Valentine Harris (Irish: ''Vailintín Ó hEarchaí''; 23 June 1884 in

Ringsend Ringsend () is a Southside (Dublin), southside inner suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the sou ...

, Dublin, Ireland – 9 November 1963), commonly referred to as Val Harris, was an Irish footballer who played

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

for the Dublin county team and soccer for, among others Shelbourne, Everton and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Harris was regarded as one of the finest soccer players of his generation and in 1906 became the first Shelbourne player capped by Ireland. He still remains the club's most capped player. In 1913 he captained the first Ireland team to beat

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and in 1914 he was a member of the Ireland team that won the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

. Harris has been described as an extremely hard player in the mode of Kevin Moran or Paul McGrath and like his Shelbourne, Everton and

teammate, Bill Lacey, he was also very versatile, covering just about every outfield position during his career.

Playing career

Early years

Harris initially played soccer with junior clubs Pembroke and Emeralds and in 1898 helped Pembroke reach the final of the Leinster Junior Cup. He was also an accomplished

er during his teens, initially joining Terenure Sarsfields before joining, and winning honours at club level with

GAA team Isles of the Sea. In 1901 he won an

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

medal with the Dublin county team. Harris is one of several prominent

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Gaelic footballers who successfully switched codes to soccer; others have included Jack Kirwan, Con Martin, Joseph Ledwidge and Kevin Moran.

Shelbourne

In 1903 Harris made his debut for Shelbourne in the Leinster Senior League. In May 1904 he had a trial with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

but then returned to Shelbourne and made his Irish League debut in a 3–1 defeat to

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

on 17 September 1904 at Serpentine Avenue, Dublin. Harris stated that as well as offers from West Bromwich Albion, he has also received approaches from

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

Bury F.C. Bury Football Club is an English association football club based in Bury, Greater Manchester. It most recently played in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, following a 2023 ...

and

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

.Evening Herald, November 23, 1905 Harris went on to play in four consecutive

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

finals and in the 1906 final was captain when Shelbourne beat Belfast Celtic 2–0 at

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

, becoming the first Dublin side to lift the trophy. His teammates during this era included, among others, Joseph Ledwidge and Bill Lacey.

Everton

In March 1908 Harris moved to Everton for £350, the maximum amount allowed at the time. He made his debut for Everton against Woolwich Arsenal and quickly established himself as the team's regular right-half. During his time at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

he was noted for his consistency and effectiveness and played in six different positions. With Harris in the team, Everton regularly challenged for top honours, twice finishing as League runners-up ( 1908–09 and 1911–12) as well as reaching the semi-final stage in the 1910

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. His teammates at Everton included fellow Irish internationals Billy Scott and Bill Lacey, who had followed Harris from Shelbourne in February 1909. Harris made 190

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

appearances and scored one goal; he also played a further 14 games and scored a further goal in the FA Cup.

Return to Shelbourne

After four years at Everton, Harris returned to Shelbourne in August 1914. In 1920 he won the Irish Cup for a second time after both Belfast Celtic and Glentoran were expelled. In 1921 Shelbourne became founder members of the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

and in 1926 the club won the title. Harris remained a prominent member of the Shelbourne team well passed his fortieth birthday and his second spell at the club saw him play alongside Bill Lacey, Bob Fullam, Ed Brookes and Louis Bookman. During his two spells with Shelbourne, Harris made 71 Irish League appearances, scoring 13 goals, 89

appearances, scoring 6 goals, and a further 36 games and 12 goals in the

International

Harris made his debut for

as a centre-forward on 17 February 1906 in a 5–0 defeat to England at the

Solitude Ground Solitude is a Association football, football stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the oldest football stadium in Ireland, and the home ground of Ireland's oldest football club, Cliftonville F.C., Cliftonville. The stadium holds 6,224, but ...

. His teammates that day included Robert Milne and Jack Kirwan. He was the first Shelbourne player to be capped by Ireland and subsequently won a further six caps while at the club. Despite suffering a number of severe injuries related to his robust style of play, Harris was remarkably consistent in his appearances for Ireland and he featured in a run of thirteen consecutive internationals between 1908 and 1912. On 15 February 1913, Harris captained the Ireland team, that also included Billy Scott and two-goal hero Billy Gillespie, as they beat England for the first time with a 2–1 win at

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

. In 1914 Ireland went a stage further and won the

. Harris and Gillespie were joined in the squad by the likes of Patrick O'Connell, Louis Bookman and Bill Lacey.

Coaching career

After retiring as player in 1927, Harris became a coach with both the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

and Shelbourne. In 1932 Harris took charge of the Irish team as they played the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Although the team was chosen by selectors, Harris took charge of training and gave the team talk. Before the game Harris declared ''

Pat O'Callaghan Patrick O'Callaghan (28 January 1906 – 1 December 1991) was an Irish hammer thrower and double Olympic gold medallist. He was the first athlete from Ireland to win an Olympic medal under the Irish flag rather than the British flag. Early ...

put the tricolour flying high here in the 1928 Olympics and it's up to you lads to see it is still flying high this evening''. The words proved inspiring as an Irish team that included

Alex Stevenson Alexander Ernest Stevenson (9 August 1912 – 2 September 1985) was an Irish footballer who played for Rangers and Everton, amongst other teams. As an international, Stevenson also played for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. ...

, Mick O'Brien, Jimmy Kelly and Paddy Moore won 2–0. Harris would later coach and managed Shelbourne as they won the 1939

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

, their first success in that competition.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Northern Ireland's Footballing GreatsHarris with the Shelbourne Team that won the 1906 Irish CupShelbourne official siteDate of Birth at IFFHS
*http://www.newsfour.ie/2014/08/valentines-days/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Val 1884 births 1963 deaths Association footballers from County Dublin Irish association footballers (before 1923) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers NIFL Premiership players English Football League players League of Ireland players Shelbourne F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Everton F.C. players Republic of Ireland association football managers Republic of Ireland national football team managers League of Ireland managers Shelbourne F.C. managers Dublin inter-county Gaelic footballers Isles of the Sea Gaelic footballers Gaelic footballers who switched code League of Ireland XI players Leinster Senior League (association football) players Irish League representative players Men's association football wing halves