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Your support makes all the difference.| Kenneth Morgan Harris, banker and rugby administrator: born Whitchurch, Glamorganshire 11 January 1909; CBE 1971; married 1936 Margaret McLean (died 2002; two sons, two daughters); died Cardiff 11 January 2003. |
Ken Harris was one of the most decisive administrators in the history of the Welsh Rugby Union. He was honorary treasurer of the WRU for 30 years and was the brains behind the magnificent refit which began in the 1960s of the national ground, Cardiff Arms Park, now converted into the Millennium Stadium. Harris not only made a dramatic impact on the WRU finances by increasing the seating capacity at the Arms Park, but worked the oracle with the then Cardiff Rugby Club chairman Hubert Johnson in securing the title lease at the Arms Park for the WRU.
He was born in Whitchurch, Glamorganshire, in 1909. Educated at Penarth Grammar School, he went into banking as a 17-year-old, starting as a junior clerk in Pontypridd. He rose to become a senior director of Barclays Bank in Wales.
It was through Barclays that he became involved with the WRU. As well as acting as the union's treasurer from 1952 until 1982, he combined his role in the WRU with those of honorary treasurer of the University College of South Wales and of the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff.
He went on to serve on the IRB (International Rugby Board) between 1965 and 1979, became President of the WRU in the Grand Slam season of 1970-71 and a Life Member of the Union from 1977. As chairman of the WRU Centenary Committee, he was responsible for generating £500,000 in the centenary year 1980-81 for the union's Charitable Fund.
In the WRU official history Fields of Praise (1980), Harris is described as having "brought considerable financial acumen and a tough-minded realism to the councils of the WRU". The history books also heap praise on him for his work in redeveloping the Arms Park as a truly national ground.
In the late 1950s Harris battled successfully with the Inland Revenue to have ticket income classed as mutual income on which, since tickets are dispersed to member clubs, no tax is payable. This saved not only the WRU, but their fellow home unions, considerable sums of money.
Robert Cole
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