Toon Army to lay wreath to Harry Clasper near Putney Bridge

Newcastle United fans travelling to London for the opening match of the new season this Friday night are to pay tribute to a Geordie rowing hero in Putney. Harry Clasper led teams of Tynesiders to win the Rowing Championship of the World on the Thames in the mid-nineteenth century with the races starting from the spot where the modern Putney Bridge currently stands.

The event organisers are expecting a significant proportion of the 5,000 Geordie fans attending the match to descend on the banks of the Thames before the game. Fulham Football Club overlooks spot in Putney where Harry Clasper first led a team consisting of his brothers to their first world title in 1845.

Harry Clasper

Harry Clasper's son, John Hawks Clasper, himself a top rower, went on to build boats. His workshop, on the banks of the Thames in Putney, is now the Westminster School boathouse, which still bears his name, JH Clasper.

The Newcastle supporters will throw a wreath onto the Thames in memory of the man some believe to be the greatest sportsman ever to come out of the North East and the father of modern rowing, "aquatics" as it was termed in the Victorian era.

Newcastle fan Steve Cook, who initiated the tribute, explained: "Rowing was the sport of the working class before the advent of football and every river-based city had its champions.

"In excess of 100,000 people would cram the riverside and bridges to cheer on their heroes."

Harry "Hadaway" Clasper was a hero not just in his native North East but nationally and internationally. In addition to coxing teams to the world titles he trained and inspired future world champions and invented the rowing boats seen today in the Olympics and Oxbridge boat race.

Steve added: "When Harry and his brothers first won the world title in 1845 they were victorious over the ‘unbeatable’ Thamesmen. It caused a sensation nationally!"

The Blaydon Races, the song sung by Newcastle United fans, was written for Harry in 1862 and premiered at his testimonial at Balmbras in Newcastle's famous Bigg Market.

When Harry died in 1870, aged 58, more than 130,000 people crammed the streets of Newcastle and Gateshead to pay tribute.

Hadaway Harry, a play by North East playwright Ed Waugh, about the life and times of Harry Clasper successfully toured the rivers Tyne and Wear last summer.

August 4, 2016