David Paul Fry (born 5 January 1960) is an English former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

. Born in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, he began his career at Weymouth as an amateur and in January 1977 signed for

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 * ...

. Fry was initially understudy to firstly,

John Burridge John Burridge (born 3 December 1951), nicknamed Budgie, is an English former goalkeeper who is now working with Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters as their goalkeeping consultant and senior goalkeeping coach for their goalkeeping academ ...

and then

Paul Barron Paul George Barron (born 16 September 1953) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the head coach for the Las Vegas Mobsters Playing career Born in Woolwich, London, Barron qualified as a PE instructor ...

but in the second half of the 1982–83 season, became first-choice goalkeeper after Barron left the club. In July 1983, however, he was transferred to Gillingham and later went on to play for

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 ...

. After that, he moved into

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

, playing for

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 syst ...

Fisher Athletic Fisher Athletic F.C. were a semi-professional football club from South East London, which last played in the Conference South, which is one of the two leagues that form the sixth tier of the English football league system. The Bermondsey-based ...

and

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

in the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

. In April 1991, he scored with a wind assisted drop kick for Yeovil in a 7–2 win in a league game against

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

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* 1960 births Living people English men's footballers Gillingham F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Fisher Athletic F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Footballers from Bournemouth English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers {{england-footy-goalkeeper-stub