Marriage lines: a newspaper cutting from 1959 showing Bernie Harrison’s wedding to " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonweddingday.png?fit=300%2C287&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonweddingday.png?fit=640%2C612&ssl=1" class=" wp-image-221833" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonweddingday.png?resize=595%2C569&ssl=1" alt width="595" height="569" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonweddingday.png?w=678&ssl=1 678w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonweddingday.png?resize=300%2C287&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonweddingday.png?resize=150%2C143&ssl=1 150w" sizes="(max-width: 595px) 100vw, 595px">
Marriage lines: a newspaper cutting from 1959 showing Bernie Harrison’s wedding to Doris Moyes, surrounded by many footballing friends and teammates
DAVID MORGAN uses the Minster archive to trace the life and career of former Hampshire batsman and Crystal Palace winger Bernie Harrison, who played at Selhurst Park in the era when footballers earned a maximum £20 per week
What was known then as Croydon Parish Church had its very own Match of the Day on Friday, July 10, 1959.
That was the wedding day for Bernard Harrison and local woman Doris Moyse.
Harrison was then a Crystal Palace footballer, with the Glaziers playing in the old Third Division South.
Bernie Harrison’s wedding drew many footballers from across London. Doris’s brother Alec was the centre forward at Millwall, who had signed him in 1958 after he had scored one goal in four appearances for Palace.
Finding a date for the wedding, even in July, must have proved tricky for Harrison, who was a dual professional, who played football in the winter and was a county cricketer for Hampshire in the summer.
Born in St John’s, Worcester, in 1934, right winger Harrison signed for Palace in October 1955. He had shown his talent during his National Service, representing the Army in both football and cricket.
Multi-talented: Bernie Harrison played professional football and cricket, and was a mean table tennis and badminton player, too " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonportrait.png?fit=191%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonportrait.png?fit=400%2C628&ssl=1" class="size-medium wp-image-221836" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonportrait.png?resize=191%2C300&ssl=1" alt width="191" height="300" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonportrait.png?resize=191%2C300&ssl=1 191w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonportrait.png?resize=96%2C150&ssl=1 96w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonportrait.png?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 191px) 100vw, 191px">
Multi-talented: Bernie Harrison
Four players were signed by Crystal Palace in the early part of the 1955-1956 season in what the local paper described as “a recent flurry of talent gathering”: Ken Morgan, a 20-year-old left winger from Bexleyheath, Brian Collins, a 17-year-old left back from Carshalton, a “promising” ground staff boy, Johnny Byrne, described as an inside forward, was given professional terms, and Harrison, still 20.
The signings proved to be a mixed bunch. Collins never even played for the first team, Morgan just once. Byrne, of course, had a glittering career, playing more than 200 games for Palace before being transferred to West Ham. He won 11 full England caps before returning to Palace for two more seasons.
Harrison would play 100 games for Palace, scoring 12 goals.
But his start at the club was unfortunate. In the paragraph following the announcement of his signing came the words dreaded by the club supporters, “Harrison is on the injured list.”
He made his first team debut for Palace in March 1956. That was a miserable time for Palace, as they finished second from bottom in the Third Division South, and had to seek re-election to the Football League. There was no automatic promotion for non-league clubs then.
The next season saw Harrison establish himself as Palace’s first-choice right winger. As well as providing crosses for the centre forward to head goalwards, he scored four goals. During the 1957-1958 season, he was selected to play for the Third Division South representative team with Cyril Spiers, the Palace manager, praising Harrison’s club performances saying that he had “the potential to become another Stanley Matthews or Tom Finney” – high praise indeed to be associated with two England heroes.
Harrison’s name was often in the local press, reflecting his popularity as a player. Some of these articles helped to give the readers a better understanding of the training methods used at a professional football club in the 1950s.
Olympian training: a photostory in the local paper about the sprint training offered by Brian Shenton, and which features Harrison " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?fit=300%2C189&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?fit=640%2C404&ssl=1" class=" wp-image-221838" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?resize=588%2C371&ssl=1" alt width="588" height="371" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?resize=1024%2C646&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?resize=300%2C189&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?resize=150%2C95&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?resize=768%2C485&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisontraingpicjan59.png?w=1171&ssl=1 1171w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px">
Olympian training: a photostory in the local paper about the sprint expertise offered by Brian Shenton, and which features Harrison
A piece in the paper from January 1958 described how Spiers was endeavouring “to keep the players’ brains active and to form some recreational training”. This meant table tennis leagues among all the players. The first team squad formed league A with all other players in league B.
Harrison was clearly a good all-round sportsman, as he topped both the table tennis league, with 11 victories from 11 matches, and also triumphed in the badminton doubles matches with Colin Shone.
Peter Berry, the Crystal Palace forward who played 151 times for the club, did not enjoy his table tennis sessions. He lost every one of his matches.
In 1959, Palace’s players, including Harrison, were pictured with Barry Shenton, the Olympic sprinter and 1950 European 200 metres champion, who was employed by the club to help the players “with their speed”.
Football star: Johnny Byrne, Harrison’s team mate, on the cover of Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Johnny-Byrne-on-cover-of-Charles-Buchans-Football-Monthly.jpg?fit=220%2C270&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Johnny-Byrne-on-cover-of-Charles-Buchans-Football-Monthly.jpg?fit=220%2C270&ssl=1" class="size-full wp-image-221840" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Johnny-Byrne-on-cover-of-Charles-Buchans-Football-Monthly.jpg?resize=220%2C270&ssl=1" alt width="220" height="270" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Johnny-Byrne-on-cover-of-Charles-Buchans-Football-Monthly.jpg?w=220&ssl=1 220w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Johnny-Byrne-on-cover-of-Charles-Buchans-Football-Monthly.jpg?resize=122%2C150&ssl=1 122w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px">
Football star: Johnny Byrne, Harrison’s Palace team mate
The article fails to state how effective this specialist training was for the players, nor who was the quickest of the footballers, although the chances are that winger Harrison will have been among the front-runners.
His all-round sporting ability had seen him attract much attention as a teenager when he scored his first half-century for Worcestershire Second XI against Northamptonshire Seconds who included a promising fast bowler, Frank Tyson. It was after Harrison’s family moved to Basingstoke that he linked up with Hampshire.
Harrison was part of Hampshire winning their first County Championship in 1961, captained by Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie. With Hampshire having Roy Marshall and Jimmy Gray as their opening batsmen, Harrison’s opportunities were limited: he played twice in their county championship-winning side and four times the following season.
Harrison had a top score for Hampshire of 110, achieved in 1961 against Oxford University. He played off and on for their second XI until 1968.
Harrison wasn’t the only Palace player to enjoy a game of cricket. In early September 1958, the local cricket reporter noted that the opening batsmen for Streatham Cricket Club’s game against Guildford were Bernard Harrison and Johnny Byrne.
xxx " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?fit=300%2C156&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?fit=640%2C333&ssl=1" class="size-large wp-image-221842" src="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?resize=640%2C333&ssl=1" alt width="640" height="333" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?resize=1024%2C532&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?resize=300%2C156&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?resize=150%2C78&ssl=1 150w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?resize=768%2C399&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/insidecroydon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/harrisonhampshirewinningteamharrisonsatongroundright.png?w=1324&ssl=1 1324w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px">
Champions: the Hampshire CCC squad, including Bernie Harrison, that won their first County Championship in 1961
A few weeks before, in August, as part of their pre-season activities, a Crystal Palace FC team tried its hand at cricket, and beat Warlingham CC by six wickets. Harrison was away playing for Hampshire, as Byrne starred, scoring 91 not out. Brian Collins did the damage with the ball, taking six Warlingham wickets for 58 runs.
At the close of the 1959 season, Harrison was one of nine Crystal Palace players who were put on the transfer list. Harrison might once have expected to require a transfer fee of £9,000, but his form in the previous season had not been good, and Palace said that they would accept an offer of around £1,500 – less than £50,000 in today’s values.
This was an era when there was a wage cap on professional footballers’ salaries of £20 per week during the season (£17 during the summer). The maximum wage in English football was not abolished until January 1961, following a campaign led by the then Fulham player, Jimmy Hill. His team mate, Johnny Haynes, became the first player to earn £100 per week shortly after the restriction was lifted.
In the summer of 1959, around the time he was planning his wedding at Croydon Parish Church (what we now know as Croydon Minster), Harrison was sold to Southampton. There, Harrison’s playing opportunities were limited by the inspired form of Terry Paine, who would go on to be a member of England’s 1966 World Cup squad. Harrison only played three games for the Saints.
Harrison was shunted off to Exeter after just one season, for the grand sum of £350. He appeared in 17 of the first 18 league matches of the 1960-1961 season, scoring four times.
Perhaps his greatest moment in an Exeter shirt was playing in the club’s inaugural League Cup game at home to Manchester United. On October 19 1960, in front of a crowd of 16,000, the tie ended in a draw, 1-1. Harrison’s professional football career ended soon after that, although he continued to play for non-league sides including Poole Town and finally Winchester City.
As was the case with sportsmen of that era, once they finished their professional careers, they had to find a new occupation to help them pay the bills. Harrison became a teacher, specialising in maths and sport. He was a very popular and well-respected master at Farleigh School, near Andover, for many years.
He devoted much of his time to coaching cricket, being a stalwart of the Basingstoke and North Hants Cricket Club.
Thoroughly absorbed in the statistics of his beloved sports of cricket and football, his study shelves were full of Wisdens and Rothmans football year books. In his later years, Harrison suffered from blindness, but he was still able to quote many of the details found in his collection.
In 2001, Harrison had a biography about him published: Brushes with the Greats: The Story of a Footballer/Cricketer. Author Kevin Smallbone described Harrison as being “too talented for his own good”, lamenting his limited football career, which he put down to “insular and narrow-minded managers who were suspicious of individuality, skill and flair”.
The title of his biography was apt. Not many sportsmen could lay claim to have played football against Nobby Stiles, Dennis Violet and Billy Foulkes as well as facing the fast bowling of a young Frank Tyson.
Harrison enjoyed his sporting team mates, none more so than Johnny Byrne and Old Etonian Colin Ingelby-Mackenzie, his flamboyant Hampshire captain, who was once quoted as saying cricket should be about fun, flair, sportsmanship and gambling.
Bernard Harrison died in Basingstoke on March 18, 2006. He was 71.
I wonder if Harrison told the youngsters he was coaching about his sporting friends and adversaries? If he didn’t, they would have been amazed that their teacher and coach had rubbed shoulders with the best.
David Morgan, pictured right, has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for almost a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
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