Scunthorpe United is saddened to learn of the passing of former player Barry Mahy, aged 78.
Born January 21, 1942, in Doncaster, Barry grew up in the Channel Islands, going on to play for Guernsey. At the time, he was also eligible to play for the United States of the America, as Guernsey was not recognised by the world footballing authorities. He would appear for the USA on four occasions.
Mahy would arrive at the Iron in May 1963 from Northerners A.C. and would make his debut at home to Sunderland in the September. He'd make a total of five appearances in his first season, with four of those coming in the league.
His first goal would come in one of his seven appearances in 1964-65, with the game in question still in the United history books. The club's record win stands at 8-1 and, along with a Barrie Thomas quintet, Barry was among the other scorers against Luton Town.
With that game in the history books, Mahy was about to make another piece of Scunthorpe United history at the start of the 1965-66 campaign against Reading. He would come off the bench to become the club's first ever used substitute in the 2-0 win, replacing Barry Lindsey, following a new ruling from the Football League introducing a one-substitute allowance per game at the start of that season.
He would total 22 league appearances - including the historical substitute match - across his four seasons with the club, scoring twice, along with two FA Cup appearances with a further strike. He also played two League Cup matches for the club.
After leaving the Iron in 1967, Mahy crossed the Atlantic Ocean to move to the New York Generals with manager Freddie Goodwin and would later join the New York Cosmos for their inaugural campaign in 1971.
While with the Generals, he would make a total of 38 appearances, scoring eight goals in the National Professional Soccer League and the North American Soccer League.
The Channel Islands native enjoyed a five-year North American Soccer League career with the Cosmos as he made 79 appearances and scored three times. He would become captain of the team in the years that followed and would be skipper during Pele's first season at the club in 1975.
It was during his spell with Cosmos that he earned his four caps with the United States, with two games against Haiti in three days ending in successive 1-0 defeats in November 1973. There would then be back-to-back games against Israel midway through that month, with the opposition winning 3-1 and 2-0, respectively.
Unfortunately, Mahy's professional career would come to an abrupt end in July 1975 when he suffered a broken ankle.
Following this, he remained in New York and on October 1st, 2020, Barry sadly passed away.
He is currently resting at Raynor & D’Andrea Funeral Homes in West Sayville, New York, with a chapel service due to take place on October 7th at 8pm. Click here for further details.
The thoughts and condolences of everyone at the club are with Barry's family and friends at this difficult time.