John"Boney" Reilly is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 former professional

Professional

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

 footballer who played as a striker

Striker

Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...

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Reilly began his career with Dundee United

Dundee United F.C.

Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club located in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923...

, signing as a schoolboy and going to make over fifty league appearances in the first half of the 1980s, making enough appearances to earn a medal during United's Scottish Premier League win in the 1982–83 season

1982-83 in Scottish football

The 1982–83 season was the 86th season of competitive football in Scotland.-Overview:In a tightly fought contest Dundee United win their first and only title this season. The league remains undecided until the last day of the season with Aberdeen, Celtic and Dundee United in contention...

. Signing for Motherwell

Motherwell F.C.

Motherwell Football & Athletic Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. The club compete in the Scottish Premier League and are one of only seven teams to have remained in this league since it was founded in 1998...

 in 1985, Reilly suffered an achilles tendon

Achilles tendon

The Achilles tendon , also known as the calcaneal tendon or the tendo calcaneus, is a tendon of the posterior leg. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles to the calcaneus bone.- Anatomy :The Achilles is the tendonous extension of 3 muscles in the lower leg:...

 injury which looked to have ended his career at the age of 24, prompting early retirement. After revolutionary surgery, however, he was able to continue playing and went on to play a handful of games for a number of Scottish lower league clubs, including Dunfermline Athletic

Dunfermline Athletic F.C.

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football team based in Dunfermline, Fife, commonly known as just Dunfermline. They currently compete in the Scottish Premier League....

 and East Fife

East Fife F.C.

East Fife Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the Fife coastal town of Methil...

, while taking on a player/manager role at Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath F.C.

Cowdenbeath Football Club are a professional Scottish football team based in the town of Cowdenbeath, Fife. They currently play in the Second Division of the Scottish Football League. The club plays its home games at Central Park in the centre of the town which has the unusual feature of a motor...

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After retiring for the second time in the mid-1990s, Reilly remained in the game, coaching youngsters and working as a freelance sports journalist.

Dundee United

• Scottish Premier Division: 1

1982–83

1982-83 in Scottish football

The 1982–83 season was the 86th season of competitive football in Scotland.-Overview:In a tightly fought contest Dundee United win their first and only title this season. The league remains undecided until the last day of the season with Aberdeen, Celtic and Dundee United in contention...

External links

• Independent profile