Edward Richard Walter Walker (22 July 1913 – February 1988) 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 for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. He was born in Hackney,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Dick Walker's three decade association with West Ham began during the 1932–33 season. Playing for Becontree Athletic on Sunday mornings, Walker was spotted by a club scout and given a trial. He played for the club in the London Midweek League, but moved to

west London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

club Park Royal for the following season. After a home clash against Park Royal, West Ham re-signed the player and he made his first-team debut as right-half against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

on 27 August 1934. After featuring in a number of defensive positions, he finally settled into centre-half as replacement for Jim Barrett in 1936. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Walker served with an infantry battalion who fought from El Alamein to Italy and was several times

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. He played football for the Army whilst on duty in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and also took leave to play games for West Ham. Upon his return from action, he took the

captaincy A captaincy ( , , ) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish colonies, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule admin ...

and played league football with the club until his final game on 18 February 1953, against Plymouth Argyle at Upton Park. He totalled 292 league appearances for the club, scoring two goals. The following four years would see Walker play more than 200 further reserve and A team games until the end of the 1956–57 season, when his playing contract was not renewed by Ted Fenton. He was then offered a job cleaning players' boots at £4 a week (equivalent to £ in ). He received a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...

in October 1957 against

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

. He left the club having made over 600 appearances including wartime competitions. Walker went on to become coach to

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

and later joined Spurs as a scout.

References

1913 births 1988 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Hackney People from Hackney, London English men's footballers Men's association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff Tottenham Hotspur F.C. non-playing staff British Army personnel of World War II English football scouts English Football League players English football coaches 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-defender-1910s-stub