Stuart Edward Ripley (born 20 November 1967) is an English 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 played as a winger from 1985 until 2002, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. He was part of the Rovers squad that won the title in the 1994–95 season. Prior to this he had played just under 250 times in 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 ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. He also appeared professionally for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

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 ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. He earned two national caps for

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 ...

. Ripley retired from professional football in 2002 and after working as a sports physio is now working as a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

Club career

Middlesbrough

Ripley first made his name with

in the late 1980s, before achieving success in a £1.3 million move to

, helping them to the league title in the 1994–95 season and becoming a cult hero. In the 1991–1992 season he helped Middlesbrough achieve promotion to the newly founded Premier League, as well as playing an important role in Middlesbrough getting through to the League Cup semi-final. They also reached the fifth round of the FA Cup losing in a replay to Portsmouth.

Blackburn Rovers

During the summer of 1992, Ripley was signed by

who had achieved promotion along with Middlesbrough. He was briefly their record signing until later in July they signed

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer (born 13 August 1970) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker (association football), striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of t ...

for £3.3million. On his debut for Blackburn, he scored the club's first Premier League goal, opening their scoring a 3–3 draw with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst, in the London Borough of Croydon, England, which is the home ground of Premier League club Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted interna ...

Southampton

In 1998, aged almost 31, he moved to

, and retiring four years later. He scored one goal for Southampton against Derby County on 4 October 1999. He also served loan spells at

(twice) – scoring in his debut, a 1–2 home loss to former side Blackburn – and

, where he scored once against Crystal Palace.

International career

He was capped twice by England as a full international; against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

on 17 November 1993 and against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

on 10 September 1997.

Personal life

After finishing his playing career, Ripley set up the

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic, providing

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

to nearby rugby league teams, as well as local football teams. He graduated from the

University of Central Lancashire The University of Lancashire (previously abbreviated UCLan) is a public university based in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England. It has its roots in ''The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge'', founded in 1828. Previously k ...

in 2007, with a first class combined honours degree in Law and French. His son,

Connor Ripley Connor James Ripley (born 13 February 1993) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club Swindon Town F.C., Swindon Town. Ripley turned professional at his lo ...

, is a goalkeeper and plays for

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

. In 2010 Ripley became a qualified solicitor. He is a member of FA's Judicial Panel hearing cases relating to matters such as doping, safeguarding, agent activity and discrimination.

Career statistics

Honours

Middlesbrough *

Full Members' Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

runner-up: 1989–90 Blackburn Rovers *

: 1994–95

References

External links

*
Middlesbrough archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ripley, Stuart 1967 births Living people Footballers from Middlesbrough Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Premier League players Middlesbrough F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players England men's international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers English solicitors