Simon Christopher Rayner (born July 8, 1983) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper, currently signed to Three Bridges in the

Sussex County League The Macron Southern Combination Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of eight divisions – three for first teams (Premier Div ...

Division One.

Early career

Rayner began his career as a junior with

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

, signing as a trainee professional in August 2000 and turning professional one year later. With Bournemouth having scrapped their U19 side and, as third choice keeper behind Gareth Stewart and Michael Menetrier, opportunities in the reserves limited, Rayner joined Wessex League side Bournemouth Poppies on loan in August 2001 whilst continuing to train full-time with Bournemouth. He also made a solitary appearance on loan for Salisbury City in their 1–0 home defeat to

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

on October 6, 2001. In February 2002, in search of first team football, he agreed to cancel his contract with Bournemouth in order to join

League of Wales The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

side Barry Town, helping the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

side to the League and Cup double at the end of the season. In December 2002, he played for the Canadian Under-23 team against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He left Barry in the summer of 2003, joining

Port Talbot Town Port Talbot Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl Droed Port Talbot) is a Welsh association football, football club from Port Talbot. It was founded in 1901 as Port Talbot Athletic, one of the first clubs in the country. The club plays in the Arda ...

in July that year. At end of the following season Rayner had trials with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

, but joined Lincoln City in August 2004. He made his league debut for Lincoln on September 25, 2004, but struggled to establish himself due to the presence of Alan Marriott as Lincoln's first choice keeper. Rayner joined non-league

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 ...

on loan in January 2006. He joined

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 ...

on an emergency loan on March 1, 2007, making his debut the following day in the 1–1 draw away to Chester City. He played ten times for Torquay before being recalled by Lincoln, this coming after Torquay had already been relegated to the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

. He was released by Lincoln at the end of the season. On June 4, 2007 Rayner signed for

on a two-year contract and despite competition from another new signing, Martin Rice, began the season as Torquay's regular goalkeeper in the Conference. Rayner spent only a single season at

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

, and joined

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 co ...

in June 2008. At the time it was reported that Rayner had been made available for transfer following a falling-out with Torquay manager,

Paul Buckle Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager. He is currently a technical advisor at Hartford Athletic of the USL and technical advisor to Landon Donovan at San Diego Loyal. Prior to this, he coached the U23s for South ...

. The Canadian stopper was a mainstay in the first-team throughout his first two seasons at Crawley, although Rayner was displaced by young goalkeeper, Nick Jordan, towards the end of his second season at the club. At the culmination of the 2009/10 campaign, it was announced that Rayner was not to be retained by Crawley. In July 2011, it was announced that Rayner had signed for Three Bridges of

Division One.

International

He has represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at Youth, Under-20 and Under-23 levels.

References

External links

*
Welsh Premier League Career DetailsLincoln City F.C. Official Archive Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayner, Simon 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Langley, British Columbia (city) Men's association football goalkeepers Soccer people from British Columbia Expatriate men's footballers in England Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian men's soccer players Cymru Premier players English Football League players National League (English football) players AFC Bournemouth players Bournemouth F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Barry Town United F.C. players Port Talbot Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Three Bridges F.C. players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Wales Wessex Football League players