Harold Pemberton Brittan

One of the most outstanding and influential players in the early years of the ASL, Brittan came to the United States from the London club Chelsea.

There he had shown a great deal of potential that was never realized and after his career had been interrupted by illness and the outbreak of World War One, he moved to the United States. At first he played for Bethlehem Steel and then in the first year of the ASL led Philadelphia to the championship. The following year, Fall River owner Sam Mark, signed him and with Brittan leading the attack the Marksmen won the ASL championship in the 1923-24, 1924-25 and 1925-26 seasons. In 1924 the Marksmen also won the U.S. Open Cup. Strangely enough Mark allowed Brittan to go to arch rivals New Bedford at the start of the 1926-27 season, but he never really settled down at Battery Park and, after turning down a move to Providence late in 1926, decided to retire. By this time Brittan owned a very successful automobile dealership in Fall River and didn’t want to move any distance away from the city. The Marksmen, however, were successful in luring him out of retirement in the spring of 1927 and he led the attack in the final as Fall River once again captured the U.S. Open Cup. Following the 1927-28 season Brittan really did retire to devote his interests to business, but he came back into the Fall River picture once more in the spring of 1931. Then after Sam Mark had moved the Fall River franchise to New York City he put together a group of businessmen to buy the Providence franchise and move it to Fall River, but with the country in the throes of the great depression, the team lasted but a few months before it too folded.