Denis had the beard feared by referees
It’s the time of year when everyone’s waiting for a man with a big, bushy beard.
Santa Claus always gets a warm welcome – especially when he’s giving out presents.
But beards haven’t always resulted in peace and goodwill to all men in football.
Denis Ruddy found that having an abundance of facial hair prompted referees to hand out cards when it was nowhere near Christmas.
The men in black were often keen to show him red and yellow cards because he looked a fearsome sight in the heat of battle.
It didn’t help that Clydebank fans nicknamed him both Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun.
Back in 1971, Denis was one of the Bankies’ Babes – a crop of young players emerging at the Kilbowie club.
In the build-up to a League Cup quarter-final tie with Celtic, he spoke about his frustration at gaining an unfair reputation as a hard man.
He told The Sunday Post: “It seems every time there’s a barney between myself and another player, the ref takes one look at him, a glance at me, and decides I must be the culprit because I look as if I’m a bit wild.”
Nearly 48 years later, Denis looks back at his playing career and hasn’t changed his mind about how a beard influenced the men in black.
He said: “I did feel I was being victimised to a certain extent, but I was loath to shave it off.
“A lot of young men had beards back then and, like a lot of fashions, it has come round again. My son now has a beard.
“It probably did make me look more fearsome than I really was.
“Over the course of my 10 years in professional football, I was sent off five times and booked about 20 times.
“Now you see Rangers’ Alfredo Morelos being red-carded five times in a season.
“I have to admit that football was a bit different in my day. There was a lot of hard tackling and full- blooded sliding challenges. You wouldn’t get away with any of that now.
Football was definitely tougher back then, and Denis was one of three men sent off in his third game for Clydebank – a 6-0 defeat by East Fife. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that he could play a bit.
He said: “I joined Clydebank when I was 16, and we all learned a lot from the coaching of Bill Munro.
“You thought you knew a lot about the game, but you didn’t really and he taught us well. “I was one of the first to wear white boots. I suppose that made me stick out as well.
“We lost to Celtic at Parkhead in the League Cup, but I scored. I sent a header flying past our goalkeeper, Mike Mcdonald!”
Denis moved to Dumbarton in 1972 and that was the beginning of the end for his beard. He recalled: “Jackie Stewart was the manager that signed me, and I was told by him to tidy my act up.
“I lost half of the beard at that point.
“Alex Wright then took over as boss and he wanted the whole thing gone.
“I’d had a beard for 10 years, so I got a bit of a fright when I saw the face behind it!
“I have great memories of my football career. I didn’t have a care in the world. “When I started I was working in a shipyard and I was always part-time.
“But we had some full-timers at Dumbarton, players who’d moved from bigger clubs, like Willie Wallace and John Cushley.” Denis, now 69, had one season with Stenhousemuir before playing Junior football with Renfrew.
He went on to work as a police officer and played for their football team.
And he is still clean shaven!