Continuing with our series “Airtricity/Eircom Man”, we take a look at the career of Englishman Mark Rutherford.
A Storied Career.
Mark Rutherford was born in Birmingham in March 1972 and would start his career at hometown club Birmingham City.
The midfielder would go on to graduate from the Blues’ academy in 1989 and make five first team appearances, in the same year of change of ownership of the club and turbulent days ahead for City.
He even featured in the England U-18 squad alongside the likes of Steve McManaman, Andy Cole, and Chris Sutton, but never made an on-pitch appearance.
In 1991, he made the first of many moves to the League of Ireland, signing for Shelbourne on loan.
Rutherford would hit the ground running on October 4 of that year, scoring the winner Vs Sligo Rovers and helping the Auld Reds to win the title that season, before signing on a permanent basis and winning the FAI Cup the following season.
He would make 88 appearances in two seasons at Tolka Park and score ten goals before he moved back to England, where he would make 14 appearances for Shrewsbury Town as the Shropshire side won the Third Division (then the fourth tier) in the 93/94 season.
However, “Sparky” would return to Drumcondra after his league-winning spell at Shrewsbury, and make over 100 appearances for Shels, scoring five goals, including two goals in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup against SK Brann (96/97) and Kilmarnock (97/98), as well as a goal against Rangers (98/99) in the UEFA Cup.
He returned to Shrewsbury after two more successful cup campaigns, only spending one more season in England before moving to Northern Ireland’s Newry Town.
He would enjoy his best spell in County Down in terms of numbers, getting 12 goals in 70 appearances, as well as featuring in a select Irish League XI Vs a League of Ireland XI in Terryland Park (now Eamon Deacy Park), scoring in a 2-0 for the Northern Ireland side in the year 2000.
Rutherford left a year later to join Bohemians in the 00/01 January window, and would start in the most spectacular fashion, as he scored on his debut the goal to put the Gypsies in front as they came back from 4-1 down at half time to win 6-4 at the Morton Stadium against arch rivals Shamrock Rovers.
He would find the back of the net ten more times in black and red as he helped Bohs to a league and cup double in the 00/01 season, and would experience league success on Dublin’s Northside again in the 02/03 season.
He made the switch to Shamrock Rovers in 2004, and would score three times in 69 appearances, as his efforts failed to prevent relegation to the First Division in the 2005 season for the first time in their history.
Rutherford’s efforts did not go unnoticed however, and in 2006 he made the move to his fourth and final Dublin club, South Dublin rivals St. Patrick’s Athletic, where he scored once in 25 appearances for the Saints as they reached the FAI Cup final, losing to Derry City.
The LOI veteran would move to Longford Town in 2007, where he also made 25 appearances and reached the cup final, this time to Cork City at the RDS.
Finally, to round off his LOI career, he would make one last return to where it all started for him in 2008, to a Shelbourne side who were demoted two years prior due to financial irregularities.
He would have an impressive stint at Tolka Park, scoring four times in 29 appearances, as the Reds finished runners up in the dying seconds of the season, finishing one point behind champions Dundalk.
Rutherford was voted Shelbourne Supporters’ Development Group Player of the Season for 2008, now aged 36, to bring down the curtain on a legendary career in the League of Ireland.
Post-Career.
He left the professional game but still laced up a pair of boots at Dublin Bus in 2009, before moving to Lucan United, where he is still heavily involved to this day.
The 53-year-old is also now involved in breast cancer awareness, following the passing of his wife Melanie in May 2020 from the disease, completing a 5k run before ten selected Women’s National League and Women’s U-19 games in 2021.
Despite leaving the professional game in 2009, Rutherford’s legacy still lives on today, and is fondly remembered by supporters of all five of his League Of Ireland clubs for his contributions to their success.
Further Viewing.
The 1895 Trust uploaded a video called “Sparky” which features Mark giving great insight to his time in football. You can watch this below:
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