Dalian Robert Atkinson (21 March 1968 – 15 August 2016) was an English professional
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 le ...
who played as a
striker.
During his club football career, he played in England for
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
,
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
,
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
and
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
, winning the
Football League Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
at Villa in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
. He also played for many teams abroad; in Spain for
Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...
, in France for
Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
, in Turkey for
Fenerbahçe, in Saudi Arabia for
Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to:
Sports Football Libya
*Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier
* Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...
, and in South Korea for
Daejeon Citizen
Daejeon Hana Citizen Football Club (Korean 대전 하나 시티즌 축구단) is a South Korean professional football team based in Daejeon that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. At the time of its foundation in 19 ...
and
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors ( ko, 전북 현대 모터스) is a South Korean professional football club based in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Playing at the Jeonju World Cup S ...
.
Atkinson died on 15 August 2016. He was near his father's house in
Trench
A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit).
In geology, trenches result from eros ...
,
Telford
Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...
, where he had grown up. Officers of
West Mercia Police
West Mercia Police (), formerly the West Mercia Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Worcestershire in England. The force area cover ...
, who had responded to a call, fired a
taser
A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...
at him and one officer kicked him in the head. Atkinson went into
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
. The police officer who killed him was later found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years in prison.
[
]
Club career
Early career
Atkinson first came to prominence at Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
as a teenager, impressing seasoned experts with his speed and daring, which included a hat-trick against a Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
side containing Gary Pallister
Gary Andrew Pallister (born 30 June 1965) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit.
As a player, he was a defender from 1984 to 2001 and is most noted for his nine-year spell at Manchester United from 1989 unt ...
and future Ipswich captain Tony Mowbray
Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender.
He began his coaching career with Ip ...
at the heart of their defence, in the 1987–88 season.
In 1989, manager Ron Atkinson
Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits.
Nick ...
(no relation) brought him to Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...
for £450,000 where he formed a fine front partnership with David Hirst for a single season. He was an ever-present in the league for Sheffield Wednesday in his only season there, scoring 10 goals but being unable to prevent them from being relegated.
After relegation he was sold to Real Sociedad
Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...
for £1.7 million. The San Sebastián
San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...
-based team had recently broken a tradition of only signing local players in order to bring fellow British players John Aldridge
John William Aldridge (born 18 September 1958) is a former football player and manager. He was a prolific, record-breaking striker best known for his time with English club Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in M ...
and Kevin Richardson to the club, making Atkinson their third foreigner and also the first black player in their history. He was nicknamed ''El txipiron'' (The squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...
) by Sociedad fans during the 1990–91 season. His team did not have a good year, although Atkinson made a good contribution over the season, scoring 12 goals in La Liga.[ Atkinson was racially abused by opposition fans during his time in Spain.
]
Aston Villa
Atkinson joined Aston Villa for £1.6 million in July 1991, and became one half of another impressive partnership alongside Dean Saunders
Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer.
As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...
, when Saunders arrived from Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
a year after Atkinson arrived there from Real Sociedad. The partnership was broken up in 1995 when both players were sold to Turkish clubs – Saunders to Galatasaray
Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...
and Atkinson to Fenerbahçe for £1.7 million.
Atkinson is probably most often remembered for his magnificent solo goal against Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
in a 3–2 away win on 3 October 1992, which won ''Match of the Day
''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary L ...
s Goal of the Season
In English football, the Goal of the Season is an annual competition and award given on BBC's ''Match of the Day'', in honour of the most spectacular goal scored that season. It is typically contested between the winners of the preceding ten Goa ...
award for the 1992–93 season, the first season of the new FA Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
, when Villa finished runners-up.[ Starting deep in the Aston Villa half of the pitch with a one-touch trap from a lofted ball that immediately took him away from a defending player, Atkinson then skipped past two more Wimbledon players and, pausing briefly as he reached the edge of the opposition penalty area, produced a delicately arched chip-shot that floated over the rushing goalkeeper.][ That goal’s celebration is still to this day well remembered by Aston Villa fans, on that rainy day fan Martin Pritchard had the impulse to jump from his seat, walk onto the field, and hold his umbrella up over the players.
Atkinson also had the distinction of scoring Villa's first Premier League goal, when he scored their late equaliser in a 1–1 draw at Ipswich on the opening day of the season.
Atkinson is remembered by Aston Villa fans for his goal in the 1994 League Cup final win against ]Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
,[ and that he scored twice in the semi finals against ]Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
(once in the first leg and once in the second).
Later career
Atkinson missed Villa's departure for a 1994 pre-season tour of South Africa because of what was described as "personal problems." When Ron Atkinson left and was replaced as manager by Brian Little, he fell out of favour. In July 1995, Atkinson arrived in Istanbul to agree a deal with Fenerbahçe S.K. Atkinson failed to settle in Turkey and had loan spells with Metz
Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...
and Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
.[ Atkinson left the club in 1997 and ended his career with stints in Saudi Arabia and South Korea, finally retiring as a player in 2001.] He returned to Telford where he ultimately lived at Little Dawley
Dawley Hamlets is a civil parish in Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England.
The parish covers Horsehay, Doseley, Little Dawley (also traditionally known as Dawley Parva) and Aqueduct.
The name Dawley comes from Old English meaning ''woodland ...
. In his last years his health suffered with heart and kidney problems.[Report by Lisa O'Brien, published following his funeral.]
International career
Atkinson represented the England B side in a friendly 4–1 loss against Republic of Ireland B on 27 March 1990. He scored England's only goal in the game.
Death
Atkinson died on 15 August 2016 after being taser
A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...
ed by police near his father's house in Trench
A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit).
In geology, trenches result from eros ...
, Telford
Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in the same direction. With an est ...
.[Special Report by Jordan Reynolds and Mark Andrews.] Police had responded to a call as Atkinson threatened to kill his father, Ernest. Atkinson's older brother Kenroy said "My brother had lost it. He was in a manic state and depressed – out of his mind and ranting. He had a tube in his shoulder for the dialysis and he had ripped it out and was covered in blood. He got dad by the throat and said he was going to kill him. He told dad he had already killed me, our brother Paul and sister Elaine and he had come for him." Officers deployed a taser three times, the first two being ineffective; after being successfully tasered and kicked in the head by a police officer, Atkinson sustained cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
on the way to the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford
The Princess Royal Hospital is a teaching hospital located in Apley Castle, Telford, England. It forms the Telford site of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and serves patients in Telford and Wrekin, the rest of Shropshire, and Powy ...
, where he was pronounced dead at about 03:00. He was 48. The incident was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.
On 8 January 2018, th ...
.
His former manager at Wednesday and Villa, Ron Atkinson
Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits.
Nick ...
, called the incident an "out-and-out tragedy" and noted that Dalian "had terrific ability". Dalian Atkinson's Humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humani ...
funeral took place at Telford Crematorium on 19 November 2016, followed by interment of his ashes at Hadley Cemetery.[
]
Aftermath
In November 2019, one police officer was charged with murder in connection with Atkinson's death; another was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm (often abbreviated to Assault OABH, AOABH or simply ABH) is a statutory offence of aggravated assault in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Hong Kong and t ...
.
Both officers were due to stand trial in September 2020 but because of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the trial was delayed until April 2021.
On 26 April 2021, PC Benjamin Monk, who was charged with murder, pleaded not guilty. On 4 May, prosecutors said that Monk pressed the trigger of the taser for 33 seconds, exceeding the protocol of five seconds, before kicking Atkinson twice in the head after he fell to the ground. The defence barrister of his co-defendant said that the actions were "necessary and reasonable as part of heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
continuing efforts to restrain and detain an unpredictable and threateningly violent man as she perceived him to be".
Monk was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
on 23 June 2021. The jury failed to reach a verdict on the other police officer, Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith's, assault charge. On 29 June, Monk was given an eight-year prison sentence. This was the first time in over 30 years that a serving police officer had been convicted of manslaughter in the course of duties. It was later disclosed that Monk had been found guilty of gross misconduct by West Mercia Police in 2011 for not declaring two police cautions in his application to join the police; he had stolen from his previous employer in 1997 and been found drunk in 1999. On 2 July, prosecutors announced that they would seek a retrial in the case of the other officer’s assault charge.
On 28 September 2022, Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith was cleared of the assault charge.
Honours
Aston Villa
*Football League Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
: 1993–94[
Fenerbahçe
*]Süper Lig
The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...
: 1995–96
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Dalian
1968 births
2016 deaths
Association football forwards
English sportspeople of Jamaican descent
English footballers
English expatriate footballers
England B international footballers
Ipswich Town F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
Real Sociedad footballers
Aston Villa F.C. players
Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers
FC Metz players
Manchester City F.C. players
Ittihad FC players
Daejeon Hana Citizen FC players
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors players
Premier League players
English Football League players
La Liga players
Süper Lig players
Ligue 1 players
English expatriate sportspeople in South Korea
K League 1 players
Saudi Professional League players
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Turkey
Expatriate footballers in France
Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia
Expatriate footballers in South Korea
Sportspeople from Shrewsbury
English expatriate sportspeople in Spain
English expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
English expatriate sportspeople in France
English expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia
Black British sportspeople
People killed by law enforcement officers
Police misconduct in England