Raphael Joseph Meade (born 22 November 1962) is an English former

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 for clubs in a variety of countries.

Career

Meade was born in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, where he attended Tollington Park Secondary School. He played football for Islington Boys, and began his club career at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

as a schoolboy. He turned professional in June 1980, and was prolific for the club's reserve side: with 90 goals from 130 appearances in the

Football Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is ...

, he was the leading scorer in both the 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons. Meade made his first-team debut on 16 September 1981 in a UEFA Cup first round tie away to Panathinaikos; entering the match after 66 minutes with his team 1–0 up, he scored the second goal with a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

with what the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' reported as his first touch of the ball. On his league debut, in the starting eleven against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on 17 October, he scored the only goal of the match. Of his sixteen appearances in that season's First Division (eight as substitute), most were made from mid-February 1982 onwards. Select season required via bottom navbar. He scored twice against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

on his return from a

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

injury in February 1983, but played only six more matches that season. In December 1983, he scored a winning

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and his two goals against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

in the

North London Derby The North London derby is the meeting of the association football clubs Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, both of which are based in North London, England. Fans of both clubs consider the other to be their main ...

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

helped Arsenal to a 4–2 win, but he failed to score in any of his other 12 appearances. The signings of

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English Association football, football player and Coach (sport), coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley F.C., Chorley. He became a professional p ...

and

Charlie Nicholas Charles Nicholas (born 30 December 1961) is a Scottish former professional footballer. A striker, Nicholas is best known for his spells at Celtic and Arsenal. He won 20 international caps for Scotland, including playing at the 1986 FIFA World C ...

meant Meade had been pushed down the pecking order at Arsenal, and he made only eight appearances in 1984–85, taking his totals to 16 goals from 51 matches in all competitions. He was sold to

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

in the summer of 1985. In his debut season, Meade scored twice against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

to help his team reach the quarter-finals of the

1985–86 UEFA Cup The 1985–86 UEFA Cup was the 15th season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The final was played over two legs at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, ...

, produced

hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against Académica Coimbra and

Vitória Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

, and finished the campaign with 13 goals from 26 appearances in all competitions. He produced 20 goals from 33 appearances the following season, including 2 in Sporting's 9–0

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

defeat of ÍA, and helped Sporting reach the

1987 Taça de Portugal Final Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader Mohammad Najibu ...

, in which they lost to Benfica. He fell out of favour in the third year of his contract with Sporting, and joined

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

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 ...

for the second half of the

1987–88 La Liga The 1987–88 La Liga season was the 57th since its establishment. It began on 29 August 1987, and concluded on 22 May 1988. Real Madrid finished the season as champions for the third season running, the runners-up this time being Real Sociedad, ...

season. He made just one start, in a 4–1 win away at

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

in early February, and two substitute appearances, In August 1988 Meade left Sporting CP to sign for

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

club

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

for £150,000. He scored 7 goals from 22 appearances, which included a winning goal against

Floriana Floriana ( or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a Floriana Lines, fortified town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014 ...

that took Dundee United through to the second round of the Cup Winners' Cup, and attracted enough attention for a local

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

to publish a controversial "supposedly racist" image of him. In March 1989, Meade moved on to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

, for whom he made 4 appearances and was an unused substitute on the losing side in the

1989 Football League Cup Final The 1989 Football League Cup Final was a football match played on 9 April 1989 between Nottingham Forest and the 1988 League Cup winners, Luton Town at Wembley Stadium. Nottingham Forest claimed victory in the 29th League Cup final with a 3–1 ...

. Meade's next employer was Danish club

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city of Odense, in southern Denmark. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play ...

, from where he had brief spells back in England with

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

and

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 ...

. In August 1991, Meade signed for Brighton & Hove Albion where he became a regular in the side and scored 12 goals from 46 appearances in all competitions. Released at the end of the season, he turned out for the reserve teams of several clubs and spent time with Hong Kong team

Ernest Borel Ernest Borel is a watch manufacturer founded in 1856 in Neuchatel, Switzerland. They have traditionally focused on export markets outside Europe and won several awards in the late 19th century, including first place in the 1866 Neuchatel obser ...

before returning to England, first with Dover Athletic and then for a second spell with Brighton & Hove Albion. He then played for

Sussex County League The Southern Combination Football League (named Premier Sports Southern Combination Football League) is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of e ...

club Southwick and for Southern League clubs

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

, where he top-scored in the 1995–96 season,, and and

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in the Swale district of Kent, southeast England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. The town stands next to th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meade, Raphael 1962 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Islington People from Islington (district) English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Arsenal F.C. players Sporting CP footballers Real Betis players Dundee United F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Odense Boldklub players Ipswich Town F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Sea Bee players Crawley Town F.C. players Sittingbourne F.C. players English Football League players Primeira Liga players La Liga players Scottish Football League players Southern Football League players English expatriate sportspeople in Spain English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong