Andrew James Rafferty (born 27 May 1988) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Rafferty played in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

for

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

making the step up from part-time side Guisborough Town. Following his departure from Hartlepool, Rafferty signed for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

side

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

before playing for part-time side

Spennymoor Town Spennymoor Town Football Club is a football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, in the North East of England. They currently compete in and currently play their home matches at The Brewery Field. The club began playing in the Northern ...

Club career

Early career

Rafferty started his career at Darlington but left the club aged 16. Upon leaving, Rafferty had trials at

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

but a broken finger left him unable to sign. He went to play part-time for Crook Town and

Horden Colliery Welfare Horden Community Welfare Football Club, usually abbreviated to Horden CW is a football club based in Horden, County Durham, England. The club was formed as Horden Colliery Welfare in 1908 and joined the North Eastern League in 1935, reaching th ...

before joining Guisborough Town in 2008 and in two seasons he made 49 appearances for the club picking up the Player of the Year award in both seasons.

Hartlepool United

Rafferty joined

in the summer of 2010 from Guisborough Town. Shortly into the new season, Rafferty broke his hand and two bones in his finger in September 2010. When he returned from injury, Rafferty spent the majority of the season as back-up to

Scott Flinders Scott Liam Flinders (born 12 June 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Mansfield Town. Flinders has played for Barnsley, Crystal Palace, Gillingham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Yeovil Town, Blackpool, ...

before making his Hartlepool United debut in a 1–1 draw against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

in April 2011. A knee injury during pre-season in the 2012–13 season ruled Rafferty out for the majority of the season which led to him undergoing an intricate operation to repair the patella tendon in his left knee and return to training for the first time at the start of March. He was named on the Hartlepool team-sheet as a substitute for the first time of the season in a 2–2 draw against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

on the final game of the season. In April 2014, Rafferty made his first appearance of the season in a 1–0 defeat to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in which he saved a penalty from Ryan Taylor. Rafferty made three further appearances before the end of the season. On 14 August 2014, he left

after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.

Dover Athletic

On 19 September 2014 Rafferty joined

side

. The team had a run of 16 unbeaten games both home and away, including in two

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

shock wins over Football League sides Morecambe and

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

. Rafferty did not concede in his first 8 home appearances starting with the match against

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

and ending against

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

. Dover Athletic went on to reach the third round of the FA Cup and played at home against

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. Dover lost the match 4–0, Rafferty's performance earned him second place in The FA Cup's Third Round Top Five Saves. Dover beat

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

2–0 on 20 January 2015 to maintain their record 13 games unbeaten. Rafferty was part of the 2015/16 squad which achieved the club's highest finish in the

, missing out to

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

in the play off semi-finals. Rafferty was released by Dover at the end of the 2015/16 season.

Spennymoor Town

On 1 July 2016, Rafferty moved back to the North East to join newly promoted

Northern Premier League Premier Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

side,

. Rafferty left the club towards the end of the same season by mutual consent to start a new career outside of football.

Personal life

In 2017, Rafferty made the switch from playing football to become a paramedic.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafferty, Andy 1988 births People from Guisborough Living people English footballers Association football goalkeepers Darlington F.C. players Crook Town A.F.C. players Guisborough Town F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players English Football League players Dover Athletic F.C. players Spennymoor Town F.C. players Sportspeople from Yorkshire Darlington Town F.C. players Northern Football League players Northern Premier League players National League (English football) players