Bill Harvey

Personal life Harvey was born in Chopwell, County Durham, In 1931, he married Sarah, sister of his Barnsley teammate John Wallbanks.

He was one of many footballers refused unemployment benefit after football was classified as a seasonal occupation;

Harvey died in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1978 at the age of 70.

Football career Harvey began his football career with hometown club Chopwell Institute. His performances earned him selection for Durham in inter-county amateur competition in 1927. While on the books of his next club, Annfield Plain of the North-Eastern League, he was selected for the Rest of the League team for the annual match against the reigning champions. He scored 23 league goals in the 1928–29 season before, in March 1929, making his first move into the Football League with Second Division club Barnsley.

He scored 12 goals from 42 league appearances, the last of which came in the 1931–32 season. He was given a free transfer at the end of the season, and returned to his home town. He spent the season as backup to Maurice Dando, contributing 4 goals – a hat-trick in a 5–0 defeat of Wrexham and the only goal of the home fixture against Lincoln City – from 14 league matches as Chesterfield won the Third Division Northern Section title. For the reserves, he scored at least 26 goals in Midland League competition. Although he was available for transfer, no league club were prepared to meet the fee, from which position he reportedly missed shooting chances because of his unwillingness to cut inside; nevertheless, he produced 14 goals from 28 Midland League matches. He contributed the ninth goal to Boston's biggest FA Cup win, by 10 goals to nil against Bilsthorpe Colliery in the Preliminary Round. Boston re-signed him for 1938–39, but in August 1938 he returned once more to the Football League with Darlington.

He made a goalscoring debut in the Football League Jubilee Fund match against local rivals Hartlepools United, but Tom Feeney was preferred when the league season started. Darlington did not select him at centre forward until mid-October, moving Feeney to right half; Harvey marked the occasion by scoring twice away to Hull City, but his club lost 3–2. He kept his position for the 3–1 win against Lincoln City, in which he was fouled for a penalty kick converted by Mike Boyle and then scored the third goal himself. By the end of the season, Harvey had played only 14 times in the league, and scored 7 goals; just before league football was suspended for the duration of the Second World War.