An Evening With Ron Harris

[TwigtheWonderkid]

So, sitting at home last night about 7:15, minding my own business, when my oldest lad, who is 16 and a qualified referee, says " can you drop me down the road, there's a referee's society meeting, guest speaker is Ron Harris." Ron was a hero of mine when I was a lad, so I ran him down there and stayed.

What a great night. Only a small room, about 20 of us & Ron, he spoke for about an hour about the 60s and 70s, and then answered questions for about an hour. All free and gratis, and very good of him as he is flying to Bermuda this morn to take part in a function for Chelsea.

Great entertainemnt, he must be about 68, still doesn't like Leeds in general and Johnny Giles in particular.

[andyjo1982]

My missus and FIL met him when he opened a Ladbrokes in our town about 6 or 7 years ago, he signed a shirt and they had a good chat. They said he was nice bloke. I think he also passed on a telephone number for his agent so people could get in touch to arrange for ex players to be guest speakers and the like at functions etc...

[marcosgt]

Chopper was my childhood hero - I had number 6 on my Chelsea shirt when everyone else was 9!

Nice to hear he's doing well - Is he a referee-ing sort these days? He was the scourge of them in his day!

M.

[Ferg]

A mate of mine had contacts at Chelsea a few years ago and got two speakers on consecutive years at my son's youth football club. I'm not a Chelsea fan by any stretch of the imagination, but Kerry Dixon was a really nice guy and the kids (Under 9s-Under 18s) were pretty interested. However, the following year...Clive Walker. The bloke talked for well over an hour and every child was hanging on his every word. Talk about inspiring!

[JNW1]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

still doesn't like Leeds in general and Johnny Giles in particular.

Kettle and pan me thinks! Still, must be a bugger for a hardman when you come up against a team that has players with the cheek to kick you back (or even the audacity to kick you first!!).

[TwigtheWonderkid]

He gripe with Johnny Giles is the Chopper feels he at least he (Chopper) was an honest thug. He couldn't play, but he could stop other people from playing, and then give the ball to someone who could play. He had no issues with the others of his ilk, Tommy Smith, Billy Bremner, Peter Storey, every club had them. He spoke very warmly of Billy Bremner.

But he says Johnny Giles was nasty, sneaky and a dishonest thug. There was some kind of unwritten code of conduct for hard men, and Johnny Giles never stuck to it.

But I'm sure Johnny Giles would have his side of the story. Personally, I won't be arguing with any of them. Especially Tommy Smith, who could seriously injure an opponent on a Question of Sport.

[JNW1]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

He gripe with Johnny Giles is the Chopper feels he at least he (Chopper) was an honest thug. He couldn't play, but he could stop other people from playing, and then give the ball to someone who could play. He had no issues with the others of his ilk, Tommy Smith, Billy Bremner, Peter Storey, every club had them. He spoke very warmly of Billy Bremner.

But he says Johnny Giles was nasty, sneaky and a dishonest thug. There was some kind of unwritten code of conduct for hard men, and Johnny Giles never stuck to it.

But I'm sure Johnny Giles would have his side of the story. Personally, I won't be arguing with any of them. Especially Tommy Smith, who could seriously injure an opponent on a Question of Sport.

Suitably envious, bet it was an excellent evening listening to Chopper speak! I'm a Leeds fan through and through (sorry!) and grew up supporting the Revie team; often feel people want to focus on the negative aspects of that squad and forget it contained some excellent footballers (not least Eddie Gray who a certain Chopper Harris kicked 6ft in the air early doors in the 1970 cup final replay!). Interesting that Ron didn't like Giles though; seem to remember that George Best always felt he (Giles) was a nasty piece of work which if true is a bit of a shame as Giles was also a very talented player and didn't need to resort to that sort of thing.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

JNW1 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

He gripe with Johnny Giles is the Chopper feels he at least he (Chopper) was an honest thug. He couldn't play, but he could stop other people from playing, and then give the ball to someone who could play. He had no issues with the others of his ilk, Tommy Smith, Billy Bremner, Peter Storey, every club had them. He spoke very warmly of Billy Bremner.

But he says Johnny Giles was nasty, sneaky and a dishonest thug. There was some kind of unwritten code of conduct for hard men, and Johnny Giles never stuck to it.

But I'm sure Johnny Giles would have his side of the story. Personally, I won't be arguing with any of them. Especially Tommy Smith, who could seriously injure an opponent on a Question of Sport.

Suitably envious, bet it was an excellent evening listening to Chopper speak! I'm a Leeds fan through and through (sorry!) and grew up supporting the Revie team; often feel people want to focus on the negative aspects of that squad and forget it contained some excellent footballers (not least Eddie Gray who a certain Chopper Harris kicked 6ft in the air early doors in the 1970 cup final replay!). Interesting that Ron didn't like Giles though; seem to remember that George Best always felt he (Giles) was a nasty piece of work which if true is a bit of a shame as Giles was also a very talented player and didn't need to resort to that sort of thing.

Yes, Chopper spoke at length about the 70 final. The 1st game Chelsea were outplayed. Eddie Gray ran David Webb ragged. Leeds should have won the match, but Gary Sprake was in goal and generously decided to dive in instalments. In the replay, Chopper swapped with Webb and went out wide, with the express purpose of nobbling Grey. Which he did quite effectively 8 mins in. With Grey effectively out of the game, Chelsea were in with a shout.

Chopper also said that George Best was no angel, and was perfectly happy to leave his foot in. Fascinating stuff.

I hated and admired Leeds in equal measure. I loved the way Peter Lorimer could volley the ball out of touch and the other 10 Leeds players could appeal for the throw in in perfect unison. Syncronsied cheating, respect! But there were some fine players in with the thuggery, Jones, Clarke, Grey, Giles, Lorimer, Madeley et al.

But 42 yrs on, and I still look for the Leeds score each week and smile if they've lost!

[steve2]

I went to a Pat Jennings evening which was a meal with about 25 of us and then 2 hours of Pat talking about his career and then signing autographs and the guy who organized it said that Ron Harris was a great speaker and well worth listening too

[Smart Mart]

Not sure if he still does but in the mid-nineties, he ran a park where people could stay in log cabins for a holiday, somewhere near Warminster, Wiltshire.