Name: Rory Delap
Position: Centre Midfielder/Right Winger/Left Winger/Right Back
Date of Birth: 6/7/1976
Nationality: Irish
Place of Birth: Sutton Coldfield
Squad Number: 24
Nickname:The Delapidator
Former Clubs: Carlisle, Derby, Southampton, Sunderland
Joined Stoke: 2007 (free transfer)
Watch any Sunday League game and you will see countless players trying to emulate the feats of their footballing heroes. You’ll hear them announce they’re going to do a Maradona, take a free-kick like Ronaldo, and increasing regularly do a “Rory Delap”. It seems trite, but there is really only one place to start a piece on Delap, with his magnificent long throw. A favoured tactic for Stoke and enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the best Premier League defenders, Delap’s throw-ins are without doub the best in the game. There are players who can throw the ball further, but none can replicate the skills of throwing the ball devastatingly flat, and at up to speeds of up to 50mph as have been mastered by Delap. Frequently the “subject” of expert punditry on Match of the Day, they really are something special.
But there is more to Delap that just his throw. Initially from Sunderland signed as part of Tony Pulis’s influx of Premier League loanees in October 2006, he impressed on his debut, a 4-0 triumph away at Leeds, showing his typical high work-rate and commitment but suffered a sickening double leg break playing against his parent club just three days later. Though this injury would rule him out for almost a year, Pulis honoured his agreement to bring Delap to Stoke on a permanent basis, completing his signing in January 2007.
After making his return, he was a virtual ever-present in our promotion campaign of 2007/08, and has proved an equally important player in the Premier League, his throws contributing to nine of our 38 league goals, and netting twice himself, a crucial winning goal against Tottenham, and with an exquisite chipped finish over Petr Cech away at Chelsea.
Though well into his thirties, Delap keeps himself supremely fit, regularly spending the close season completing marathon bike rides for charity, and has indicated his desire to continue playing until he is forty, and see out his career with his hometown club Carlisle.
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