Ross J. Irwin (born 9 May 1960) is a Scottish 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 ...

. He played for Fareham Town (England),

FC Stade Nyonnais FC Stade Nyonnais is an association football club based in the town of Nyon, Switzerland. The team currently competes in the Swiss Challenge League, Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system and plays its home matches ...

(Switzerland), the Bahama Royals (

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

) and the Boston Bolts and

Albany Capitals The Albany Capitals joined the third incarnation of the American Soccer League in 1988. The team joined the American Professional Soccer League in 1990 when the ASL merged with the Western Soccer League. The club was based in Albany, New York, a ...

of the American Soccer League.

Career

Irwin graduated from

Carnegie College Carnegie College (formerly Lauder College) was a further education college based in Halbeath, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It was established in 1899, with financial support from George Lauder and Andrew Carnegie and named after their father a ...

, Leeds University, England. He played for Swiss club

from 1982 to 1984. He had the distinction of being the first player to be signed by the Boston Bolts franchise as one of their three foreign players. In 1988 at

Nickerson Field Nickerson Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the Northeastern United States, on the campus of Boston University (BU) in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned by BU, and is the home field for some Boston University Terriers athl ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, Irwin scored the winning goal for the Boston Bolts against the

Orlando Lions The Orlando Lions were an American men's soccer team from Orlando, Florida which existed from 1985 to 1996. Over the years, the Lions competed at both the amateur and professional levels including some seasons as an independent team. The Lions ...

by converting a penalty kick against fellow Scotsman and Orlando goalkeeper

Alan Rough Alan Roderick Rough (; born 25 November 1951) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He won 53 caps for Scotland and played in two FIFA World Cups. He also had a long club career, principally with Partick This ...

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 ...

. This was the team's first home game of the season and their first win following three defeats. During the 1988–89 season as sweeper and vice captain of the Boston Bolts, Irwin was selected as the only Boston player to the American Soccer League (ASL) All Star Team. He was one of two Scotsmen on the All Star team, being joined by former Scotland national team goalkeeper Alan Rough. The All Star team played against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

making a guest appearance for the Strikers. In 1989, following Irwin's selection to the ASL All Star team, he was signed by the Albany Capitals as one of their two foreign players. He joined US national team players

John Harkes John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American Association football, soccer coach and former professional player who last coached Greenville Triumph SC. A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American to pla ...

, Brian Bliss and

Mike Windischmann Michael Windischmann (born December 6, 1965, in Nuremberg, West Germany) is an American retired soccer defender who played in both the Major Indoor Soccer League and the American Soccer League. He earned fifty caps with the U.S. national ...

, and former

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English Association football, football player and Coach (sport), coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley F.C., Chorley. He became a professional p ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Ross Living people 1960 births Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Glasgow American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders American Soccer League (1988–89) players Boston Bolts (1988–1990) players Albany Capitals players Fareham Town F.C. players FC Stade Nyonnais players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland People educated at Kings Park Secondary School Cambridge College alumni Scottish schoolteachers Scottish emigrants to the United States British expatriate sportspeople in the Bahamas 20th-century American sportsmen