Ryan Harding (born 27 April 1984 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) is a Scottish semi-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 plays for Civil Service Strollers as a defender. Over the course of his career he played for Livingston,

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

and East Stirlingshire before leaving for

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. On his return he played for

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; , possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where some say it ceases to ...

and

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

, before joining Civil Service Strollers in 2013.

Playing career

Harding began his senior career with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club Hibernian. From there he moved into another SPL side, Livingston. Ryan made just three league appearances and one other appearance in the C.I.S. Insurance Cup for Livingston. This appearance was against his future club

. During a match played in terrible weather conditions at

Almondvale Stadium Almondvale Stadium, also known as The Home of the Set Fare Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a association football, football stadium, located in the Almondvale area of Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. It has been the home ground of Scottish ...

, he scored a diving header in to his own net that was strangely ruled out for offside. Ryan signed on at

Cappielow Cappielow, also known as Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology UK for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Greenock Morton, w ...

towards the end of the 2004–05 season on a short-term deal. He signed a longer deal at the start of the next season and continued to play for the club. He plays in the

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 ...

position and formed partnership with fellow centre back

Stewart Greacen Stewart Greacen (born 31 March 1982) is a Scottish retired Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), central defender. Greacen started his career as a youth player with Rangers F.C., Rangers, before maki ...

, although was sidelined by the arrival of

Dominic Shimmin Dominic Edward Shimmin (born 13 October 1987, in Bermondsey) is an English former footballer. In his career, he has also played for Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers, AFC Bournemouth and Crawley Town. Shimmin mainly plays as a centre half. Career (E ...

for season 2007–08. Harding suffered a serious injury in October 2008, and missed the rest of the season due to it. He was released in November 2009. Harding signed for East Stirlingshire on amateur forms on 3 December 2009 but was released at the end of the season. Harding left Scotland to sign for

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

side

Birkirkara Birkirkara (abbreviated as B'Kara or BKR) is a city in the Eastern Region, Malta, Eastern Region of Malta. It is the second most populous on the Malta (island), island, with 24,356 inhabitants as of 2020. The town consists of five autonomous pari ...

on 31 August 2010, making his début against

Sliema Wanderers Sliema Wanderers Football Club, nicknamed "tax-Xelin" ( of the shilling), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema. It currently plays in the Maltese Premier Leagu ...

on 13 September 2010, but retired through injury early in 2011. Despite this, he returned to Scotland to sign for

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

in June 2011. In September 2012, Harding went on loan to

to cover their defensive injury crisis. It was the third time he had played under Jim McIntyre. He left Alloa in 2013 and signed with Civil Service Strollers.

Honours

;Greenock Morton *

Scottish Football League Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

: 1 :: 2006–07 ;Alloa Athletic *

Scottish Football League Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) f ...

: 1 :: 2011–12

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Ryan 1984 births Scottish men's footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Edinburgh Living people Greenock Morton F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Men's association football defenders East Stirlingshire F.C. players Birkirkara F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Alloa Athletic F.C. players Peterhead F.C. players Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale F.C. players People educated at Forrester High School Civil Service Strollers F.C. players 21st-century Scottish sportsmen