Saturday, January 6, 2007

100 Person Who Shock The Kop - NO 92: Harry Chambers



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Harry Chambers, Liverpool's prolific goalscorer of the roaring twenties, is number 92 in our '100 Players Who Shook The Kop' countdown.
Four years after our ground-breaking '100 Days That Shook The Kop', we are delighted to invite you to enjoy our new '100 Players Who Shook The Kop' series – the definitive countdown of the 100 players who have made the biggest impact at Liverpool.

Over 110,000 supporters have all nominated their own personal Top 10 players in order of impact made and now the definitive top 100 countdown is underway.

Every player who has made the top 100 – and there are some surprises in there - will be honoured on this website via the e-Season ticket console with a specially produced video clip, including archive footage and exclusive interviews.

Since 1892 hundreds of players have represented this club but everyone has their own particular favourites so don't expect this list to be based solely on talent. The greatness of a player can be measured in many ways – obviously, his ability on the pitch is the most important, but 100 PWSTK is much more than that. It's about the impact the individuals chosen have had on this club, be it for a variety of reasons. Maybe it was because of their unique rapport with the crowd, a specific incident that has never been forgotten or anything else that has left a lasting impression.


Name: Harry Chambers

Years at Liverpool: 1915 to 1928

Position: Forward

Date-of-birth: 17/11/1896
Birthplace: Willinton Quay, Northumberland

Signed from: North Shields Athletic (April 1915)

Games: 338
Goals: 151

Honours won: First Division Championship (1921/22, 1922/23)

With his bandy-legged gait and hefty frame Harry Chambers was one of the most unlikely Liverpool goalscoring heroes. Looks can be deceptive though and ‘Smiler’, as he was commonly known by team-mates and fans alike, is right up there with the best of them when it comes to hitting the back of the net on a regular basis. There can no underestimating the importance of the goals he scored in a red shirt and his shooting prowess was instrumental in the club winning back-to-back League Championships in the early twenties. A native of the north-east, Chambers signed for Liverpool from North Shields Athletic in April 1915 shortly before the suspension of competitive football due to the outbreak of the World War One. Because of the hostilities it would be over four years before he made his debut for the Reds but in between he turned out as a wartime guest for Irish clubs Belfast Distillery and Glentoran. Once league action resumed it didn’t take the Geordie inside-forward long to make his mark and he scored on his official Liverpool bow. He went on to establish himself as the undisputed goal king of Anfield in the immediate post-war years, topping the club's goalscoring charts for the next five seasons, and representing England on eight occasions. In April 1928, aged 32, ‘Smiler’ finally bade Liverpool a fond farewell and such was his passion for the game he continued to play for another twenty years!

Sold to: West Bromwich Albion (April 1928)

Claim to fame: Scoring a hat-trick against Everton in a 5-1 thrashing of the Blues in September 1928

Did you know? Between August 1925 and September 1927 when he didn’t miss a game

Where is he now? Sadly passed away, aged 53, on 29 June 1949

John Keith on Harry Chambers: "Harry Chambers played a major part in Liverpool's success in the 1920s and so will always be listed as one of the great figures of the club's pre-war history."

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