Rhys Day (born 31 August 1982) is a Welsh former 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 last played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Conference 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 Leagues and step 2 o ...

side Hyde. He was capped several times for the Wales under-21 team and played for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

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 ...

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

and

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

Club career

Born in

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

Mid Glamorgan Mid Glamorgan () is a preserved county of Wales. From 1974 until 1996 it was also an administrative county with a county council. Mid Glamorgan was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It consisted of part of the former adminis ...

, Day began his career at

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, but never broke through to City's first team. He joined

in November 2002, initially 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 ...

, and the move was made permanent in January 2003. A knee injury kept Day out of action for more than four months in the 2004–05 season, and he also missed large portions of the 2005–06 season with various injuries. Mansfield did not offer Day a new contract at the end of the season, making him a free agent. He signed for

on a two-year contract in July 2006 and was named as captain by new manager Gary Waddock for the 2007–08 campaign. Day signed a new one-year contract following Aldershot's promotion to

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, but in April 2009 it was announced that he would be released at the end of the season. He signed a two-year contract with

on 23 July. He was transferred to

from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in January 2011 after gaining promotion to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

with them. Rhys Day retired from the game at the end of the 2011–12 season at the age of 29 because of series of knee injuries that kept him out of the team for a 16-month period. At the time of his retirement he expressed his intention to stay in the game in a coaching capacity. On 10 September 2013 Day came out of retirement to sign for Hyde after coming through a special training regime with the club. He made his league debut on 28 December when he started against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

International career

Day was called up to the senior Wales squad in May 2003 to play

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

but was unused and ultimately never capped at that level.

Personal life

Day is the younger brother of professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player Ryan Day.

Honours

Club

Aldershot *

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

(V): 2008 Oxford United *

(promoted): 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Rhys 1982 births Living people Footballers from Bridgend People from Pontycymer Sportspeople from Bridgend County Borough Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Manchester City F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Radcliffe F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century Welsh sportsmen