Martha Harris (footballer)

Martha Harris
Personal information
Date of birth (1994-08-19) 19 August 1994
Place of birth England
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
Liverpool
Number 3
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2013 Lincoln Ladies 16 (0)
2014– Liverpool 24 (0)
National team
England U19
England U20 3 (1)
England U23

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:31, 19 December 2015 (UTC).
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15:31, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Martha Harris (born 19 August 1994) is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Liverpool in the FA Women's Super League.[1]

Club career

She made her league debut for Lincoln Ladies (since re-located and re-branded as Notts County) on 26 August 2012 in a FA WSL match against Liverpool,[2] coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for Bonnie Horwood.[3] In all she made three substitute appearances in the 2012 WSL season,[2] with the team managed by her father Glen Harris.[4] The following season saw new manager Rick Passmore take charge of the team,[5] and this coincided with Harris becoming a key part of the Lincoln first team, making twelve starts and one substitute appearance in the Lady Imps' fourteen league games.[2]

Her performances in the 2013 season were enough to earn her a move to Liverpool, where she signed a two-year contract,[6] and she also became the first ever winner of the PFA Women's Young Player of the Year award in April 2014.[7] In Harris's first season at Liverpool they retained their WSL title on the final day of the season.[8] She also represented Liverpool in the UEFA Women's Champions League.

Harris was ever-present in the 2015 FA WSL season but the club limped to a seventh place finish. In November 2015 she signed a new contract with Liverpool.[9]

International career

Harris was part of the England women's national under-19 football team who finished as runners-up to France at the 2013 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship in Wales.[10]

In her first season with Liverpool she was called up to the England squad for the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[11] She scored in England's opening match, a 1–1 draw with South Korea, but the next two matches were lost and England went out in the first round.[12] Harris then graduated to England's under-23 team.

League appearances

As of 19 December 2015[2]
SeasonTeamStartsSubstituteTotalGoals
2012Lincoln Ladies0330
2013Lincoln Ladies121130
2014Liverpool64100
2015Liverpool140140

Personal life

Harris comes from a footballing family in Scothern, who in 2011 were all associated with Lincoln Ladies or Lincoln City.[13] Her father Glen Harris had two spells as manager of Lincoln Ladies, and later managed Doncaster Rovers Belles.[14] Older sister Meg was club captain at Lincoln until quitting football when she became pregnant with twins in 2014. Meg is married to former England captain Casey Stoney.[13][15] Younger brother Liam is a youth team player at Lincoln City, and Martha's twin sister Emily plays recreationally, though she was formerly a team-mate of Martha's at Lincoln.[16][13]

References

  1. "UEFA Women's Champions League – Martha Harris". UEFA. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "M. Harris". Soccerway. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  3. "Liverpool vs. Notts County 2–3". Soccerway. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  4. "Lincoln Ladies part company with manager Glen Harris". BBC Sport. 11 October 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  5. John Fernandez (1 February 2013). "New manager for Lincoln Ladies". The Lincolnite. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  6. "Martha Harris: Liverpool Ladies sign England Under-19 defender". BBC Sport. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  7. D. Marshall (28 April 2014). "Former Lincoln Ladies star Martha Harris receives PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year accolade". Lincolnshire Echo. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  8. Leighton, Tony (12 October 2014). "Liverpool Ladies pip Chelsea to WSL title on dramatic final day". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  9. "Liverpool Ladies trio pen new contracts". Liverpool F.C. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  10. "Martha Harris". UEFA. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  11. Glenn Lavery (1 July 2014). "England squad named for Women's U20 World Cup". The Football Association. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  12. Whiley, Mark (25 November 2014). "The Big Read: Martha Harris shining bright for club and country". Lincolnshire Echo. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 Emily Clark (26 August 2011). "Football – a Harris family affair". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  14. "Glen Harris: Doncaster Belles appoint ex-Lincoln Ladies boss". BBC Sport. 8 December 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  15. Casey Stoney (16 July 2014). "Why being a gay mum can help my England career". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  16. "Meet the Harrises: A real football family". FIFA. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, December 19, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.