Ray Baartz

Ray Baartz
Personal information
Full name Raymond Henry Baartz[1]
Date of birth (1947-03-06) 6 March 1947 (age 77)
Place of birth Newcastle, New South Wales
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1963 Adamstown Rosebuds
1963–1965 Manchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1966–1974 Sydney Hakoah 236 (211)
International career‡
1967–1974 Australia 48 (18)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 25 August 2007
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 25 August 2007

Raymond Henry "Ray" Baartz (born 6 March 1947) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a forward. He represented Australia 48 times between 1967 and 1974, scoring 18 goals, making him the nation's eighth-highest goal scorer of all time.

Baartz was born in Newcastle, New South Wales and spent his early years playing for Adamstown. At 17 he joined Manchester United and after 6 months signed on a two-year contract. In 1966 he returned to Australia and transferred to Sydney Hakoah for a then Australian record of £5600. He played 236 club matches scoring 211 goals.

Baartz was selected in the Australian squad to play in the World Cup finals in 1974[2] but his career was prematurely ended after he was felled by a blow from Uruguay's Luis Garisto (known as el Loco (in English crazy)) in a friendly international fixture at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The blow to his throat had damaged his carotid artery.[3]

Ray currently still lives in Newcastle.

  1. ^ a b "Player Biographies". sonsofunited.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  2. ^ 1974 World Cup Wikipedia link. Retrieved: 20 November 2010
  3. ^ "Moments in time". The Age, Melbourne. 19 November 2005. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2009.