Richard Dennis Harris (21 October 1911 – 30 September 1993) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) between

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

for the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

. Harris played mainly as a rover and was highly successful in front of goals. He also represented Victoria at interstate football, playing a total of nine games for his state including the 1937 Perth Carnival.

Early life

Born and raised in

Warrnambool Warrnambool (; Eastern Maar, Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the Census in Australia#2021, 2021 census, Warrnambool had a populati ...

, he started his playing career with Victoria Ward in the Warrnambool Junior FA in 1927. His father had told him he would get a shilling for every goal he kicked. His first game he kicked seven goals. In 1931 he joined the main town side

in the Western District Football League. He kicked 96 goals in his first season and was the league's leading goalkicker. In 1933 Warrnambool moved to the

Hampden Football League The Hampden Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league based in South-Western Victoria, with clubs located in towns along or near the Princes Highway from Camperdown to Portland. The league is a major country ...

and Harris was again the league's leading goalkicker with 85 goals.

VFL career

At the end of 1933 recruited him and he made his debut for them in 1934. Harris played mainly as a rover and was highly successful in front of goals, kicking 51 goals in his debut season. He topped Richmond's goalkicking on three occasions and his career best 64 goals in the 1937 home and away season was the most in the VFL that year. A premiership player in 1934, Harris was a member of another Richmond premiership team in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

when he kicked seven goals in their five-point

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

win against

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

VFA career

At the end of the 1944 season he left the league and joined

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFA) club Williamstown, helping them to the 1945 premiership. Later, after two seasons at Williamstown, Harris was cleared to Yarraville as captain coach in May 1947.

Later years

He moved onto the Federal league club Mordialloc, and captain-coached them to a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

of premierships from 1950 to 1952. Harris later was appointed as Reserves coach for

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

in the VFA in 1953. Harris returned to Richmond as the Reserve grade coach in 1956. He held the position until the end of 1965. In 1964 he acted as the senior coach of Richmond when their current coach, Len Smith, had a heart attack, Harris stepped up and coached to the end of the season.

References

Sources

* Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . * Hogan P: ''The Tigers of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
Richmond Football Club – Hall of FameDick Harris' playing record
from The VFA Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Dick Richmond Football Club coaches Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club premiership players Williamstown Football Club players Mordialloc Football Club players Yarraville Football Club players Warrnambool Football Club players VFL Leading Goalkicker Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 1993 deaths 1911 births VFL/AFL premiership players