Dale Roberts (22 October 1986 – 14 December 2010) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Roberts started his career in his native North-East with the academy sides at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

before he moved to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

. He failed to make Forest's first team and had loans spells with

Eastwood Town Eastwood Town Football Club was an English football club based in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. The club last participated in the Northern Premier League Division One South, the eighth tier of English football. A new club, Eastwood C.F.C., was f ...

and

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

. He had two more loan spells both with

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ket ...

before joining the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side on a permanent deal in 2009. He won the club's player of the season in 2008–09. He also won six

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) are the football teams that represent England at non-League level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

team, winning the 2009–10 player of the year, before his death by suicide at the age of 24.

Club career

Roberts was born in

Horden Horden is a village and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in County Durham, England. It is situated on the North Sea coast, to the east of Peterlee, approximately 12 miles south of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, S ...

, County Durham. His mother was Isabella. He played for Cleveland Juniors Football Club and attended Easington Comprehensive School with fellow academy footballer Adam Johnson. He was with the

and

football academies, joining the latter in 2003 as a scholar and was part of Boro's

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

winning squad in 2004 as back-up to

David Knight David or Dave Knight may refer to: * David Knight (American football) (born 1951), former American football player * David Knight (CND), chair for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 1996–2001 * David Knight (cricketer) (born 1956), Australian c ...

. Roberts began his senior career with

after signing as a professional in 2005. He joined local

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

side

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

in March 2006, where he made 10 appearances. He joined

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

club

on a season-long loan for the 2006–07 season in July, which he finished with 42 appearances. He joined

team

on a one-month loan on 24 January 2008, which was extended for a second month in February. He made 19 first team appearances for the club, including the

Conference League Cup The National League Cup is an annual association football competition in England. The National League Cup is open to clubs playing in the National League and, since its revival in 2024, professional under-21 teams playing in the Premier League 2. ...

Final. Roberts rejoined Rushden for a second loan spell in October 2008 as cover for Alan Marriott who was out with a stomach injury that needed surgery. The loan was extended until January 2009 and he finished the spell with 18 appearances, keeping five clean sheets, and subsequently signed permanently at

Nene Park Nene Park was a sports stadium situated at Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England, along the bank of the River Nene, which could accommodate 6,441 spectators, with 4,641 seated and 1,800 standing. It formerly hosted football matches but ...

on 2 January 2009. He was named Rushden's player of the season in 2008–09.

International career

Roberts' performances for Rushden & Diamonds during the 2008–09 season earned him international recognition. He made his debut for the

team against Malta. During the 2009–10 season, Roberts played in all four England C games, and was voted the England C player of the season. His last appearance for England C, and in fact in all senior football, came against Wales on 14 September 2010.

Personal life

Roberts was engaged to Lindsey Cowan, but the pair split in May 2010 after revelations she had been having an affair with Roberts' teammate Paul Terry. Later in the year, Roberts and Cowan resumed their relationship and were still engaged to be married at the time of Roberts' death.

Death

On 14 December 2010, just hours before he was due to play in an

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

match against his former club Eastwood Town, it was announced that Roberts had died. The match was subsequently postponed. Roberts was found by

Northamptonshire Police Northamptonshire Police (colloquially known as Northants Police) is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Northamptonshire in the East Midlands of England, in the United Kingdom. The Northamptonshire police area i ...

at his home in

Higham Ferrers Higham Ferrers is a market town and civil parish in the Nene Valley in North Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single built-up area with Rushden to the south and had a population of 8,82 ...

, Northamptonshire; they said that they were not treating the circumstances as suspicious. The club's FA Youth Cup tie the following day was postponed as was the following first team game against Eastbourne Borough. The cause of death was reported to be suicide by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

. At an inquest opened at the end of the week, deputy coroner Rodney Haig gave cause of death as

asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...

. Following Roberts' death, Rushden

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

their number one shirt. Coroner Anne Pember recorded a suicide verdict at the closing of Roberts' inquest, which heard the goalkeeper had killed himself after struggling to come to terms with an injury and national media speculation about his fiancée's affair with Paul Terry. Roberts' number one jersey was also retired by phoenix club

AFC Rushden & Diamonds A.F.C. Rushden & Diamonds is an English football club based in Rushden in Northamptonshire. They played their opening season at Kiln Park, the home of Raunds Town, in 2011–12 and subsequently shared the Dog & Duck ground with Wellingboroug ...

. However, in 2015,

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

rules meant that they had to register the number to a player, despite an appeal to

The FA The Football Association (the FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsibl ...

. AFC Rushden's appeal was later successful.

Career statistics

Footnotes

:A. The "League" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

and

. :B. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the

and

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Dale 1986 births 2010 deaths People from Horden Footballers from County Durham English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Sunderland A.F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Eastwood Town F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players National League (English football) players Suicides by hanging in England 2010 suicides 21st-century English sportsmen 20th-century English sportsmen