Ireland

Bridge notes: Remembering the late George Ryan

‘It was a joy to attend his classes. We could not wait until we got out to compete’

George Ryan, Irish Times bridge correspondent at the launch of his novel Vexed at his own Funeral in Dublin in 1983. Photograph: Kevin McMahon

Seamus Dowling
Tue Apr 28 2020 - 01:09

The death has occurred in Westport, Co Mayo of George Ryan, bridge correspondent for The Irish Times from 1970 to 2014.

Tributes were led by Neil Burke, president of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland (CBAI), who said: “It is with great sadness that I note his passing. An early influence on all of us, his little yellow book, The Bones of Bridge, was the start of many people’s involvement in the game.”

The book, written in 1966, remains the all-time, best-selling bridge book by an Irish author. CBAI chief executive Paul Porteous referred to the immense contribution Ryan made to the game for more than 60 years, especially the meticulousness of his reporting.

In 2014 he was honoured by the national association with an award for his life-long service to the game. Both Porteous and Una Walsh, editor of The Irish Bridge Journal remember his encyclopedic knowledge of the game, a walking “who’s who” of bridge to whom all those involved were family. Walsh acknowledged his encouragement and help when the magazine was launched in 1979.

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Ryan taught bridge for a number of years. Máire O’Keeffe, currently one of Ireland’s leading teachers, recalled how he instilled a love of the game in his students. “It was a joy to attend his classes,” she said. “We could not wait until we got out to compete.”

Many of his pupils became top-level players, including the late Denis Dillon whose talent and potential as a player Ryan recognised when they were both primary-school teachers in Tullamore. Anne Dillon recalls Ryan persuading her husband to take up the game. She remembers “hours of post-bridge discussion” with Ryan, the master, instructing and entertaining. The Dillons went on to win European Union silver medals. Anne’s brother Pat Barry and his wife Maria, friends and rivals of Ryan, recalled happy after-bridge hours in his company. “He was a very good player; he should have won more majors than he did” – high praise from two of the best of his contemporaries.

“Away from the table he was interesting and fun loving,” they added. Ryan won a number of national trophies including the Moylan (all-Ireland pairs); Revington (men’s pairs); Spiro (mixed pairs); Lambert (confined pairs); Holmes Wilson (open teams) and Burke (inter-county teams).

George Ryan wrote four novels one of which, No Time for Work was included in Des Kenny’s 2008 publication, 101 Irish Books You MUST Read.

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