver on the badge because they said we were very hard worked.

You mentioned the cricket team. Was that a Harrogate Railway cricket team?

That was a Harrogate Railway cricket team. We won a lot of things, Addison Cups and that.

Did you play in the cricket team?

Yes I played cricket.

Did you enjoy playing?

Very much so. I was a fast bowler.

Which did you prefer to play, football or cricket?

Oh football, definitely. I enjoyed cricket but football was the main thing.

When were you playing?

There were a lot of local teams, Beckwithshaw, Bilton and a some good teams around Starbeck. It was around 1955 or 56. Everything is so different to what it is now and I’m sure we enjoyed more.

What about the highs and lows at the club?

The worst thing that ever happened to me was that I was chairman at the time and we had a meeting on the Sunday morning and we owed the company over the road £4,000 for the transport and I knew there was no way that we could get this £4,000 out.

So it came to it and I had to say that we had to pull out of the league and go back to the Harrogate and District League and on the Sunday night I was coming out to sell tickets and no one would speak to me and I was called all the names under the sun and not a lot of them were very nice!

That was the worst thing having to come out of the Yorkshire league in around 1966.

The best time?

I liked the Harrison Park trip. I know it was good here for the Bristol game, but I liked the Harrison Parks because we took coaches down there and then a trainload came down on the same day.

What about the supporters?

We had a lot of good support from the people of Starbeck here. When we had to go back into the Harrogate League the support dwindled.

Would you say the average crowds here were larger back then?

No, when I first started they weren’t much higher. No if we took £3 on the gate that was about it, but it was very cheap to come in, it was only about tuppence to come in in those days.

You now run the shop in the ground?

I enjoy doing that, it’s very good and it allows me to get involved here.