Ronald Greener (31 January 1934 – 19 October 2015) was an English

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 half 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 ...

. Born in

Easington, County Durham Easington, also known as Easington Village, is a village and civil parish in eastern County Durham, England. It is located at the junction of the A182 and B1283, leading north-west to Hetton-le-Hole and south east to Horden. It is near the ...

, he played his entire career in his native North-East. He started his career with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

, before he moved to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in 1955. He spent most of his playing career with Darlington, and set the club's appearance record of 490 first-team appearances.

Football career

Greener worked as a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

at Easington Colliery, and began his football career playing for Easington Colliery Welfare and for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

at youth level, before joining

as a professional in 1952. He made his first-team debut on 3 October 1953, in a 2–0 home defeat against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. He played only twice more for Newcastle before signing for

in 1955. He immediately established himself in the first team, playing 132 consecutive games, a run which came to an end in February 1958 when he was snowbound at home, unable to join up with the team travelling to

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

. The run included the "thrashing" of Chelsea, Football League champions only three years earlier, in the Fourth Round of the

1957–58 FA Cup The 1957–58 FA Cup was the 77th staging of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the ''FA Cup''. Bolton Wanderers won the competition for the fourth time, beating Manchester Unit ...

. After letting slip a three-goal lead at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in ...

, Darlington won the replay 4–1 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. His performances earned him selection for the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

representative side to play against the South in April 1957. He missed most of the club's first season in the newly formed Fourth Division after breaking his leg in August 1958, but returned the following season to play regularly for the remainder of his Darlington career. He was part of the squad which won promotion to the Third Division in 1965–66 under manager Lol Morgan, and a regular first-team player the following season under Jimmy Greenhalgh, but was released on a free transfer at the end of the 1966–67 season. Nicknamed "The Man Mountain", Greener had made 490 first-team appearances for Darlington, still, as of 2010, a club record, his final appearance coming in April 1967 against

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 ...

Feethams Feethams is a cricket and former football grounds in Darlington, England. The cricket ground has hosted Durham CCC matches. The football ground was the home of Darlington F.C. for from 1883 to 2003 until the club moved into another ground, no ...

. He finished his football career with two years at Stockton. In 2004, the club named a conference room at their

Darlington Arena The Darlington Arena is a rugby union stadium, located in Darlington, County Durham. The arena was opened in the summer of 2003, as the new home ground of Darlington F.C., following the decision to leave their previous ground, Feethams, after ...

stadium in Greener's honour, and after the Feethams ground was demolished for housing, a road on the development was named after him. Greener died in

on 19 October 2015 at the age of 81.

Honours

As a player

Darlington *

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier L ...

runner-up: 1965–66

References

External links

League stats
at Neil Brown's site {{DEFAULTSORT:Greener, Ron 1934 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Easington, County Durham English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Easington Colliery A.F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Stockton F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen