RIP Ray Wright – Photographer who covered most London football grounds from the early 1970s until the 1990s

Sad news reaches the PAN office this week, the death of sports photographer Ray Wright. Ray’s archive is owned by Offside sports agency and the agency’s owner, Mark Leech, sent us his memories of Ray and his photography:

Ray Wright Photographer 1942-2024

Ray was an absolute charmer, he even coaxed a smile out of Lester Piggott for a wonderful portrait. He finished his photographic career at the races but had been seen on the pitch and along the goal line at most London football grounds from the early 1970s until the 1990s.

By on the pitch, I mean that Ray would feel quite comfortable getting a new signing to pose for him, a minute or two before 3 o’clock, with the referee blasting his whistle in an attempt to start the match. He would then finish off the roll of film with a few action shots and depart as his wife Anne was waiting for him, outside in her car. What I didn’t realise until later was that Ray had photographed all the players at home with their wives for Goal Magazine, for a feature called ‘The Girl Behind The Man’. I read Goal as a kid but never stopped to look at anything but the action shots. This collection, which looks back at a past age, now looks incredible. It has been featured in Victory Journal and L’Equipe Magazine.

Apparently Ray had done some shots of Crystal Palace players who lived close by his home and the editor of Goal told him to go ahead and shoot as many top players as he could. Ray explained he had no way of contacting them so the editor lent him his contacts book, with the home telephone number of nearly every player in the Football League!

Ray wasted no time and eventually visited the homes of Geoff Hurst, Denis Law, Harry Redknapp, Stan Bowles and most of the top seventies players.

Offside are now the proud owners of this collection and hope to produce a book as a tribute to Ray’s unique work.

Search all Ray Wright at the Offside photo library.