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Overview
Harold Jarman is a Bristol-born sporting legend. A highly talented winger for Bristol Rovers, he made almost 500 League appearances for the club, scoring over a century of goals. Although he has taken on many different roles for clubs in the UK and the United States, his heart has always belonged to Bristol – he returned initially as youth team manager, then caretaker manager (saving the Rovers from relegation) before coaching and managing the youth and reserve teams During the summer months between 1961 and 1972, Harold also enjoyed playing professionally for Gloucestershire County Cricket club, delighting crowds with his skill and particularly his astute fielding. In this book, Mike Jay and Ian Haddrell explore a remarkable life, accompanied by fascinating pictures, many unpublished from Harold's own collection.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780750957724 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2014 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 160 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Harold Jarman
Bristol Rovers Local Hero
By Mike Jay, Ian Haddrell
The History Press
Copyright © 2014 Mike Jay & Ian HaddrellAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7509-5772-4
CHAPTER 1
The Jarman Family
On 4 May 1939, Harold James Jarman, the fifth child of William Percival Jarman (born 27 July 1894), and Catherine Alice Jarman (née Harris, born 24 June 1901), was born at No. 13 Ambra Vale South in the Clifton Wood area of Bristol. Little did the family appreciate that their newborn son, Harold, would be destined to be one of Bristol Rovers' most famous footballers.
Harold's proud parents were married in Bristol in 1927, although his father William had been previously married – in 1925 – to Victoria Creedy, who had sadly died a year later, aged just 25 years old. William and Catherine's first child, Ronald William Raymond (known as 'Bill'), born 10 September 1928, was followed by sons Herbert Kenneth, John Samuel and daughter Eileen Rita, who was 5 years old when Harold was born. Harold's father, William, was at that time employed as a carpenter, having spent twenty-five years working for the firm of William Cowlin & Son Ltd, the well-known Bristol construction company, whose head office and works were located in Stratton Street, St Paul's. One of his last jobs for the company was working on the construction of the Council House in College Green, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1938 (the building opened in 1956). Bill Jarman had been a keen footballer in his youth, playing for Ashton City at Ashton Park.
The Jarman family had lived in the Clifton area of Bristol from the mid-nineteenth century; John Alfred Jarman (Harold's grandfather) had been born there in 1853, whilst John's father, John Jarman Sr, hailed from Taunton in Somerset. Between 1851 and 1871, the Jarmans resided at Haggetts Cottages, Clifton Wood, before moving to North Street in the St Andrews district of the city. Sometime during the 1870s, John Alfred Jarman left Bristol and joined the 2nd/4th Regiment of the British Army, in which he was recorded, on 3 April 1881, as serving as a private as part of an Army contingent on board HMS Serapis in the Red Sea. A Euphrates-class troopship, HMS Serapis was commissioned for the transport of troops to and from India, spending most of her time plying the route between Britain, Alexandria and the Indian subcontinent. Following his marriage to Millicent Reynolds in Bristol in 1886, John – his occupation now recorded as carpenter and joiner – and his young family were enumerated in the 1891 census as living in No. 5 Ambra Vale South, a small terraced house in a row of mid-nineteenth century properties, which they shared at the time with a family named Wilcox. Ten years later, in 1901, John Jarman, Millicent and their four offspring (Gertrude, Herbert, Minnie and Willie) were living at No. 13 Ambra Vale South, in a property described in the census as a six-room tenement. By April 1911, Millicent was a widow aged 50 (her husband John had died earlier that year) and working at home as a laundress, with son William – Harold's father – recorded as a 16-year-old apprentice joiner in the census returns of that year. During the First World War, William worked at Charles Heal's dockyard.
* * *
Misfortune struck the Jarman family just months after the birth of Harold in May 1939, when his father suffered a serious virus infection, which resulted in the loss of his sight at the age of 45. This disability unfortunately prevented him working again, which meant that Harold's mother took on work as a cleaner, holding down several jobs to ensure the family survived. As well as bringing up her young family and looking after her now blind husband, Catherine worked from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at government offices in Apsley Road. After the Jarman family moved to West Town Lane in Shirehampton in the late 1940s, she worked as a cleaner at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Offices (now a Free School) in Westbury-on-Trym.
The young Harold attended Hotwells Primary School between 1944 and 1950, which was a short walk from the family home in Ambra Vale South to Hope Chapel Hill, Hotwells. The Jarman family lived in an impoverished area of the city and were deprived in terms of money, but that did not prevent Harold and his siblings enjoying a happy childhood. In September 1950, aged 11, Harold transferred to Penpole School, Shirehampton, until Easter 1951, when he moved to Portway Boys' School, finishing his secondary education in July 1952.
CHAPTER 2The Young Sportsman
From about the age of 6, Harold showed a real interest in sport and enjoyed joining in kick-about football games with his older brothers and friends. Despite his lack of size, Harold always had a real passion for the game and constantly tried to improve his football skills. Harold, along with his brothers, was a frequent visitor to Ashton Gate to watch Bristol City; his first recollection of watching them was around 1946, against West Bromwich Albion. 'I don't remember the score but I do remember the crowd and the atmosphere even at that young age,' he recalled years later. On occasions Harold would duck under the turnstiles at the ground to get in to watch the match for free, but his mother, in an attempt to prevent this practice, used to take his shoes away to stop him from doing it. As a child he was full of energy, and his mother described him as being a bit of a handful when he was little. Once he climbed on top of a bus shelter and she couldn't get him down!
Harold played for Hotwells Primary School football team from the age of 7, travelling by bus to various parts of the city to play other schools, with just one schoolmaster – who also refereed the game – to accompany them. Interviewed in 1988, Jarman recalled, 'We didn't have parents on the side then and these days there seems to be so many of them watching. They have bigger crowds than our old reserve games! I remember one year we scored 43 goals and I scored 35 of them. I was a good kicker of the ball. If we lost 11–3 I would score the 3 – but we still lost 11–3! I thought it was fantastic and really enjoyed myself'. However, on one occasion, Harold was brought swiftly down to earth by the master when he turned up for school one day without his football gear, yet still expecting to play. 'Who do you think you are, Tommy Lawton? You're not playing,' advised Mr Warford, the schoolmaster.
Too wrapped up in the fun of the game to contemplate the prospect of being paid to do what he loved best, Harold was also showing talent for his other great love – cricket. For Harold, both sports came naturally. 'In those days when you went back to school after Easter you just started playing cricket in the playground. It was an enclosed area and they would draw the wickets on a wall and then have frequent arguments about whether you had been bowled or not,' he recalled. Harold was quite small in stature but 'they would have trouble getting me out'. Mr Warford noticed his cricketing ability and treated him well by encouraging him in the game.
Harold was recognised as one of the most promising youngsters in Bristol and, between the ages of 13 and 16, received cricket coaching paid for by his former schoolmaster, Mr Warford, in a scheme organised by the Bristol Evening Post, who invited local schools to submit the names of promising youths from the age of 10 for coaching. Harold's family were unable to afford the annual fee of 21s (£1.05), but Mr Warford stepped in and paid the fees for three years. The coaching sessions, at Cotham Grammar School playing fields in Kellaway Avenue, Horfield, were run by West Indian cricketer Len Harbin, a Trinidadian who had played for his native island and for Gloucestershire between 1948 and 1951. Harold continued to improve so much that, at the age of 14, he was promoted to the Evening Post senior class held at the Gloucestershire indoor nets.
After Harold left primary school, Archibald Warford sent him two cricket score books (which are still in his possession) that had been used to record the school's matches from 1944. 'I played 43 football matches and 44 cricket matches and he watched every single one of them,' declared Harold. In the letter that accompanied the score books, Mr Warford had this to say to his former pupil and cricketing prodigy:
I joined the school in April 1946 and you came the following September. Your first cricket match for the school was on 18 May 1947 when you were still 7 years of age. You scored 1 run and took 2 wickets for 0. For the next 4 seasons we were both ever presents – you playing while I umpired. I should think that would mean about 44 matches. Incidentally in 3 seasons you missed one football match. We lost that one 6–1.
In fact, Archibald Warford, who served in the RAF during the Second World War, had the dexterity to both umpire and score the school cricket matches. His involvement was the principal reason young Harold played cricket and enjoyed it so much. At the age of 12, Harold was picked for the senior cricket team at Portway School and selected to play cricket for Bristol Boys, captaining them during his final two years at school. Although recognised as a cricketer, somewhat surprisingly, Harold was never selected for Bristol Boys football team, despite having trials for the representative side between the ages of 12 and 15, as he was considered too small and was 'getting walloped about by the big kids'.
As a schoolboy, Harold dreamed of becoming a county cricketer, and the first step to fulfilling that ambition was achieved when, in 1952, he joined Bristol Optimists Cricket Club aged 13, whilst still at Portway School. The chairman of Optimists CC was also heavily involved with Hotwells Boys' Club. Harold's first game for the club, in the 'A' team, was an away fixture against Old Bristolian's 'A' on 6 June at the new Bristol Grammar School ground, and by the end of the 1952 season, he had made his first team debut in a Sunday match at Shirehampton in September. Optimists practised in the nets at Bristol University's sports ground, as there were none at Blaise Castle, where the club played home matches. However, Harold's family had little money to provide cricket equipment for the budding star. He had no pads, gloves or bat of his own, but did possess some whites, and it was Jack Bessant, the pre-war Gloucestershire all-rounder, who provided the enthusiastic youngster with a brand new top-quality Gradidge bat of his own, which Harold used until he was 15. In 1954, Harold was awarded the Martin Hooper Cricket Cup and medal, an annual award presented by the Bristol Evening Post to the most promising young cricketer in Bristol. Harold, the last holder, was presented with the cup at the County Ground.
Tuesday 8 May 1956 was a red-letter day for Optimists as, for the first time in their history, they were granted a match with Gloucestershire. Played at Blaise Castle, the visitors scored 118–7; Optimists promptly responded with 50–7 (H. Jarman 2 not out). The Bristol Evening World account of the match reported that, 'Harold Jarman and J.R. Bernard, a great-grandson of Dr W.G. Grace, have been receiving coaching at the County Ground from "Sonny" Avery and George Emmett.' Harold's coaches were the experienced former Gloucestershire County cricketer George Emmett and Alfred Victor Avery, who had played for Essex for twenty years.
Harold's cricketing talent, which had been nurtured at school and improved with his practice at the Hotwells Boys' Club and Optimists' Cricket Club, was such that at the age of 16 he was selected for Gloucestershire Seconds to play against Hampshire II in a two-day match at the County Ground, Southampton, on 21 and 22 June 1956. The match at Hampshire proved to be a baptism of fire for the young Jarman, as Gloucestershire were bowled out in their first innings for just 28, with Harold top scoring with 8 not out! He nicked 4 twos behind the wicket. Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to bat with Jarman, batting at number five, coming to the crease with a paltry 8 runs on the scoreboard. His maiden innings for Gloucestershire lasted 44 minutes, when he was dismissed by Derek Tulk, a right-arm medium pace bowler. Hampshire made a more respectable 122 all out in their first innings, after which Gloucestershire rallied in their second innings to declare at 273–3. Coach Sonny Avery, furious about the inept first innings debacle, led by example, scoring 164 not out. Promoted up the order, Jarman went in first wicket down when Barrie Meyer was dismissed for 35, and hit 1 four before being caught by Colin Roper off the bowling of Tulk. The match ended in a draw.
Harold had to wait until the following summer for his second appearance for the county, which came in May 1957 against Bristol University at their Coombe Dingle sports ground. Gloucestershire won by an innings and 60 runs, having declared their first innings at 370–8, with Jarman scoring 12 runs before he was out lbw to Neil Fitton. His next appearance was in a Minor Counties Championship game against Cornwall on 14 and 15 August at the County Ground at Ashley Down in Bristol. Initially known as Ashley Down Ground, it was bought in 1889 by W.G. Grace and has been home to Gloucestershire Cricket Club ever since. The home side won by 45 runs, with Jarman batting only in the first innings when he scored 9 before being bowled by Harold Watts.
* * *
Clifton Villa Football Club was formed in 1949 by a collection of Hotwells boys who were unable to get a game with A.G. Farmers Reserves, a team who played in the Downs League on Durdham Down in Bristol. Harold's brothers Bill, Sam and Ken, helped form the team, with cousin Johnny Pearson and brother-in-law Ray King also playing for the Villa. The large expanse of grass, 'The Downs', has staged competitive football since the 1880s – in the early days of Bristol Rovers their team had played there before eventually moving to Eastville in 1897. The organised Downs League was established in 1905 and remains one of the oldest leagues in the country; even today, many hundreds of footballers enjoy their Saturday football on the windswept area close to the iconic and historic Clifton Suspension Bridge. There are some thirty football pitches set in 247 acres of open parkland, with barely five yards between touchlines and goals backing on to one another. Much time is spent retrieving balls from the adjoining pitches.
Even the best games are considered to be low-quality football, although this was not always the case. Eddie Hapgood played his last amateur matches – before briefly joining Kettering and then Arsenal – on the Downs for the same club as Wally Hammond, who joined Bristol Rovers and captained England at cricket. Kenny Stephens, who played for West Bromwich Albion in the First Division and an FA Cup semi-final, started his career on the Downs, as did Jarman and Rovers half-back Terry Oldfield. Bristol journalist David Foot described the Downs League as 'the grave yard of the frail and the weak hearted', and considered that Harold's football was undoubtedly nurtured by this experience.
The league was expanded from three divisions to four in 1949/50, and Clifton Villa joined the sixteen-team Division 2 at the beginning of that season, when they finished as runners-up. Early results included an 8–0 victory over Bristol Electricity, 5–2 against B.M.P. Ltd, and a 3–2 win over Eastville Old Boys in the Norman Hardy Cup in September. Further success came the following season, with the Villa winning the Division 1 championship.
On finishing at Portway Boys' School in July 1952, Harold sat and passed the entrance exam for Bristol Technical School (Building), located in Jarvis Street, Barton Hill, and started there in August. Pupils were fitted up with a uniform and sports kit, plus a white apron for practical work by local outfitters Messrs Smart Wear (these had to be bought by the students themselves). Most new pupils wore the school's distinctive black and green cap, but after an initial outing, they rarely saw the light of day again. Harold did not enjoy his time at the school, and was pleased when it came to an end in July 1955, after which he commenced a four-year carpentry apprenticeship with C.H. Pearce & Sons of Ashley Down Road, attending the College of Technology on day release for the first two years and then evening classes four nights a week during the winter until Easter. Although Harold was not particularly keen on a career in carpentry, his father informed him, 'That's what you'll do', as he followed the same profession as his brothers and several generations of the Jarman family.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Harold Jarman by Mike Jay, Ian Haddrell. Copyright © 2014 Mike Jay & Ian Haddrell. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Title,Acknowledgements,
Foreword,
1 The Jarman Family,
2 The Young Sportsman,
3 Professional Footballer,
4 The Summer Game,
5 Cup Adventures,
6 From Newport to New York,
7 Rovers' First Bristolian Manager,
8 Family Life,
Statistics and Records,
Copyright,