Reginald Alphonso Ryan (30 October 1925 – 13 February 1997), also referred to as Paddy Ryan, was an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

. Ryan was also a dual international, playing for both Ireland teams – the FAI XI and the IFA XI. He was the last player to represent both teams. He was more of a goal creator then a goalscorer.

Club career

Early years

Ryan initially played gaelic football for the Marino School in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

while growing up, but then switched to soccer after moving to Blackpool during the early years of the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. He then played with Claremount School, Blackpool Boys, various factory teams and had trials with both

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

before joining Nuneaton Borough.

Coventry City

Ryan had two spells with

. In April 1943 he signed for the club as an amateur and during the 1942–43 season he played 2 games in wartime regional leagues. He then turned professional in August 1944 and made a further 4 appearances for the club during the 1944–45 wartime season. After playing for

and

, he returned to City in September 1958. He then helped the club win promotion from the newly formed

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

, after they finished as runners-up in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. During his second spell with City he played 70 times in all competitions. ''Soccer at War – 1939 – 45'' (2005): Jack Rollin
/ref>

West Bromwich Albion

In April 1945 Ryan signed for

and during the 1945–46 season, he made 17 appearances in the

Football League South The Football League North and Football League South divisions of the Football League were created temporarily for the League to continue through the Second World War while limiting the amount of movement that was required by teams. The leagues star ...

. He made his debut for the club against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

in November 1945. Together with Davy Walsh and Jackie Vernon, he helped West Brom gain promotion to the First Division in 1949. In 1954, together with

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for nineteen years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League, and scoring 2 ...

and Frank Griffin, he was also a member of the West Brom team that finished as First Division runners-up and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

winners. He also helped West Brom gain a share of the FA Charity Shield when he scored in a 4–4 draw with

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

Derby County

Ryan signed for

in June 1955 for a fee of £3,000. He was appointed team captain by manager Harry Storer and during his three seasons with the club missed only three matches – two because of injury one because of international duty. He was a member of the side promoted as champions of the Third Division North to the Football League Second Division in 1956–57. In 1955 he also played for an English Division Three North XI against an English Division Three South XI. Ryan played 133 league games for County, scoring 30 goals. He also played a further 6 games for the club in the

, scoring a further goal.

Irish international

When Ryan began his international career in 1949 there were, in effect, two Ireland teams, chosen by two rival associations. Both associations, the Northern Ireland – based

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Ac ...

and the Ireland – based FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland and selected players from the whole island. As a result, several notable Irish players from this era, including Ryan, played for both teams.

FAI XI

Between 1949 and 1955 Ryan made 16 appearances and scored 3 goals for the FAI XI. He made his debut in a 3–1 defeat to Sweden on 13 November 1949 in a qualifier for the

1950 World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

. He scored his first two goals for the FAI XI in October 1953 during the qualifiers for the 1954 World Cup, one against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in a 5–3 defeat and the second, a penalty, against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

in 4–0 win. On 7 November 1954 in a friendly against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, he scored his third goal, again from the penalty spot, and earned the FAI XI a 2–1 victory. He made his last appearance for the FAI XI on 27 November 1955 in a 2–2 draw with

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Ireland (FAI) stats
/ref> ''The Boys In Green – The FAI International Story'' (1997): Sean Ryan
/ref>

IFA XI

Ryan made his one and only appearance for the IFA XI in a 0–0 draw with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 8 March 1950. As well as being part of the

1950 British Home Championship Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe cond ...

, the game also doubled up as a qualifier for the

. Ryan, together with

Con Martin Cornelius Joseph Martin (20 March 1923 – 24 February 2013) was an Irish footballer. Martin initially played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team before switching codes and embarking on a successful soccer career, playing for, among oth ...

, Davy Walsh and

Tom Aherne Thomas Aherne (26 January 1919 – 30 December 1999), also referred to as Bud Aherne, was an Irish footballer and hurler. He played football for Belfast Celtic and Luton Town and was a dual internationalist, playing for both Ireland teams � ...

, was one of four players born in the Irish Free State, included in the IFA XI that day. Ryan had earlier played for the FAI XI in the same competition, and as a result had played for two different teams in the same

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

tournament. This situation eventually led to intervention by FIFA and as a result Ryan became one of the last four

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

– born players to play for the IFA XI.

Later years

After retiring as a player in November 1960, Ryan worked as a pools supervisor for both

(1960–1961) and

(1961–1962). Between September 1962 and October 1976 he was chief scout for West Brom. He later worked as a scout for various clubs including Aston Villa,

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

before retiring in 1994.

Honours

West Bromwich Albion *

**''Winners'' 1954: 1 *

English First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

**''Runners-up'' 1953–54: 1 *

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

**''Runners-up'' 1948–49: 1 * FA Charity Shield **''Shared'' 1954: 1 Derby County *

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

**''Winners'' 1956–57: 1 Coventry City * Fourth Division **''Runners-up'' 1958–59: 1

References

External links

Northern Ireland Footballing Greats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Reg 1925 births 1997 deaths Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland association footballers Ireland (FAI) international footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Pre-1950 IFA international footballers Dual Irish international footballers Nuneaton Borough F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Gaelic footballers who switched code Association football forwards FA Cup Final players