Ray Ferris

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Ray Ferris
Personal information
Full name	Raymond Osborn Ferris
Date of birth	22 September 1920
Place of birth	Newry, Ireland
Date of death	February 1994 (aged 73)
Place of death	Manchester, England
Height	5 ft 8.5 in (1.74 m)
Playing position	Left half
Youth clubs
1938–1939 1939	Distillery (trial) Glentoran (trial) Brentford (amateur) Cambridge Town
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1945–1949 1949–1953 1953–1954	Crewe Alexandra Birmingham City Worcester City	101 (23) 090 0(3)
National team
1949–1951	Northern Ireland	003 0(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Raymond Osborn "Ray" Ferris (22 September 1920 – February 1994) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a left half. He played nearly 200 games in the Football League for Crewe Alexandra and Birmingham City, and won three international caps for Northern Ireland.

Born in Newry, County Down, Ferris spent short trial spells at Irish League clubs Distillery and Glentoran before crossing to England where he signed amateur forms for Brentford. By the time the Second World War broke out he was playing non-league football for Cambridge Town. During the war he made guest appearances for Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.

After the war he signed professionally for Crewe Alexandra, for whom he played over 100 times. He then moved to First Division club Birmingham City, for whom he also made over 100 appearances. He was a hard-working, hard-tackling type of half-back with great determination. In the closed season of 1953 he went on a representative tour with the Irish FA to the United States and Canada, where he sustained a leg injury which eventually ended his career. Though he played for Worcester City in the Southern League for one more season, he was forced to retire in 1954.

In later life he had both legs amputated due to circulation problems attributed to his football career, and died in a Manchester nursing home at the age of 73.

[edit] References

• Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books, pp. 86. ISBN 1-85983-010-2. 
• Ray Ferris. Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats (2006-11-23). Retrieved on 2007-11-01.

Persondata
NAME	Ferris, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ferris, Raymond Osborn
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1920-09-22
PLACE OF BIRTH	Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland
DATE OF DEATH	February 1994
PLACE OF DEATH	Manchester, England