Ryan McBride – gone but never forgotten
The sudden and untimely death of Ryan McBride shocked his family, Candystripe fans, the whole of the city and the world of football.
And his death also changed Irish football changed forever.
Just 24 hours after leading his team to a 4-0 victory over Drogheda United, Derry City captain Ryan McBride passed away in his sleep at his home beside the club’s Brandywell Stadium.
It’s where the 27-year-old had grown up, developed his natural talents on the streets and where he dreamed of pulling on the famous red and white shirt.
There was an outpouring of grief. A club had lost its leader, a city had lost one of its own. However, most of all, a family was without its son, brother and partner.
A warrior on the pitch, yet a gentle giant off it. He was a man in the prime of his life and who hadn’t forgotten his roots. Captain Courageous they called him.
Five years on it remains a cruel, unfair loss.
Derry City captain Ryan McBride in action on Saturday, March 18, 2017, against Drogheda. (North West Newspix)
“It still feels surreal that he’s not here anymore,” Suinin told BBC NI SPort ahead of the anniversary today, Saturday, Marcch 19.
“You have to go on with life as best you can. You miss his presence around the house, and there are nieces and nephews that come along and he’s not here to see.”
Ryan’s partner Mairead of eight years last spoke to him on the phone just before his death and says, despite the passage of time, he is still “remembered every day”.
“When you think back to the events that unfolded, it feels like a lifetime ago and there are days when it feels like yesterday,” she said, describing the events of 19 March as “a fog”.
“Things happen and life moves on, but I always say we were so lucky to have Ryan and who he was. Not just us as a family, but the whole of Derry and the League of Ireland – everybody remembers him.”
Growing up a stone’s throw from the Brandywell, it had long been Ryan’s dream to emulate his heroes in the Candystripes shirt. He would spend his childhood cheering on his team from the terraces alongside his grandfather.
However, he had to wait for his opportunity, instead playing football in the streets and the Derry and District League on Saturday mornings.
“You could look from his bedroom window and look right into the stadium,” recalled Suinin.
“My mammy always wanted him to play for Derry, but it wasn’t until she died in 2010 that he was going to knuckle down and go for it.
“He was so determined to do it. He was adamant he was getting it.”
And get it he did. A phone call from then-manager Stephen Kenny in 2011 kickstarted the fairytale journey to a role model for players and fans alike.
Mairead and Ryan fulfilled a life-long dream when they travelled to Australia in December 2016
A beating heart of the Derry team, it was only a matter of time before he was handed the armband, and Mairead said it was the result of his extra work off the field.
“He was only getting pay as you play. He was giving up his bar work just to go but he was just buzzing too be on the team bus,” Mairead recalled on his initial move into the squad.
“It was a surprise to him when he was made captain as he was so quiet. Sometimes you think the captain needs to be loud and shouting, but it’s about leading by example.”
Suinin added her family, who were all Derry City supporters, “were so, so proud of him” when he was handed the armband.
Suinin said Ryan was very family-orientated and loved spending time with his nieces
A fan in the terraces, Karen Pyne said the love and affection towards their captain was reciprocated in return. It was a mutual love, a passion which had been burning since he first kicked a ball in the shadow of the famous ground that now bears his name in tribute.
“Other people dream of playing for Celtic or whoever, but his was to play for Derry City and his dream came true,” she said.
“Even now it doesn’t seem real. You still expect to see Ryan as the first one out. Head up, shoulders out – that’s the way he walked”.
Kenny Shiels, Ryan’s manager at Derry, said he can still vividly remember finding out his captain had passed away and added it still “gnaws away” at him after a post mortem was unable to find a cause of death.
“It was such a shock to us all, losing our captain like that. Everybody was in deep, deep sorrow and it was really hard to take,” he said.
“Still to this day, I am in deep discussion with myself over what happened.
“I try not think so much about it because it is hard to take for everybody. It’s like a death in the family.”
The fan favourite had played an integral role in Derry’s unbeaten start to the season. The Candystripes had won their four matches with Ryan scoring twice.
Shiels, who is now manager of Northern Ireland’s women’s team, recalled that Ryan’s favourite pre-match phrase of ‘let’s get it done’ was a rare rallying cry from a man who preferred to do his talking on the pitch.
“He was as quiet as a mouse, quiet by nature, and then when we took to the pitch he was a different animal,” he said.
“Whenever the final whistle blew he was in the changing room and back to his quiet self again.
“You would be infected by his commitment and attitude to the game.
“To some he was another footballing captain but he was much more than that.”
Just weeks after his passing, the Ryan McBride Foundation was set-up with the goal of encouraging more children to participate in football.
The foundation runs holiday camps and goes into local schools, and Suinin says the McBride family put their “heart and soul” into honouring Ryan’s name.
Karen, who is a director at the foundation, added its aim is not only to keep Ryan’s legacy going but to “encourage youngsters, especially from the Derry area, to play football and continue what Ryan had.
“Football in Derry is massive, and it is so important to get that next generation out there and be proud to be from Derry like Ryan was”.
Mairead added: “Ryan was a very talented footballer but he was only spotted later on. It’s about getting someone similar who has maybe missed out on that opportunity and who has a raw talent.”
Suinin believes the foundation is a fitting tribute as Ryan was the first to give back to the community or invest his time in helping younger players.
“When he was asked to appear at a presentation or appear at a training session he always did it because he was that grounded.”
Karen is also a member of supporters’ groups and said Ryan always turned up no matter what the request.
“The last match that Ryan played my partner’s nephew was mascot. I had to go over and take him off, and I had the privilege of taking the last photo that Ryan was in,” she added.
“He looks so proud and so tall. He was just like the giant, thinking ‘I’m going out to win this’, and he did.”
Mairead added that because Ryan was such a local to the Brandywell, he could not help getting involved with community events and that helped cement his place as a fan’s favourite.
“You would have seen him pulling you a pint on a Saturday night and I think that really connected with people.
“It was obviously special but, to me, watching him was just him doing his thing. It’s only since he passed away that I realise how much people looked up to him.”
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