Stapley Harry Image 1 West Ham United 1907

Description

Southborough, Kent born centre forward and inside right Harry Stapley played junior football for Bromley, Ilford Alliance and Harleston in 1902, and Horwich Church in 1903 before joining Reading, where he played for the reserve and amateur teams. He joined Woodford Town in 1904 from where he joined Southern League West Ham United in September 1905, continuing to play for Woodford Town after having joined The Hammers. Stapley made his West Ham debut against Portsmouth at Upton Park on 23rd December 1905 and scored the only goal of the game. In April 1906, he joined The Pilgrims for their Tour of Austria. He spent three seasons at Upton Park and was The Irons’ top scorer in all three, even though his job as a schoolteacher prevented him from travelling to certain midweek away games. In total, he scored 41 goals in 75 appearances through to his final match in May 1908.

He first appeared for England’s Amateur XI in December 1907, when he scored a hat-trick in a 6-1 victory over Ireland at White Hart Lane, and he followed this up with five goals two weeks later in a 12-2 victory over The Netherlands at Feethams, Darlington. In total he scored an astonishing 25 goals in 11 amateur internationals through to November 1909 with three further hat-tricks. He also represented Great Britain in 3 matches at the 1908 London Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal, with Stapley scoring once in their first match, a 12-1 win over Sweden, and all four goals in the semi final 4-0 victory over The Netherlands, playing in their 2-0 Final victory over Denmark at White City Stadium, Shepherd’s Bush in October 1908. Additionally he was selected for England’s full international squad for their summer tour to Austria and Hungary in June 1908, but had to withdraw and never played a full international.

He joined Second Division club Glossop in August 1908, making his Football League debut at Fulham the next month scoring twice in a 3-2 victory, and while retaining his amateur status he continued his strong scoring record, ending as the club’s top-scorer for the next three consecutive seasons and for four of his six seasons at the club. He scored hat-tricks against Birmingham in April 1909, Oldham Athletic in December 1910 (4 goals) and Lincoln City in February 1914. He also played for Southern League club Leyton in 1909. He played his last match for Glossop in April 1914 having scored 94 goals in 202 appearances for The Hillmen.

He was also an excellent cricketer and represented Hampshire at first class level.

His younger brother, William Stapley, also played League football for Glossop (with Harry) having been on the books at West Ham United without making their first eleven.