A full forward from Hampton Scouts, Harper joined Sandringham in 1947.
[2] He was one of the best VFA forwards of his era, known for his strong mark and quick, courageous ground play.
[4] His bowling made the news for a quirky incident when playing sub-district cricket for Brighton in 1949: his delivery hit and killed a sparrow, with the confused batsman Crowe then attempting to hit the sparrow with his bat, while the ball deviated and hit him on the pads and he was dismissed leg before wicket – the newspapers describing the incident as Crowe out for a duck off a sparrow.
[5] In July 1955, Bruce Harper's last match for Sandringham, in which he broke his leg, happened to be Roy Harper's first match back at Sandringham after his time at Footscray.
[6] Harper died aged 28 from a serious illness on 15 November 1955, just over four months after his final game.