Rory Christopher Patterson (born 16 July 1984) is a Northern Irish

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 ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Strabane Athletic and is the club's player-manager. He also played for the

Northern Ireland national team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Foo ...

. Having played youth football for Sion Swifts, Moorfield Celtic and Townsend United, Patterson joined

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

in 2002 before having spells with

Radcliffe Borough Radcliffe Football Club (formerly Radcliffe Borough) is an English football club based in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester where they play their games at Stainton Park. The club was formed on 24 May 1949 and currently plays in the Northern Premier L ...

and

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire ...

. In 2005, he joined the newly formed club

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home matches at Broadhurst Park. Founded ...

, where he stayed until 2008 becoming their all-time top goalscorer in the process, scoring 99 times. He subsequently joined up with

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former ho ...

before having a short spell with

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

. In 2009, he moved back to Northern Ireland to join

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

where he had a successful one season spell – scoring 30 league goals, and he subsequently joined

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

before moving back to England to join

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

. After a two-year spell with

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland ...

club Derry City, Patterson moved to Western Australian side

Cockburn City Cockburn City Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club currently playing in the National Premier Leagues Western Australia. They play their home games at Dalmatinac Park and train at Beale Park. History Cockburn City Soccer Club's origin goes ...

in January 2015, before returning to FC United of Manchester in October 2015. After another spell at Derry City he moved to Crusaders in August 2018. He signed for intermediate side Ballymacash Rangers in September 2019.

Early life

Patterson was born in Strabane,

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retain ...

Club career

Patterson played junior football in his native Northern Ireland before becoming a trainee with

. Turning professional in the 2002 close season, Patterson's first team debut came in October 2002 as an 86th-minute substitute for Gareth Griffiths as Rochdale lost 1–0 at home to

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–1 ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

. He made his league debut the following month, again as a substitute, this time in the 64th minute for

Lee McEvilly Lee Richard McEvilly (born 15 April 1982) aka 'The Sheriff' is a retired footballer who played as a striker. Although born in England, he won one cap for the Northern Ireland national team in 2002 and also played for Northern Ireland at under ...

, as Rochdale lost 2–0 away to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and ...

. He made a further seven appearances, all in 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

that season. Nine first team appearances came the following season, with Patterson released by Rochdale, despite being voted their 'Young Player of the Year'. He joined

in July 2004. After an impressive start to the following season, his performances tailed off and he was released in November 2004, signing for

. Patterson signed for

in 2005, and made 126 appearances and scoring 99 goals for the club in all competitions. He was promoted in all of his three seasons with F.C. United and twice finished as top-scorer. After much transfer speculation, Patterson signed for

in July 2008, along with his ex-FC United strike partner, Stuart Rudd. Patterson was credited with a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

during a pre-season tour game in Spain, but this later turned out to be a "wind-up" by club chairman Bob Blackburn. Patterson was on a family holiday in Majorca at the time of his game. In 2009, Patterson signed for

after a season plagued by injury, though he still managed to get into double figures for Bradford PA. On 27 June 2009, Patterson left Droylsden to sign for

IFA Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the North ...

side

. On his debut for Coleraine in a friendly against Garvagh, he scored a first half hat-trick. He scored ten goals in eight pre-season friendlies for the Bannsiders before marking his competitive debut with a goal in the 2–2 draw with Linfield on 8 August 2009. He then went on to record a hat-trick in the 3–2 derby win over

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the ...

on 18 August. On 7 November 2009, Patterson scored four times as Coleraine beat defending champions

6–0 at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

. On 4 December 2009, Patterson was awarded with the Football Writers Player of the Month for November. On top of this, he also picked up Goal of the Month for his first of four goals against Glentoran. Patterson scored his first

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. I ...

goal for Coleraine against

IFA Championship 2 The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Champions ...

side

Dundela Dundela Football Club, nicknamed "The Duns" is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club from Belfast, currently playing in the NIFL Championship, and plays its home matches at Wilgar Park. The club's colours are green and white. The hom ...

. He finished the 2009/10 season having scored 41 goals for Coleraine, with 30 goals in the Premiership and the rest in various other competitions, and was named

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

. Patterson joined Glentoran in the summer of 2010, having signed a pre-contract agreement with the club earlier in the year. However, in June 2010, it was announced that Patterson had joined

, after impressing at a trial in March, and that an "undisclosed fee" had been agreed with Glentoran despite him never joining the Northern Irish club. On 14 August 2010 he made his home debut as a first-half substitute in a match against

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Park ...

. He scored a late goal in the 94th minute which allowed Plymouth Argyle to draw the match. Patterson returned to Northern Ireland in July 2011, joining Linfield on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. Having scored four goals in 18 league matches by January 2012, Patterson ended his loan spell with Linfield to join Derry City on a two-year contract. His competitive debut for the club saw him score a hat-trick in a 4–0 defeat of Lisburn Distillery in the Setanta Cup. In January 2015, Patterson signed for NPL Western Australia club

, scoring 19 goals in 20 matches for the team. In October 2015, seven years after leaving the club, Patterson returned to FC United of Manchester, for whom he remains the second highest goalscorer with 99 goals in all official competitions. In December 2015 he signed for Derry City for a second time. In August 2018, he joined NIFL Premiership champions

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. In September 2019, Patterson joined

Mid-Ulster Football League The Daily Mirror Mid-Ulster Football League, or simply referred to as the Mid-Ulster League, is an association football league in Northern Ireland. It contains 9 divisions. These comprise two intermediate sections: the Intermediate A and Intermed ...

side Ballymacash Rangers. A key motive behind the move was to link up with former Linfield teammate

Michael Gault Michael Gault (born 15 April 1983) is a Northern Irish football former player who is currently manager of Linfield F.C. Swifts. He previously managed Ballymacash Rangers from 2019-20. Club career Born in Lisburn, Gault began his senior caree ...

, who managed Ballymacash at the time of Patterson's signing. Patterson departed the club one year later after 21 goals in 23 appearances, moving on to

Ballymena & Provincial Football League The Ballymena and Provincial Football League is a regional association football, football league in Northern Ireland. The league has a Premier Division with Northern Ireland football league system#Intermediate, intermediate status and three Nort ...

side

Belfast Celtic Belfast Celtic Football Club was a association football, football club. Founded in 1891 in football (soccer), 1891 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, it was one of the most successful teams in Ireland until it withdrew permanently from the Irish Fo ...

for the 2020–21 season. However, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, all football activity in Northern Ireland below the

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the North ...

was cancelled, and Patterson moved to Premiership side

Dungannon Swifts Dungannon Swifts Football Club is a Northern Irish, semi-professional football club playing in the NIFL Premiership. The club, founded in 1949, has risen from the Mid-Ulster league to the top tier in Northern Ireland since its election to the ...

on 31 January 2021 without playing a competitive game for Belfast Celtic. In August 2021 he joined Strabane Athletic and in October was appointed as player-manager.

International career

Patterson was involved with the Northern Ireland under 19 squad in 2002, however he accepted a call up to the Republic of Ireland under 19 squad to play in the European Championships in 2003. Before Patterson could join up with the squad, he was ruled out by injury. Patterson received his first call-up to the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

squad in February 2010, when

Nigel Worthington Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of York City. He played a defender and a midfielder, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts Count ...

named him in his squad to face

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

and made his debut as a substitute, earning praise from manager

for his performance. He was then named in the squad again in May 2010 for a two match tour and it was announced that he would play as a lone striker in a match against Turkey. He scored his first international goal, a penalty, on 17 November 2010 in a friendly against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

to level the scores late in the game, playing the full 90 minutes.

International goals

Honours

;FC United of Manchester *

Northern Premier League President's Cup The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

: 2007–08 *

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern ...

Division One: 2006–07 * North West Counties League Challenge Cup: 2006–07 * North West Counties League Division Two: 2005–06 * Supporters Direct Cup: 2006 * Jimmy Davis Memorial Cup: 2007 ;Derry City *

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

;Crusaders *

: 2018–19 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...

: 2018–19 ;Individual *

: 2009–10 *

PFAI The Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland (PFAI) is the representative body for professional and semi-professional footballers in Republic of Ireland. Players from all nationalities in the League of Ireland are represented, not just Ir ...

Premier Division Team of the Year: 2013

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Rory 1984 births Living people Association footballers from County Tyrone Northern Ireland men's international footballers Rochdale A.F.C. players Radcliffe F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Droylsden F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Sportspeople from Strabane Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Crusaders F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players NIFL Premiership players Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Players of the Year Ulster Footballers of the Year League of Ireland players National League (English football) players Men's association football forwards Dungannon Swifts F.C. players Belfast Celtic F.C. players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Ballymacash Rangers F.C. players Strabane Athletic F.C. players Strabane Athletic F.C. managers Glentoran F.C. players