Martyn Ridyard (born 25 July 1986) is an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who last played as a

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...

-kicking or for

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

in the

RFL League 1 RFL League One (for sponsorship reasons currently known as the Betfred League One) is a professional rugby league competition based in the United Kingdom. Part of the British rugby league pyramid, the competition features clubs from England an ...

. He played for the Leigh Centurions in two separate spells in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and the Super League, and on loan from

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

at the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sha ...

in the Super League and the

in the Championship. Ridyard has also played for

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "smal ...

in the second tier.

Background

Ridyard was born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, Greater Manchester, England.

Career

Early career

Ridyard came through the junior ranks at Leigh Miners, joining

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 Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

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 The Championship Cup, (known as the Northern Rail Cup for sponsorship reasons), and previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Rugby League Championships. Although the F ...

Final. His second honour was being MOM in the 2013 Northern Rail Cup final win 2014 Leigh Centurions won the Kingston Press championship at Headingley, 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.

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

Swinton Lions

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

Oldham R.L.F.C.

On 22 Oct 2021 it was reported that he had signed for

Oldham R.L.F.C. Oldham R.L.F.C., also known as the Roughyeds, is a professional rugby league football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club currently competes in the RFL League 1, the third tier of British Rugby League. Formed in 1876 as Oldh ...

in the

Rochdale Hornets

On 17 Nov 2023 it was reported that he had signed for

in the

References

External links

Featherstone Rovers profileLeigh Centurions profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridyard, Martyn 1986 births Living people English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers players Huddersfield Giants players Leigh Leopards players Oldham R.L.F.C. captains Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rochdale Hornets players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Salford Swinton Lions players