Harry Allen was an English international

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 footballer, who played most of his career for Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...

, and was their captain.

Career

Allen started his career with Walsall Swifts

Walsall F.C.

Walsall Football Club are an English association football club based in Walsall, West Midlands. They currently play in League One. The club was founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts, an amalgamation of Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. The club was one of the founder members of the Second...

 before moving to Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.

Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...

 in 1886, making his senior debut - and scoring - in a 6–0 FA Cup win over Matlock Town

Matlock Town F.C.

Matlock Town F.C. is an English football club based at Causeway Lane in Matlock, Derbyshire.-History:The club was established in the late 1870s and have competed in the Central Alliance and the Midland Counties League before reaching the Northern Premier League.In the 1974–75 season the club won...

 on 30 October 1886.

He was part of the Wolves team that were founder members of the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 in 1888

1888-89 in English football

The 1888–1889 season was the 18th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:A new competition, The Football League, started this season...

, playing in their very first league game against . He also played in the 1889 FA Cup Final

1889 FA Cup Final

The 1889 FA Cup Final was contested by Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Kennington Oval. Preston won 3–0, with goals by Fred Dewhurst, Jimmy Ross and Sam Thomson...

, where Wolves went down 0–3 to league champions . Despite this setback, he went one step further in 1893

1893 FA Cup Final

The 1893 FA Cup Final was an association football game contested by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton. Wolves won by a single goal, scored by Harry Allen....

 as he scored the only goal to lift the FA Cup against Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

.

Allen's club form won him a call-up to the England team

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 in 1888, as he made his debut in a 5–1 win over Wales

Wales national football team

The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...

 on 4 February 1888. He won 5 caps in total, all in Home International

British Home Championship

The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the 1883–84 season until the 1983–84...

 fixtures spread over three years.

Illness and a back injury forced him to retire from the game though in October 1894. In total, he made 153 appearances for Wolves, scoring 8 goals. He became landlord of a pub in Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

, but died suddenly on 23 February 1895, aged 29.

Honours

• FA Cup
  FA Cup
  The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
  
   winner: 1893
  1893 FA Cup Final
  The 1893 FA Cup Final was an association football game contested by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Everton. Wolves won by a single goal, scored by Harry Allen....
  
  
• FA Cup
  FA Cup
  The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
  
   finalist: 1889
  1889 FA Cup Final
  The 1889 FA Cup Final was contested by Preston North End and Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Kennington Oval. Preston won 3–0, with goals by Fred Dewhurst, Jimmy Ross and Sam Thomson...