Harold Thomas William Hardinge, known as Wally Hardinge, was an English professional sportsman who played both cricket and association football for England.
24 Facts About Wally Hardinge
1.
2.
Wally Hardinge played football at the top domestic level between 1905 and 1921 for Newcastle United, Sheffield United and Arsenal and made a single international appearance for England in that sport.
3.
Wally Hardinge briefly managed Tottenham Hotspur after he retired as a sportsman.
4.
Wally Hardinge was the son of William and Ellen Hardinge, his father being a seaman.
5.
Wally Hardinge was coached by Captain William McCanlis at Kent's Tonbridge Nursery from the age of 13 and made his debut for the County in August 1902 against Lancashire at Tonbridge at the age of 16.
6.
Wally Hardinge was the youngest player to make their first-class debut for Kent until 2006 and is still the second youngest debutant for the county.
7.
Wally Hardinge became a regular in the side in 1907 when he was capped by the County.
8.
Wally Hardinge played in the four Kent County Championship winning sides of the period between 1906 and 1913 and was named as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year in 1915.
9.
Wally Hardinge was considered a "reliable opening batsman" who became "one of the mainstays of the Kent eleven" by 1911.
10.
Wally Hardinge passed 1,000 runs for a season 18 times and scored more than 2,000 runs five times, his best season being 1928 when, at 42 years of age, he scored 2,446 runs at an average of just under 60 runs per innings.
11.
Wally Hardinge scored centuries in four consecutive innings in 1913 and four times scored centuries in both innings of a match.
12.
Wally Hardinge scored 25 and 5 and was not picked again, although he did play twice in war-time matches for an England side against the Dominions in 1918.
13.
Wally Hardinge is Kent's second leading run scorer after his contemporary Frank Woolley and second, to Woolley, in the County's all time appearances list with 606, including a run of 101 consecutive County Championship appearances between 1924 and 1928.
14.
Wally Hardinge's 1928 run aggregate is the third highest in Kent's history and his highest score of 263 not out remains the ninth highest in the County's first-class history.
15.
Wally Hardinge bowled slow left arm spinners well enough to take 371 career wickets in a Kent side which featured great spin bowlers such as Colin Blythe and Tich Freeman as well as Woolley and Bill Fairservice.
16.
Wally Hardinge was described by Wisden as one of the "finest outfields in the world".
17.
Wally Hardinge made first-class appearances for a number of other teams, including the Royal Air Force, and made his final first-class appearance for Kent in 1933 aged 47.
18.
Wally Hardinge played for amateur clubs Eltham, Tonbridge and Maidstone United in Kent before signing for Newcastle United in 1905.
19.
Wally Hardinge retired as a professional footballer in 1921, having played 55 times and scored 14 goals for the Gunners' first team.
20.
In 1918 the RNAS was merged with the Royal Flying Corps and Wally Hardinge transferred again to the newly formed Royal Air Force with the rank of sergeant major, first with the Cadet Brigade headquarters at Hastings and then at the Armament School.
21.
Wally Hardinge transferred to the RAF Reserve in January 1919 and was discharged in 1920.
22.
Wally Hardinge was an FA instructor for Kent Secondary Schoolboys, leaving the post in 1935.
23.
Wally Hardinge had a spell as a coach of Tottenham Hotspur's reserve team in the 1930s and for a short period became caretaker manager of the first team in 1935 after the departure of Percy Smith.
24.
Wally Hardinge died at Cambridge in 1965 at the age of 79 after a long illness.