David Byrne 1990, 1991

David Byrne was born January 11th, 1960 in Guildford, England. Although born in England, his family moved to Cape Town, South Africa in 1969, where he began his professional career at the age of 17, with Pan Hellenic, coached by his father Johnny "Budgie" Byrne, a former West Ham United player.

David was the youngest player ever selected to the South African National team. Played three seasons with Hellenic, then had several tryouts in England, before moving to the US with the Atlantic Chiefs, he won the inaugural 1979-80 NASL indoor season scoring title with 23 goals and 11 assists for 57 points and played in 12 games. He also set the indoor league record for most goals in a game with five in a 14-3 triumph over the New England Tea Men on January 26th, 1980.

During the 1980 outdoor season, he appeared in 23 games and finished as the Chiefs third top scorer with 1 goal and 6 assists for 8 points. His goal came against the Rochester Lancers on August 22nd, in a 2-0 wil.

The addition of several new players lifted the burden off David during the 1980-81 indoor campaign, as he finished third on the club in scoring with 14 goals, 9 assists in 16 games.

David finished the 1981 outdoor season as the Chiefs fifth leading scorer with 3 goals and 8 assists with 14 points in 30 games.

In October 1981, he was purchased by the Toronto Blizzard, shortly before the Chiefs' franchise folded. He was an instant hit with the Blizzard's indoor team, the 1981-82 campaign lead in every department, as he notched up 17 goals and 23 assists for 57 points. He was unanimously voted the Molson "Indoor Player of the Year Award".

On April 7th, 1982 he made his Blizzard outdoor debut against the Vancouver Whitecaps, in a 2-0 win. He would go onto play in every game (26) that year, scoring 10 goals, 24 assists with a grand total of 44 points. He finished ninth overall among the NASL top ten scoring leaders. Which also led him to be named an Honorable Mention to the All-Star team.

In 1983, he helped the Blizzard to Soccer Bowl '83, but sadly they lost to the Tulsa Roughnecks 0-2. He had an impressive scoring record that year with 15 goals, 20 assists with 50 points out of 35 games.

He also played briefly in Portugal. He played 14 times for Estoril in 1983-1984 scoring once.

In what was to be the last year of the NASL, David again helped the Blizzard to Soccer Bowl '84, over two games they lost both. But again he had scored 13 goals with 15 assists for 41 points.

He returned to Portugal and played 19 games and 1 goal for Belenenses in 1984-1985.

David had played indoor soccer in the original MISL for the Minnesota Strikers during the mid-80s and was the league's 11th leading scorer for the 1987-88 season. He then later played for the Baltimore Blast and then the Wichita Wings.

In 1990, he joined the Rowdies and became the fans instant hit, with his never say die attitude. He appeared in 14 games, scoring 5 goals with 10 assists for 20 points. He was chosen as the team's MVP and was picked to the APSL All-Star team.

In his last season with the Rowdies, he appeared in 18 games and scored 2 goals with 5 assists for 9 points.

He returned and played in South Africa with Hellenic in 1994. At this time he won an U-23 cap as an overaged player and was twice called up to the national side but failed to win any caps.

For the past decade David has been an assistant coach with South African clubs. He had his first stint with Port Elizabeth side Michau Warriors, in 1997. In 1998-99 he was player-coach of Santos. In 2001 he became assistant coach of Black Leopards and then in 2003 the club's caretaker manager. After that he managed Avendale Athletico before being dismissed in November, 2004.

David's brother Mark Byrne is a former pro player, manager in South Africa and former head coach of Italian club Udinese's coaching academy.

If David should ever come across this, please could you email me.