Obituary - Harry Sharratt
Paul C
to be remembered.
Harry Sharratt
Great amateur goalkeeper and crowd-pleaser, booked for building a
snowman in his goalmouth
The goalkeeper Harry Sharratt was one of the greats of amateur
football’s golden age. These were the days when his side, Bishop
Auckland, attracted thousands of fans to regular fixtures, while
Amateur Cup finals at Wembley were watched by attendances of up to
100,000.
In the 1950s Sharratt helped the Bishops to win the Amateur Cup three
times in succession. The club had won the cup, which had been founded
in 1893-94, on a record-breaking ten occasions by the time the trophy
went out of existence in 1974, the Football Association having decided
that by then the term “amateur” had no meaning.
There had been friction between amateur and professional footballers
almost from the start, with disagreement extending on occasion even to
the rules of the game: some traditionalist amateurs refused to
recognise the penalty kick when it was introduced in 1891.
The split between the two games became formal in 1907, when the
Amateur Football Association was established, and remained so until
1914, when the amateurs agreed to affiliate to the FA. (It was during
this time that a number of public schools gave up football and turned
to rugby union.) Like many amateur players, Sharratt refused to turn
professional, his salary as a teacher, along with his expenses,
exceeding the maximum wage then available to footballers — a far cry
from the situation today. But he made a handful of appearances for
league clubs, played for the Manchester United reserve team when the
club needed players after the Munich air crash, and stood by as the
reserve goalkeeper for Blackpool during the Matthews final of 1953.
The most famous amateur player of the 1950s may have been his Bishop
Auckland team-mate, Bob Hardisty, but Sharratt was the most popular
player with the Bishops fans, not least because he was close enough to
talk to them behind his goal while his side mounted frequent attacks
at the other end. He was one of the game’s great entertainers. If the
Bishops were winning easily, he would throw the ball to their
opponents; he was also known to survey the scene while perching
casually on the crossbar.
Most famously, during one Amateur Cup match when the Bishops were
winning 12-0 at Kingstonian, Sharratt stood by his goalpost and
allowed the opponents to knock in three consolation efforts. And
during one Boxing Day derby he was booked for building a snowman on
his goal line.
But while Sharratt was a showman, he was not a show-off, and when
called upon, he could produce what was required, showing astonishingly
sharp reflexes and uncommon agility for a man of 5ft 11in. He won six
amateur international caps, and played in the 1956 Olympics in
Melbourne, where his team won two games before going out to the
Bulgarian national side.
It was the chance to play football at international level that kept
many potential professionals in the amateur game. Sharratt had no
regrets. “We played because we enjoyed it,” he said.
Harry Sharratt was born in Wigan and attended Hindley and Abram
Grammar School, where his brother, also a non-league goalkeeper,
taught mathematics. For playing football matches in the morning and
the afternoon — he always found it hard to turn down the offer of a
game — Harry was demoted from being a prefect.
After National Service in the Navy, during which time he was stationed
near Carlisle and never saw a ship, Sharratt studied physics at Leeds
University. He then became a maths teacher in Leeds and, from 1962,
was the head of department at Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby
Lonsdale, Cumbria. He moved from Leeds to live in north Lancashire —
and remained there for the rest of his life — because travelling to
Bishop Auckland had previously taken him three hours each way. It was
at the school that he met his future wife, Diana, who taught English,
and Sharratt taught there until his retirement in 1986.
He had already played for amateur sides in the North West when a
fellow footballer, Len Langford, suggested that he should join Bishop
Auckland. Sharratt served the club as first-choice goalkeeper from
1953 until 1964. During this period he played in four Amateur Cup
finals. In 1954 the match against Crook Town — another leading amateur
team that won the cup a total of five times — attracted a crowd of
100,000.
Kenneth Wolstenholme, who commentated on the second half of the game
for television, called it the best two hours of sport of 1954. The tie
went to two replays, and the three matches pulled in an aggregate
crowd of almost 200,000. But Crook Town won the third match, 1-0.
The Bishops, however, won the Amateur Cup every year from 1955 to
1957, and became the only side to win it three times in succession.
Their last triumph was the club’s tenth and final victory in the
competition, and they were presented with a replica of the trophy to
mark their achievement.
Playing for the Bishops, Sharratt also helped to win the Northern
League Championship three times and the Northern League Cup twice, and
the team’s success was in no small part due to his own performances.
Sharratt could also claim credit for persuading Charles Perkins,
subsequently Australia’s most prominent Aboriginal activist and
politician, to play for the side; neither forgot the other as their
lives moved on.
In his later years, Sharratt was a season ticket holder at Wigan
Athletic, and he attended the first matches of this season. He was
also present earlier this year when Bishop Auckland played their last
match at Kingsway, which had been their ground for 116 years.
He was a Freemason and had an interest in railways. He is survived by
his wife Diana, whom he married in 1964, and their son.
Harry Sharratt, amateur footballer, was born on December 16, 1929. He
died on August 19, 2002, aged 72.
--
Paul
www.footballpyramid.co.uk
gaborzinho
wrote:
> Any goalkeeper booked for building a snowman on the goal line deserves
> to be remembered.
>
>
>
>
>
> Harry Sharratt
>
> Great amateur goalkeeper and crowd-pleaser, booked for building a
> snowman in his goalmouth
>
>
> The goalkeeper Harry Sharratt was one of the greats of amateur
> football?s golden age. These were the days when his side, Bishop
> Auckland, attracted thousands of fans to regular fixtures, while
> Amateur Cup finals at Wembley were watched by attendances of up to
> 100,000.
> In the 1950s Sharratt helped the Bishops to win the Amateur Cup three
> times in succession. The club had won the cup, which had been founded
> in 1893-94, on a record-breaking ten occasions by the time the trophy
> went out of existence in 1974, the Football Association having decided
> that by then the term ?amateur? had no meaning.
>
> There had been friction between amateur and professional footballers
> almost from the start, with disagreement extending on occasion even to
> the rules of the game: some traditionalist amateurs refused to
> recognise the penalty kick when it was introduced in 1891.
>
> The split between the two games became formal in 1907, when the
> Amateur Football Association was established, and remained so until
> 1914, when the amateurs agreed to affiliate to the FA. (It was during
> this time that a number of public schools gave up football and turned
> to rugby union.) Like many amateur players, Sharratt refused to turn
> professional, his salary as a teacher, along with his expenses,
> exceeding the maximum wage then available to footballers ? a far cry
> from the situation today. But he made a handful of appearances for
> league clubs, played for the Manchester United reserve team when the
> club needed players after the Munich air crash, and stood by as the
> reserve goalkeeper for Blackpool during the Matthews final of 1953.
>
> The most famous amateur player of the 1950s may have been his Bishop
> Auckland team-mate, Bob Hardisty, but Sharratt was the most popular
> player with the Bishops fans, not least because he was close enough to
> talk to them behind his goal while his side mounted frequent attacks
> at the other end. He was one of the game?s great entertainers. If the
> Bishops were winning easily, he would throw the ball to their
> opponents; he was also known to survey the scene while perching
> casually on the crossbar.
>
> Most famously, during one Amateur Cup match when the Bishops were
> winning 12-0 at Kingstonian, Sharratt stood by his goalpost and
> allowed the opponents to knock in three consolation efforts. And
> during one Boxing Day derby he was booked for building a snowman on
> his goal line.
>
> But while Sharratt was a showman, he was not a show-off, and when
> called upon, he could produce what was required, showing astonishingly
> sharp reflexes and uncommon agility for a man of 5ft 11in. He won six
> amateur international caps, and played in the 1956 Olympics in
> Melbourne, where his team won two games before going out to the
> Bulgarian national side.
>
> It was the chance to play football at international level that kept
> many potential professionals in the amateur game. Sharratt had no
> regrets. ?We played because we enjoyed it,? he said.
>
> Harry Sharratt was born in Wigan and attended Hindley and Abram
> Grammar School, where his brother, also a non-league goalkeeper,
> taught mathematics. For playing football matches in the morning and
> the afternoon ? he always found it hard to turn down the offer of a
> game ? Harry was demoted from being a prefect.
>
> After National Service in the Navy, during which time he was stationed
> near Carlisle and never saw a ship, Sharratt studied physics at Leeds
> University. He then became a maths teacher in Leeds and, from 1962,
> was the head of department at Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby
> Lonsdale, Cumbria. He moved from Leeds to live in north Lancashire ?
> and remained there for the rest of his life ? because travelling to
> Bishop Auckland had previously taken him three hours each way. It was
> at the school that he met his future wife, Diana, who taught English,
> and Sharratt taught there until his retirement in 1986.
>
> He had already played for amateur sides in the North West when a
> fellow footballer, Len Langford, suggested that he should join Bishop
> Auckland. Sharratt served the club as first-choice goalkeeper from
> 1953 until 1964. During this period he played in four Amateur Cup
> finals. In 1954 the match against Crook Town ? another leading amateur
> team that won the cup a total of five times ? attracted a crowd of
> 100,000.
>
> Kenneth Wolstenholme, who commentated on the second half of the game
> for television, called it the best two hours of sport of 1954. The tie
> went to two replays, and the three matches pulled in an aggregate
> crowd of almost 200,000. But Crook Town won the third match, 1-0.
>
> The Bishops, however, won the Amateur Cup every year from 1955 to
> 1957, and became the only side to win it three times in succession.
> Their last triumph was the club?s tenth and final victory in the
> competition, and they were presented with a replica of the trophy to
> mark their achievement.
>
> Playing for the Bishops, Sharratt also helped to win the Northern
> League Championship three times and the Northern League Cup twice, and
> the team?s success was in no small part due to his own performances.
> Sharratt could also claim credit for persuading Charles Perkins,
> subsequently Australia?s most prominent Aboriginal activist and
> politician, to play for the side; neither forgot the other as their
> lives moved on.
>
> In his later years, Sharratt was a season ticket holder at Wigan
> Athletic, and he attended the first matches of this season. He was
> also present earlier this year when Bishop Auckland played their last
> match at Kingsway, which had been their ground for 116 years.
>
> He was a Freemason and had an interest in railways. He is survived by
> his wife Diana, whom he married in 1964, and their son.
>
>
>
> Harry Sharratt, amateur footballer, was born on December 16, 1929. He
> died on August 19, 2002, aged 72.
>
>
>
> --
Thank you for posting this. I never met Harry, but sounds like he was my
kind of guy. May he rest in peace and let us keep his memory forever.
Serious Tiger
>Any goalkeeper booked for building a snowman on the goal line deserves
>to be remembered.
>
Sounds like a real character. Like my gran. Except Harry probably doesn't stink of piss and
cabbage. At least not any more.
ST.
Certic
Paul C <pa...@Easynet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3d76550f...@news.CIS.DFN.DE...
> Any goalkeeper booked for building a snowman on the goal line deserves
> to be remembered.
>
>
>
>
>
> Harry Sharratt
Owing to sharing a name with who I can only presume is this bloke, my
grandfather once got a letter telling him he'd been capped for England...
--
You are Not entering Chapeltown.
We walk on two legs, the one abstract
the other surreal.
"No-one ever suddenly became depraved"
- Juvenal, Satires
--
Jackie Tellier
news:al8cro$ckm$1$830f...@news.demon.co.uk...
:
: Paul C <pa...@Easynet.co.uk> wrote in message
: news:3d76550f...@news.CIS.DFN.DE...
: > Any goalkeeper booked for building a snowman on the goal line deserves
: > to be remembered.
: >
: >
: >
: >
: >
: > Harry Sharratt
: -------
: Owing to sharing a name with who I can only presume is this bloke, my
: grandfather once got a letter telling him he'd been capped for England...
Wow! too wierd!