While he did not make the match-day squads for the playoff games, Fallon was valued in the All Whites camp for his experience and positive attitude.
The son of former New Zealand and Gisborne City coach Kevin and Mere (of Gisborne’s Sadlier family), Rory Fallon had a year and a half away from football after he hung up his boots.
Born in March 1982, three months before his father was part of New Zealand’s first World Cup finals appearance — as coach John Adshead’s assistant in Spain — Rory had been in and around football all his life.
When Rory was nine, his father started coaching him every day.
His skills developed to the stage where he could see the possibility of a career in football. Having a FIFA-qualified coach as his personal trainer helped; so did the natural athleticism that came from having a father who’d played professional football and a mother who’d played netball for Poverty Bay.
By the time he retired, Rory Fallon had forged a professional football career spanning 18 years, at clubs that included Barnsley, Shrewsbury Town, Swindon Town, Swansea, Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town, Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Scunthorpe United and Bristol Rovers.
The countless early-morning sessions with his father meant that for a 6ft 3in targetman, Rory Fallon scored goals of unexpected quality. Several feature in highlight reels. A volley for Aberdeen against Hibernian in a Scottish Cup semifinal at Hampden Park was a case in point (fans had already voted him player of the quarterfinals). Other outstanding goals were from overhead kicks, one from the edge of the penalty area to secure a draw for Swindon against Bristol City, and another from the edge of the six-yard box for Swansea against his old club Barnsley in a League One playoff final they eventually lost on penalties.
But all those years of football meant that by the time he retired, Rory Fallon was ready for a break.
In an interview for the Swansea City website just before Christmas, Fallon said that straight after playing, coaching was not in his plans.
“I had played for so long I just felt I needed a break,” he said.
He even stopped watching the game.
But then he got itchy feet, and realised he missed what he thought he’d had enough of.
In mid-2019, he joined the academy set-up at League Two club Plymouth Argyle as coach of their under-14 team.
“Just getting back out there with the lads was great,” Fallon told the Swansea website.
“For a lot of footballers, the biggest thing you miss is that buzz of being around a group and being part of a team.”
In October that year, Fallon became New Zealand coach Danny Hay’s UK-based assistant.
Then in 2020, he returned to Swansea City to join the under-16 and u15 set-up.
However, Covid-19 restrictions meant that, although he was meant to start at the beginning of the season, he did not get under way until last month.
It was a homecoming of sorts.
While he was a player at Swansea, Rory met his wife-to-be, Carly-Marie.
“My wife and I have a little daughter, Maisie, and we had always wanted her to grow up around her family, as my wife’s family are from Clydach (a village in the City and County of Swansea),” Fallon told the club website.
“We wanted to get her into a
Welsh-speaking school and just get her back to her roots with family and friends.
“We moved, I had a chat with Tatey (assistant coach Alan Tate) and a few other people at the club and they felt I could help, and that’s what I’m looking to do.”
• Although he was still a pre-schooler when his family moved to Auckland, Rory Fallon has been a periodic visitor to Gisborne to see relatives and friends, as have siblings Bianca and Sean, and their parents.
