Martyn Ridyard

Martyn Ridyard is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a goal-kicking stand-off or scrum-half for the Swinton Lions in the Betfred Championship.

Martyn Ridyard
Personal information
Born (1986-07-25) 25 July 1986
Leigh, Greater Manchester, England
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight13 st 12 lb (88 kg)
Playing information
PositionStand-off, Scrum-half
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2009–17 Leigh Centurions 222 77 740 9 1797
2017(loan) → Huddersfield Giants 7 1 26 0 56
2018 Featherstone Rovers 20 8 59 0 150
2019–20 Leigh Centurions 28 3 98 3 211
2020(loan) → Rochdale Hornets 1 0 0 0 0
2021– Swinton Lions 0 0 0 0 0
Total 278 89 923 12 2214
As of 26 December 2020
Source: [1][2]

He played for the Leigh Centurions in two separate spells in the Championship and the Super League, and on loan from Leigh at the Huddersfield Giants in the Super League and the Rochdale Hornets in the Championship. Ridyard has also played for Featherstone Rovers in the second tier.

Background

Ridyard was born in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England.

Career

Early career

Ridyard came through the junior ranks at Leigh Miners, joining Leigh academy squad upon leaving school before returning to Leigh Miners. There he helped Miners win the 2004-2005 National Conference Championship and the 2005-2006 BARLA National Cup Final, continuing to play at that level before accepting an offer from Warrington to play in their Senior Academy during 2007.

Ridyard returned once more to Leigh Miners Rangers and helped them win the 2008 League Leaders Trophy, scoring 231 points along the way, only for Miners to lose in the 2008 National Conference League Grand Final, though his season ended on a personal high by winning the highly coveted Player of the Season award.

Leigh Centurions

After a couple of false starts, Ridyard's professional career finally took off in 2009 when he re-joined hometown club Leigh Centurions, and quickly established himself as a first team regular.

A highly decorated player at amateur level, Ridyard has been capped by the BARLA Young Lions and GB Community Lions and has also represented Lancashire, before winning the first honour of his professional career when Leigh won the 2011 Northern Rail Cup Final. His second honour was being MOM in the 2013 Northern Rail Cup final win 2014 Leigh Centurions won the Kingston press championship at Headingly, Martyn winning the Tom Bergin Trophy as MOM and also was voted Kingstone press player of the year.

Featherstone Rovers

In October 2017 he signed a two-year deal to play for Featherstone.[3]

Leigh Centurions (return)

He returned to his home town club Leigh Centurions in 2018 for the 2019 season, although he spent most of 2020 out on loan at the Rochdale Hornets.

Swinton Lions

On 7 September 2020 it was announced that Ridyard would join the Swinton Lions for the 2021 season.[4]

References
  1. loverugbyleague
  2. Rugby League Project
  3. "Featherstone Rovers wrap up surprise move for Leigh pivot Ridyard". Yorkshire Evening Post. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  4. "Leigh pay tribute to Martyn Ridyard as he joins Swinton". www.loverugbyleague.com. 7 September 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
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