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A
75 Year Footballing Journey From Wembley Stadium to Harrow Borough
by Lawrie Harries
Harrow
Borough supporter Harry Dier, now in his 91st year, has been watching
football at various levels for 75 years and he still attends all
home games played by the Ryman League Premier club.
Remarkable
as this is, Harry has a wider claim to fame. As a 14 year old he
was a spectator at the first ever Wembley cup final in 1923 - the
so-called White Horse final - when Bolton beat West Ham. This was
a game where admission was by payment at the turnstiles and Harry
remembers the occasion well. "After getting in I was swept along
by the crowd and looking back now I suppose the situation was very
dangerous. I was a slightly built 14 year old, and at one stage
I feared I was going to get badly injured but another spectator
came to my rescue by holding my head up as it seemed to be going
in a different direction to the rest of my body which was trapped
in the mass."
He
has a vivid recollection of the mounted policeman and the huge crowds
which engulfed the playing area at one stage after spectators had
rushed the gates, but of the actual match he saw very little because
of the crush and then "mostly when the ball was kicked in the air!"
About 1,000 spectators were injured, very few seriously despite
the overcrowding, and Harry from his vantage point on the terracing
remembers seeing many of the injured laid out below him in what
is now known as the players' tunnel.
He
did not let his Wembley experience deter him however, and continued
to watch football, particularly his first football love, Chelsea.
Born in Sussex, Harry Dier moved to Harrow in the mid-1950's. By
chance he moved into a house in which he still lives with wife Edna,
with a garden backing onto the ground of what was then Harrow Town
who were playing in the Spartan League.
He
went along to see what the non-league game had to offer and soon
became involved in the club in a variety of ways. Harry was persuaded
to join the board of management and was saddled with the job of
minute taker for years. This hard work eventually got its recognition
as Harry Dier has been elected a Life Vice President of Harrow Borough.
Harry was to return to Wembley in 1967 in the company of Dave Bassett,
then a Harrow player (although as Harry points out with a twinkle
in his eye, only in the reserves) and now a highly respected manager,
for a game which saw Spurs win the Cup by beating Chelsea.
One
of the major changes for the better that he has witnessed over the
last 40 years in the non-league game is in facilities for spectators
and also the condition of playing surfaces. Harry remembers that
the Earlsmead pitch was frequently under water at one end after
rain, and the ground was usually very heavy throughout most of the
winter months requiring regular forking. Nowadays Earlsmead is renowned
for the quality of the playing surface.
Asked
his opinion on the standard of the non-league football today compared
with 40 or so years ago, Harrow believes that there were better
individual players in the non-league game years ago: "Amateur players
turned out regularly for First Division clubs in those days but
it would be almost impossible today for someone to move from the
Ryman League straight into the first team of a Premier or First
Division side. I think teams are more tactically aware today but
I'm not sure it makes for more exciting football.
"Personally I dislike the fashionable slow build up from defence.
I would prefer more intelligent use of the long ball - together
with early crosses from the wings." Interestingly, asked to nominate
his strongest side from the players he has seen over 40 years representing
Harrow, Harry still found room for two of this year's first team
favourites: Dave Clarke (now Dover) an outstanding wingback, and
Mr Reliable, defender Jason Court (now Aylesbury).
Returning
to the Wembley theme, Harry's biggest footballing disappointment
was Harrow's defeat by Telford in the Trophy semi-final in 1983
after Boro' had been 3-0 up on aggregate early in the second leg.
"Most Boro' supporters felt we had one foot on the Wembley turf
but it was not to be and to be fair, Telford played very well in
the second leg at Earlsmead." But like every football fan he is
an optimist, adding "Perhaps next year will be our year".
The
grip that football has on individuals never ceases to amaze. Ninety
years young, Harry Dier still an enthusiast, is the personification
of that dictum. Harry appeared as a guest on ITV's Cup Final programme
on May 16th and was interviewed by Jim Rosenthal about his experiences
at Wembley in 1923. He spent the afternoon watching the final in
the company of England Team Coach Glenn Hoddle - whose father played
for Harrow Town 30 years ago - and former England boss Terry Venables.
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