George Ryan, who was born on December 31st, 1930, was a formidable bridge player good enough to win national senior championships, but was probably best known to current players as the bridge correspondent of The Irish Times for 44 years until he retired in 2014.
He would also want to be remembered as a successful author of comic novels. As his interest in playing serious bridge waned, he increasingly devoted himself to his writing and he self-published a series of quirky takes on life, beginning with No Time for Work in the late 1970s.
It sold a remarkable 15,000 copies over an extended period, with sales greatly helped by the author’s cheerful capacity for salesmanship. He walked through train carriages offering it to passengers. He kept a box of books near him at bridge tournaments, greeted opponents warmly when they arrived at the table and inquired if they liked reading. If they said they did, he popped a book in front of each of them. Many found the offer irresistible and sales were made to people who seldom entered bookshops.
George’s first self-publishing venture came years earlier when he produced a small booklet, The Bones of Bridge, to help beginners to learn the game. On account of its clarity and simplicity, it became the bridge education manual for new and inexperienced players for many years and bridge teachers often used it in their classes.
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Bridge teacher
He was an excellent bridge teacher, patient and good-humoured, with his teaching skills honed by his training as a primary school teacher in St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra, Dublin.
As a bridge player, he was bold and fearless, not so much a bidding theoretician but a superb reader of the cards and an all-round practical player able to play his opponents as well as the cards.
He won the 1971 Irish mixed pairs championship with Eileen O’Doherty who represented Ireland on numerous occasions and was still playing successfully at international level in her 80s.
His earlier win in 1966 in the men’s national pairs came with the elegant and impeccably mannered Derek Stokes, who later become the president of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland.
By contrast, another partner with whom he enjoyed success was a more rambunctious personality who became the only man ever to be arrested during a bridge tournament – he stepped outside the Conyngham Arms Hotel in Slane for a cigarette between hands and somehow got involved in a verbal altercation with a passing garda who summoned a patrol car to take him away.
Tournament
No-one at the tournament was overly concerned. Bridge in those days was played in smoke-filled rooms, with drink liberally consumed, and the weekends away for competitions in provincial hotels provided the cover for many private arrangements. Some older players say it’s all much less fun nowadays.
George Ryan died on April 21st, in a nursing home in Westport where he had been a long-term resident. His daughter Áine Ryan wrote several poignantly tender articles about his final years for the Health supplement of The Irish Times.
He had a family of six with his first wife, Mary Guinan. Their son Dermot predeceased him, and he is survived by Áine Ryan, Breda Keating, Claire Lambert, Gearóid Ó Riain and Eithne Billington. His second wife, Joan Relihan, predeceased him in January this year.