Ray Branighan is an Australian former rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 player, a star winger and Centre of the 1970s for the South Sydney Rabbitohs

South Sydney Rabbitohs

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

 , the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...

 and Australian national representative side.

Souths club career

He played 57 games with South Sydney between 1968 and 1971. He played in the 1970 and 1971 victorious Rabbitohs

South Sydney Rabbitohs

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

 Grand Finals scoring tries in both.

In 2004 he was named by Souths in their South Sydney Dream Team, consisting of 17 players and a coach representing the club from 1908

New South Wales Rugby League season 1908

The 1908 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the inaugural season of Australia's first rugby league football club competition, which was based in Sydney, New South Wales...

 through to 2004

National Rugby League season 2004

The year 2004 NRL season was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed for the Telstra Premiership...

.

Manly club career

He was one of a number of 1971 Rabbitohs poached by wealthier clubs in 1972 and along with team mate John O'Neill

John O'Neill (rugby league footballer)

John O'Neill was an Australian representative rugby league prop forward whose club career was with the South Sydney and Manly-Warringah during the 1960s and early 1970s...

  he moved to Manly

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...

. He played 114 games for Manly between 1972 and 1978. He played in the victorious 1972 and 1973 Grand Finals for Manly as well as the 1978 Grand Final replay.

Representative career

Branighan represented for Australia in eight Test matches and appeared five times for New South Wales

New South Wales rugby league team

The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...

.

Ray played alongside his brother Arthur Branighan for South Sydney from 1968 to 1970, and his nephew Luke Branighan

Luke Branighan

Luke Branighan is an Australian professional rugby league player for English club Halifax in the Co-operative Championship. He primarily plays at halfback...

 played with the St George Dragons in 2004.

Footnotes