John Goodison Irving (born 17 September 1988) is an English former

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 lea ...

who played as a defender.

Career

Everton

Born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

then moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

aged 2, Irving began his career at hometown club Everton in 1995. On 20 December 2007, he was named in the matchday squad for a 3–2 win at

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

group stage after Everton had already advanced, but never played a competitive match.

Bala Town

Irving then moved to

Bala Town Bala Town Football Club () is a Welsh professional football club from Bala, Gwynedd, who play in the . They play their home games at Maes Tegid. History For a full history see; '' List of Bala Town FC seasons'' Although the current Bala Tow ...

of the

Welsh Premier League 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. It was found ...

, where he made 109 top-flight appearances across four seasons becoming their longest serving player, scoring 3 league goals. On 18 May 2013, in his final game for Bala, Irving scored the winner three minutes from time in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

Play-off game against Port Talbot Town, which resulted in his team qualifying for their first ever European match, a year after losing the same fixture to Llanelli Town.

Auckland City

In 2013, Irving moved to New Zealand and joined semi-professional side

Auckland City Auckland City () was a territorial authority area with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Au ...

, freshly crowned champions of

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. At the

2013 FIFA Club World Cup The 2013 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Morocco 2013 presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons) was the 10th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between t ...

in Morocco, he played the first 86 minutes of their 1–2 defeat to

Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic, widely known as Raja Casablanca or simply Raja, is a Football team, football club based in Casablanca, Morocco, that competes in Botola, the top flight of Moroccan football league system, Moroccan football. Founded on 20 M ...

in the opening game at the

Stade Adrar Adrar Stadium (; (Adrar means mountain in Central Atlas Tamazight, Tamazight); ), is a multi-use stadium in Agadir, in the Souss-Massa region in the country of Morocco, near the Atlas Mountains, in North Africa, and is used as a home venue by ...

Agadir Agadir (, ; ) is a major List of cities in Morocco, city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Sous River, Souss River flows into the ocean, and south of Casabla ...

. Irving played all of Auckland's 7 matches as they won the

2013–14 OFC Champions League The 2013–14 OFC Champions League was the 13th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 8th season under the current OFC Champions League n ...

, concluding with a 3–2 aggregate win over Amicale in the final. At the year's Club World Cup, again in Morocco, he scored a penalty as Auckland defeated

Moghreb Tétouan The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

in a shootout in the opening game in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

. At the same stadium in the quarter-final on 13 December, he scored the winning goal against

ES Sétif Entente Sportive Sétifienne (), known as Entente de Sétif, commonly referred to as ES Sétif or ESS for short, is an Algerian professional association football, football club based in Sétif. The club was founded in 1958 and its colours are bl ...

to get Auckland to the semi-finals in a man of the match performance, getting Auckland City to the furthest point they have ever reached in the FIFA Club World Cup. In the match for third place against

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

, Irving missed in the shootout when he struck the crossbar, but Auckland nonetheless won the bronze medal.

Return to Bala Town

In 2015, Irving returned to Bala. On 25 February 2017, he scored in a 3–0 win over

Cymru Alliance The Cymru Alliance League (known for sponsorship reasons as Huws Gray Alliance) was a association football, football league in North Wales, north and Mid Wales, central Wales which formed the second level of the Welsh football league system. Fro ...

team

Guilsfield Guilsfield (, "Apiaceae, Hemlock-field") is a village and community (Wales), community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. It lies beside Guilsfield Brook about three miles north of Welshpool. It is located on the B4392 road and a disused b ...

to put the club in the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

semi-finals. He also played in the final, a 2–1 win over reigning champions

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

on 30 April at

Nantporth Nantporth (known as Bangor City Stadium since 2024) is an association football stadium in Bangor, Wales. It is currently used as the home ground of Cymru North side Bangor 1876. Bangor City F.C. played between January 2012 and 2022, having m ...

Honours

Auckland City *

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship () was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15 *

OFC Champions League The OFC Men's Champions League is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been organised since 2007 ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15 *

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

third place:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Bala Town *

: 2016–17

References

External links

*
Bala Town player profile

Everton player profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, John Living people 1988 births Men's association football defenders Footballers from Portsmouth Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Everton F.C. players Bala Town F.C. players Auckland City FC players Cymru Premier players New Zealand Football Championship players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand English expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand 21st-century English sportsmen