‘British Tar Heel’ makes trip from England to attend this week’s UNC basketball games

Former North Carolina women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell received a picture of two of her former camp staffers attending the men’s basketball win over Virginia Tech on Monday. She immediately recognized the ginger-haired man from England she hadn’t seen since that basketball camp in 2015.

It was King George: the guy who sent an unsolicited request while he coached a women’s basketball team in England to work at Carolina’s camp.

He was denied the first time, but followed up the next year, and was welcomed with open arms.

“It warms your heart to be around somebody like that and just how much they enjoy being here,” Hatchell said. “I wouldn’t be surprised at anything as far as his commitment, allegiance and loyalty to the Tar Heels.”

George Harmer, 29, laughs when he recalls Hatchell giving him the nickname. He’s better known on social media channels today as British Tar Heel.

Harmer has no prior affiliation with UNC, but he’s well on his way to becoming a bit of a celebrity fan. He’s been posting about his excitement in traveling from Norwich, England to Chapel Hill to attend his first men’s basketball game for the better part of the season.

“I was just basically born in the wrong town,” Harmer said. “This is my number one team. Even though I grew up a Norwich City fan. We’re in a Premier League — I work for the club. I still consider this (Carolina) my number one sports team.”

Harmer and his partner Dr. Bryony Porter have chronicled their journey on Twitter and Instagram, and picked up followers and friends along the way. He’s clearly not royalty, although he says he’s been treated as such while spending this week in Chapel Hill.

They have gone to men’s basketball games against Virginia Tech and Boston College. They added in games to see the Carolina Hurricanes and Charlotte Hornets too. But the focus in on the Heels. They’ll wrap up their trip on Saturday when UNC plays rival N.C. State.

“A big part of this trip was I wanted to show my partner why I love North Carolina so much not just the school, but the state,” Harmer said. “And really, you guys have really shown southern hospitality and that’s kind of what I wanted to show her. She says it multiple times that we’ve been treated so well. Everyone’s just so nice. So that was a big thing I wanted to just in case one day she was like maybe she’d be up for moving over here.”

Harmer has done local radio, been featured on local television and said he was contacted about being interviewed by the ACC Network. He got a tour of the Dean E. Smith Center from men’s basketball director of basketball operations Eric Hoots. And he said he met assistant coach Brad Fredrick. His biggest thrill may have been when Hoots let him take a couple of shots on the court.

“It’s Carolina,” Harmer said. “People say, why are you such a fan, I love everything about it. Coach Roy Williams is a big part of that. Coach Roy Williams is my hero.”

Where it began

Harmer’s self-described obsession began when he took on the Heels as his team from his first visit to the United States as an 18-year-old.

The English native worked at a summer camp in Hendersonville, N.C., where he served as a lifeguard and taught kids soccer. When the staffers of that camp played pick-up basketball, Harmer asked who his team should be. Since the majority of staffers were UNC students, naturally they said the Tar Heels. But they never would have imagined the seed they planted in Harmer’s mind would grow like this.

“I came to him came back home to England and I just fell in love with it,” Harmer said. “It was contagious. I stay up late for every game. Those 9 p.m. games are really hard to stay up for — I still stay up for them — I’m just more tired at work the next day.”

When Carolina plays weeknight games, Harmer has to catch them either at midnight in England, which is a 7 p.m. Eastern tipoff; or beginning at 2 a.m., which is a 9 p.m. Eastern tipoff.

Porter said when she first saw Harmer’s room dedicated to his favorite sports teams, half was decorated in Norwich City Football Club paraphernalia and the other half was, “this college basketball team I’d never heard of.”

Harmer credits Porter for his idea to start writing a blog on Carolina basketball. (His first post was comparing Leaky Black to J.P. Tokoto.) He later started focusing on former UNC players who played overseas. That turned into a podcast where he’s had guests like Jawad Williams and Joel Berry II join him.

“The initial way I understand college level sport, we don’t have anything that compares to that in England,” Porter said. “But when I understood George’s love of sport and being a fan, and getting into that sort of relationship with how sport is more than just a game, it all makes sense.”

Harmer will celebrate his 30th birthday on Sunday, so his week in Chapel Hill has been a week-long celebration. They’ve enjoyed their time in North Carolina, even though Harmer refuses to step foot in Durham.

With a chance to attend Thursday’s women’s basketball game bewteen UNC and Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Harmer declined. He traveled roughly 4,000 miles to go to a Carolina game, but traveling eight more down Highway 15-501 seemed unconscionable to him.

Harmer said he patterned a lot of his fandom from observing his dad, a lifelong fan of Norwich City Football Club. When highlights are shown of Norwich’s rival Ipswich Town scoring goal, his father will close his eyes rather than to see them successful.

“When you have a rival team in England, you hate the other rival,” Harmer said. “No offense to the people who live in Durham, I’m sure the town is lovely. But I couldn’t step into Hansbrough Indoor Stadium or whatever you want to call it. I just couldn’t do it.”

When Harmer returns home to England, he’ll go back to work for Norwich City Football Club on Monday and still be reminded of Chapel Hill when they resume play on Feb. 5.

The coach of the Canaries is none other than a man named Dean Smith.