David Byrne (South African footballer)
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David Byrne is an English-born South African soccer coach and former professional player. He was in 1982 and 1984 a top ten scorer in the North American Soccer League.
The son of former England international and West Ham United star Johnny Byrne, David played five NASL seasons with the Atlanta Chiefs (1980, '81), and the Toronto Blizzard (1982, '83, and '84). He finished 1982 ninth in scoring with 39 points in 32 games. He lead the league in assists as Blizzard teammates (and fellow South Africans) Neill Roberts and Ace Ntsoelengoe finished seventh and eighth respectively in scoring. He finished 1983 sixth with 44 points in 29 games and 1984 seventh with 37 points in 20 games. Bryne was named to the NASL All-League Second Team in both 1983 and 1984. He was the league's 35th all time scorer with 142 points in 135 games.
A native of Cape Town, Byrne played indoor soccer in the original MISL for the Minnesota Strikers during the mid-80s and was the league's 11th leading scorer for the 1987-88 season. He later played for the Wichita Wings.
Byrne also played briefly in Portugal. He played in South Africa with Hellenic in 1994. At this time he won an U-23 cap as an overaged player and was twice called up to the national side but failed to win any caps. For the past decade Byrne has been an assistant coach with South African clubs. He has his first stint with Port Elizabeth side Michau Warriors, in 1997. He 1998-99 he was player-coach of Santos. In 2001 he became assistant coach of Black Leopards and then in 2003 the club's caretaker manager. After that he managed Avendale Athletico before being dismissed in November, 2004.
David's brother Mark Byrne is a former pro player, manager in South Africa and former head coach of Italian club Udinese's coaching academy.
