David Matthew Mirfin (born 18 April 1985) is an English retired professional

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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Career

Huddersfield Town

Mirfin was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, South Yorkshire. He graduated from the

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Academy in the 2003–04 season and made an immediate impression, helping the team keep 16 clean sheets out of the 25 matches he appeared in that season and also scoring three goals as an emergency striker. On 5 May 2007, Mirfin was voted the Player's Player of the Year, the Away Supporters' Top Performer and the Fans' Player of the Year. He also collected the Young Terriers Award and the ''

Huddersfield Examiner The ''Huddersfield Daily Examiner'' is an English local daily evening newspaper covering news and sport from Huddersfield, England, and its surrounding areas. History The first edition was published as a weekly, starting on 6 September 1851 ...

'' Majority Man of the Match for the whole season. During the 2007–08 season, Mirfin's chances seemed to be limited following a poor defensive partnership between him and Nathan Clarke, but following the arrival of

Rob Page Robert John Page (born 3 September 1974) is a Welsh Manager (association football), football manager and former association football, player who was most recently the manager of the Wales national football team, Wales national team. In an 18-yea ...

and the departure of manager Andy Ritchie, Mirfin found himself in a three-man central defence partnership with Page and Clarke, which after five matches kept four clean sheets.

Scunthorpe United and Watford

Mirfin signed for Huddersfield's League One rivals

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on 11 August 2008 on a three-year contract for a transfer fee of £150,000 plus add ons and a 25% sell-on clause. He made his debut on 16 August in a 2–1 away defeat to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, but his debut lasted just 10 minutes, after he was sent off for a foul on

Jabo Ibehre Jabo Oshevire Michael Ibehre (born 28 January 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. Ibehre made over 200 appearances for Leyton Orient between 2000 and 2008, before moving onto Walsall. A successful season ...

. His first goal for Scunthorpe came on 4 November in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

with a header in stoppage time in a 1–0 home over

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, which put Scunthorpe into the northern area semi-final. Mirfin was released by the club at the end of the 2010–11 season when his contract expired. Mirfin signed for Championship club

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

on 5 July 2011 on a two-year contract on a free transfer. He made his debut on 23 August in a 1–1 draw away to

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

in the League Cup, with Watford losing 4–2 in the resulting

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Return to Scunthorpe United

Mirfin rejoined Scunthorpe United, now in League One, on 31 January 2012 on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

until the end of the 2011–12 season, playing 19 matches. He was released from his Watford contract by mutual consent on 31 July 2012 to re-sign for Scunthorpe permanently on a two-year contract. Mirfin joined League Two club

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

on 2 February 2015 on a one-month loan.

Mansfield Town

Mirfin signed for League Two club

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

on 23 May 2017 on a contract of undisclosed length on a free transfer. He scored on his debut on 5 August in a 2–2 draw away to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

with a shot at the far post from

Joel Byrom Joel Alan Byrom (born 14 September 1986) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Northern Premier League Division One West club Clitheroe F.C., Clitheroe. Byrom started his career at Carlisle Un ...

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

. Mirfin joined

National League North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National League (English footb ...

club

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

on 1 February 2019 on loan until the end of the 2018–19 season. He made his debut the following day, starting in a 3–2 win away to

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

in the league. In May 2019 it was confirmed, that Mirfin had decided to retire.

Career statistics

Honours

Huddersfield Town *

Football League Third Division play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Scunthorpe United *

Football League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

second-place promotion: 2013–14 *

runner-up: 2008–09

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirfin, David 1985 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Watford F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players York City F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen