Richard Ernest York (25 April 1899 – 9 December 1969), known as Dicky York (also spelled Dickie York), 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 in addition to a long club career with

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 ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

appeared twice for the

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

. A winger, he spent 16 years at Villa from 1915 to 1931 and was on the losing team in the 1924 FA Cup final. He later had brief spells with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

and Brierley Hill Alliance.

Early and personal life

Richard Ernest York was born on 25 April 1899 in Handsworth,

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, ...

. He was the eldest of two children to Richard and Edith Mary (née Bagley); his father was a press tool maker. York enlisted in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

on 8 May 1917, and by April 1918 had transferred to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. He married Constance G. Wright in 1923. He ran decorating and plumbing business in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

after retiring from football.

Club career

York started his career with his local clubs Handsworth Royal and Birchfield Rangers. In March 1915, he joined

as a young amateur, signing professional forms in August 1919. He also guested for Chelsea and Boscombe Town during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He scored one goal in 17 games for Villa in 1919–20, but did not feature in the 1920 FA Cup final, which ended in a 1–0 victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in ...

. He appeared just 11 times in 1920–21, before going on to make 47 appearances in the 1921–22 campaign, as the "Villans" finished fifth in the

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 ...

. He scored nine goals in 37 games in 1922–23 and five goals in 43 games in 1923–24. He also appeared at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

in the 1924 FA Cup final, in a 2–0 defeat to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. He scored seven goals in 34 matches in 1924–25, before hitting 20 goals in 44 appearances in 1925–26. He bagged 13 goals in 43 games in 1926–27, before being limited to just four goals in 30 appearances in 1927–28. He rediscovered his scoring form with 18 strikes in 48 matches in 1928–29, before hitting seven goals in 32 games in 1929–30. However, he played just four times in the 1930–31 campaign, as Villa finished second in the league with an English record of 128 top-flight league goals scored. He joined

in June 1931, making his debut in a 3–1 win at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

on 29 August. He was a first-team regular until he was struck by injury in December of that year. After his recovery he played infrequently, and ended the 1931–32 season with five goals in 26

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

appearances. He left the

Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditi ...

and was transferred to Brierley Hill Alliance in August 1932.

International career

He made two appearances for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, both 1–0 defeats to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in April 1922 and April 1926.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

Honours

Aston Villa *

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 ...

runner-up:

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:York, Dicky 1899 births 1969 deaths Footballers from Handsworth, West Midlands British Army personnel of World War I Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Men's association football wingers English men's footballers England men's international footballers Chelsea F.C. wartime guest players Aston Villa F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Brierley Hill Alliance F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Military personnel from Birmingham, West Midlands British Army soldiers Royal Air Force airmen 20th-century English sportsmen