Biography
Striker Ron Rafferty joined the Tigers in July 1963 for a £10,000 fee, an early sign of the investment by club chairman Harold Needler that saw the Tigers rise from their Division Three slumbers. Ron began the season supporting young goalscorer Chris Chilton but suffered a broken ankle in his third start that kept him out of the side for five months. When he returned to the first team picture in February 1964 his impact was instant – he scored a brace against Bournemouth in his first game back, albeit in a 3-4 defeat, and netted five times in eight starts. Ron scored a sixth goal against Walsall in April 1964 and seemed set for a successful 1964/65 season.
However Ron was unhappy with his arrangements in Hull and wished to return to his native Berkshire. After refusing a new contract and a spell of absence from the club, the FA intervened and ordered Rafferty to return to City on a monthly contract – the power that clubs and the FA exercised over player contracts in the 1960s was immense. Rafferty returned to Hull in September 1964 and started two games but was soon consigned to the Reserves. Within a few weeks City had signed Ken Wagstaff and Ian Butler to supplement the rampant goalscoring exploits of Chris Chilton and Rafferty was a forgotten man. He was given a free transfer by the Tigers in May 1966.
Ronald “Ron” Rafferty was born in South Shields but from the age of two was raised in Burnham, a Berkshire village close to the industrial town of Slough. He started playing football as a teenager for local league team Slough Centre then in January 1953 he joined Isthmian League side Wycombe Wanderers. Between January and May 1954 he scored ten goals in just 14 appearances for the chairboys while also completing his National Service. Ron showed enough promise to encourage Division One side Portsmouth to offer him professional terms in July 1954 in return for a £3,500 transfer fee and he made his top flight debut in September 1954 against Sunderland and laid on a goal for Scottish international Jackie Henderson. He scored his first senior goal in a February 1956 Division One match against Everton but was used in a supporting role during his two and a half seasons at Fratton Park, scoring five goals in 23 appearances.
In December 1956 Rafferty headed north to sign for Division Two side Grimsby Town in return for a “reasonable fee”. Dropping down a division evidently suited Rafferty, he scored on his January 1957 debut in an FA Cup tie against West Ham United and struck his first League goal for the Mariners three weeks later against Leicester City. The goals continued to flow for Ron – eleven goals in the latter half of the 1956/57 season, 26 goals in the 1957/58 season, 19 goals in the 1958/59 season that ended in relegation to Division Three, then 25 and 26 goals in the following two seasons. In September 1958 he struck four goals in a local derby against Lincoln City, a performance that no doubt pleased the Grimsby fans, then in November 1960 he smote six goals past the same opponent in the Lincolnshire Senior County Cup final. In December 1960 and March 1961 he scored hattricks against Barnsley and Tranmere Rovers respectively.
The high point of Rafferty’s career came in the 1961/62 season – after a slow start that saw him net three times in 11 starts he doubled his tally with a September 1961 hattrick against Reading. Between late October 1961 and the end of the season in May 1962 Rafferty scored 30 times in 31 matches including goals in ten consecutive starts during January, February and March 1962. Between January and May 1962 Grimsby lost only two of their 21 matches to move from mid-table to second place in the table, winning promotion to Division Two.
Rafferty had a knee operation in May 1962 and while he remained an important part of the Mariners’ squad he found goals harder to come by in the 1962/63 season, netting eight times in the League – his final goal for Grimsby Town was scored in April 1963 against Walsall. When he left Blundell Park in July 1963 he had scored 152 goals in 277 appearances, ranking him second in the club’s history behind Welshman Pat Glover, who netted 199 times during the 1930s.
Rafferty left Hull City and joined Division Four side Aldershot in June 1966, in three seasons with the Shots he scored thirteen goals in 89 senior appearances including a hattrick in September 1966 against Southport – in his final two seasons with the Shots he primarily played at centre half. In July 1969 he was appointed player-coach at Southern League side Guildford City but retired from football six months later in January 1970. He then turned to sales, working for Lyons Cakes for many years before retiring to Addlestone in Surrey in his mid-50s, evoking the spirit of Reggie Perrin along the way. In later life he lived in an Aldershot care home while suffering from dementia, where he died from the effects of a COVID-19 infection in January 2021.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 6 May 1934, South Shields
Hull City First Game: 24 August 1963, Watford A (Division Three), 29 years, 110 days old
Hull City Final Game: 3 October 1964, Shrewsbury Town H (Division Three), 30 years, 150 days old
Clubs
Slough Centre, Wycombe Wanderers (1953-1954), Portsmouth (1954-1956), Grimsby Town (1956-1963), Hull City (1963-1966), Aldershot (1966-1969), Guildford City (1969-1970)
Hull City Record
Career: 16 apps, 6 goals
Ron Rafferty| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963/64 | 14 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1964/65 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1965/66 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |