Harold Day

Harold Lindsay Vernon Day (12 August 1898 — 15 June 1972) was an English rugby union footballer and a first-class cricketer. After serving in the First World War with the Royal Artillery, he played domestic rugby predominantly for Leicester Tigers from 1918 to 1929, becoming their record points scorer. He also earned four Test caps for England, scoring 16 points. Following the end of his playing career, he became an international rugby union referee. As a first-class cricketer for Hampshire, he made 78 appearances as a batsman, scoring over 3,100 runs and making four centuries. Alongside a career in teaching, Day was also a rugby union and cricket journalist for The Daily Telegraph.

Early life and WWI service Day was born on 12 August 1898 in British India at Darjeeling. He was educated in England at Bedford Modern School, where he excelled in track sports, holding the school record for the long jump. He left Bedford at the height of the First World War and went straight to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, graduating from there into the Royal Artillery (RA) as a second lieutenant in November 1916, before being promoted to lieutenant in May 1918. He was seriously wounded in action during the war, and following the end of the war in November 1918 he was posted to Leicestershire. There he resigned his commission in the RA to take up a career in teaching.

Sporting career Rugby union Whilst serving in Leicestershire with the RA, Day began his association with Leicester in 1918. On the back of strong performances for Leicester, he earned his second and third Test caps in the 1922 Five Nations Championship, playing against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park (in which he scored a try) and France at Twickenham. Ahead of the fixture against France, Day had his kit stolen during lunch and had to borrow kit from his teammates, which was ill-fitting and led to discomfort whilst playing. Despite this, Day played an important part in denying the French what would have been a famous victory, by kicking one conversion and scoring two penalties. Beginning in 1922, he began an association with Hampshire, for whom he made his debut in first-class cricket for against Kent at Southampton in the 1922 County Championship, a match in which he scored 56 and 91. He quickly established himself in the Hampshire side, making seventeen appearances in 1922 and scoring 1,062 runs at an average of 39.33; he scored one century, making 107 against Warwickshire at Southampton, alongside nine half centuries. Day made just three appearances in the 1923 County Championship, but returned to play regularly for Hampshire in 1924, making 27 first-class appearances. Alongside playing for Hampshire in 1924, he also played for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixture at Blackpool. He also made 100 against the touring South Africans in the same season. which was his final first-class century.

Personal life and death After retiring from sport, Day became rugby union correspondent and a cricket reporter at The Daily Telegraph. In 1952, he wrote a book on rugby union. He took up golf in later life, reputedly playing to a high standard. Politically, Day was a Conservative. He died suddenly on 15 June 1972 at Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire; an obituary notice had been mistakenly published about Day some years prior to his death.