Lionel Ryan (13 May 1935 – 6 September 2022) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray 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). The plucky redhead missed out on the 1954 VFL Grand Final, being dropped for coach, Charlie Sutton but was named as an emergency for that game after being one of the better players in the semi-final when he suffered a knee injury and was listed as extremely unlucky not to have played in that Grand Final. Lionel Ryan moved to

Yarrawonga Football Club The Yarrawonga Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Pigeons'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the town of Yarrawonga, Victoria located on the Murray River. Club history The Yarrawonga teams have been competing in ...

in 1958 and was a member of Yarrawonga's 1959

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales and the Ovens and Murray are ...

Premiership team and later moved to

Wodonga Football Club The Wodonga Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Bulldogs'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the city of Wodonga, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. History Wodonga's first recorded match was against the Albury Footb ...

as Captain / Coach from 1961 to 1963. Ryan was the captain of the

Ovens & Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales and the Ovens and Murray ar ...

inter league side in 1963, under coach,

Bill Stephen William Stephen (1 April 1928 – 23 August 2020) was an Australian rules footballer with Fitzroy Football Club. He also coached Fitzroy and Essendon. Playing career Fitzroy Football Club Recruited from Thornbury CYMS and making his debu ...

. While playing with Yarrawonga, Lionel was a huge crowd drawer and bringing huge crowds to watch his strong straight through style of play, brushing aside players with ease. Lionel was a P.M.G. Linesman in those days and was well known around Tungamah and District. Lionel's grandson is

Ryan O'Keefe Ryan O'Keefe (born 24 January 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer with the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL), and was part of the Swans' 2005 and 2012 premiership-winning sides. O'Keefe was a membe ...

former Sydney Swan's 2005 and 2012 Premiership player and

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Football ...

Winner for best on ground performance in the 2012 Swans Premiership win. Another of Lionel's grandsons is Australian Actor Jake Ryan (Australian actor).

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Lionel 1935 births 2022 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Western Bulldogs players Wodonga Football Club coaches