John Harley

Club career

In Argentina Harley played for Ferro Carril Oeste before being recruited by Uruguayan club Central Uruguay Railway Cricket Club (later Peñarol). Harley was spotted by C.U.R.C.C. when they played a friendly match against Ferro Carril Oeste in 1908. Harley played with C.U.R.C.C./Peñarol from 1909 until his retirement from football in 1920. He captained C.U.R.C.C./Peñarol for ten seasons.

International career

Harley played his first match for Uruguay in September 1909. He played the last of his 17 matches for the national team in October 1916.

Harley acted as a player/manager of the Uruguay national team from 1909 until at least 1910. After retiring as a player Harley managed Peñarol.

Harley was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1886 and was raised in Cathcart. By 1906 he had become a railway engineer working in Springburn, near Glasgow. In that year he moved to South America to work on railways along the Río de la Plata. Initially he worked in Argentina where he worked for the Bahía Blanca and North Western Railway and the Buenos Aires Western Railway. On arriving in Uruguay in 1909 Harley worked for the Central Uruguay Railway. He worked for the railway for 37 years until his retirement.

Harley's time with Peñarol as a player and manager is considered significant for the fact that he changed the Uruguayan style of football from a focus on long ball to a game that featured short passing. This style of play is considered to have contributed to Peñarol and Uruguay achieving significant success up to the 1920s.