Denis James Ryan (10 July 1916 – 22 April 1980) was an

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 for

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

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) during the 1930s. Ryan originally played with the

Albury Rovers Football Club Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

and kicked three goals in their 1933 premiership win over Henty Football Club in the

Albury & District Football League The Albury & District Football League was established at a delegates meeting in Culcairn in 1930 from the following Australian Rules Football clubs - Albury Rovers, Culcairn, Henty and Holbrook and folded after the 1957 football season. History Th ...

. Ryan won the 1934 -

's best and fairest award, the Stavley Medal, playing for the Albury Rovers Football Club, before heading down to Melbourne to play with Fitzroy. Ryan debuted in the VFL in 1935, in round one, aged just 18 and started his career at centre half forward, topping Fitzroy's goalkicking in his debut season with 46 goals. He was moved to centre half back the following season and won the 1936

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 ...

, with 26 votes, making it the fifth Brownlow in the previous six years to have gone to a Fitzroy player. In 1939 after injuring his knee, Ryan joined the army and fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving for four years. He was wounded as one of the "Rats of Tobruk" and later served 18 months on the front line in New Guinea. He never played VFL football after the end of World War Two. In 1947, Ryan was appointed playing coach of the

Howlong Football Club Howlong is a town west of Albury, and is situated on the Murray River which separates the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. The town is located on the Riverina Highway. There is a bridge across the Murray into Victoria. How ...

in the

Chiltern & District Football Association The Chiltern & District Football Association was first established in 1912 from the following Australian Rules Football clubs - Barnawartha, Chiltern, Chiltern Valley, Christmastown, Southern and Wodonga, in North Eastern Victoria, Australia and w ...

. In 1948, Ryan coached the Catholic Young Men's Football Club team in the Albury & Border Junior Football Association.

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* 1916 births Fitzroy Football Club players Brownlow Medal winners Albury Football Club players 1980 deaths Australian people of Irish descent Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian rules footballers from Albury Military personnel from New South Wales {{AFL-bio-1916-stub