Richard Dorsett (3 December 1919 – November 1999) 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 striker. Dorsett was sometimes known as "the Brownhills Bomber" after his birthplace of

Brownhills Brownhills is a historic market and industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall of the West Midlands county, England. The town is located south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsa ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

(now West Midlands).

Football career

Dorsett started his career with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, making his debut in 1938. During that season he scored their only goal in the 4–1 defeat by

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in the 1939 FA Cup Final. During World War II, Dorsett served with the RAF and guested for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

and

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, for whom he made 16 appearances, scoring 23 goals. He was a member of the Wolves side that won the 1942

Football League War Cup The Football League War Cup was an association football tournament held between 1939 and 1945. It aimed to fill the gap left in English football by the suspension of the FA Cup during the Second World War. Though it was often referred to in conte ...

and played 58 wartime games, scoring 40 goals. In September 1946, he joined

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

for £3,000. His career almost came to an end in 1950 when he was involved in a car crash, but he recovered and played another three seasons before retiring from the game in 1953.

Later career

He stayed at Aston Villa coaching the club's youth team before joining

in 1957 as assistant trainer, a job he held until 1962. He died in November 1999, a month before what would have been his 80th birthday.

Honours

;

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

finalist:

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

References

External links

Article on "Wolves Old Gold"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsett, Dicky 1919 births 1999 deaths People from Brownhills Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall English men's footballers English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Southampton F.C. wartime guest players Liverpool F.C. wartime guest players Brentford F.C. wartime guest players Grimsby Town F.C. wartime guest players Queens Park Rangers F.C. wartime guest players Men's association football forwards Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen Military personnel from the West Midlands (county) 20th-century English sportsmen