William Ronald Ryan (born 26 November 1944) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL).

Football

Ryan, who was recruited from Swan Hill, could play as a ruckman, centre half back and key position forward. On 6 July 1963 he was a member of the Geelong team that were comprehensively and unexpectedly beaten by Fitzroy, 9.13 (67) to 3.13 (31) in the

1963 Miracle Match The 1963 Miracle Match was an Australian rules football game contested in the second half of the 1963 VFL season home-and-away competition’s round 10 "split round" matches. The match, between the Fitzroy Football Club and the Geelong Fo ...

. He participated in the 1967 Grand Final but his side lost and he never played in another. A strong mark off the ball, he finished equal fifth in the 1971

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

count. The same year he kicked a career best 67 goals, with eight of them coming against Footscray at

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a number of ...

. He is often remembered for a match-winning goal he kicked after the siren against Collingwood at his home ground in the 1967 season. With Geelong down by five points he took a mark 15 metres out, but as Ryan was noted for his wayward kicking at goal it was no certainty. His shot was by smothered Collingwood's

Terry Waters Terry Waters (14 December 1943 – 27 July 2020) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Originally from Victorian Football Association (VFA) club Dandenong, Waters' transfer app ...

but he had another opportunity when the umpire decided that Waters had run over the mark. Ryan finished his football career in Queensland, playing for both

Coorparoo Coorparoo is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Coorparoo had a population of 16,282 people. Geography Coorparoo is by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Holland Park, Stones Corner ...

and

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

during the 1970s. Most successful at Southport, he appeared in a total of five premiership sides. In both 1974 and 1975, he captained the Queensland interstate team and once kicked five goals in a win over

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Bill 1944 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Geelong Football Club players Coorparoo Football Club players Southport Australian Football Club players

Football

See also

External links