Described as "a gauche amateur with Portsmouth, who had the happy habit of scoring via almost any part of his anatomy that the laws allowed",[4] he moved on to Brighton & Hove Albion,[1] and turned professional with that club in February 1956 having bought himself out of the service.
A few days later he was mistakenly named in the Great Britain squad preparing for the Olympic Games, for which, as a professional, he was ineligible.
Harburn recalled the team were expected to take an attacking approach: "We scored 114 goals in our promotion year and I remember the manager Billy Lane telling us that when you see the whites of the goalposts whack it.
[8] The player himself thought he "wasn't ready for that quality of football",[6] and he made only four appearances at the top level, scoring once.
[10] He played in the first five games of the following season, without scoring, but was deemed surplus to requirements after Harry Middleton's arrival from Wolverhampton Wanderers.