Darren Edward James Pitcher (12 October 1969 – 25 November 2018) 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 defender and a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He notably played in the

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 ...

for Crystal Palace during the 1994–95 and 1997–98 seasons, he also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for both

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

and Leyton Orient as well as a brief loan spell in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

with

Galway United Galway United Football Club (Irish language, Irish: ''Cumann Peile Ghaillimh Aontaithe'') is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Galway. They play in the League of Ireland Fi ...

. He retired from professional football due to injury but later spent time in Non-League football and turned out for

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

, Purfleet,

Carshalton Athletic Carshalton Athletic Football Club is an English football club based in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. They currently play in the and are based at the War Memorial Sports Ground. The club also field a women's team playing in the Lo ...

, Chelmsford City and Ilford.

Playing career

He played for

, Crystal Palace and Leyton Orient. Pitcher started his career as a right full back at Charlton, but then converted to an effective defensive midfielder. He signed on loan for Seamus McDonagh at

in January 1989 and made his League of Ireland debut at Athlone on the 16th. When Frank Worthington made his debut on 12 February Pitcher scored the equaliser at

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

. Pitcher joined Crystal Palace in 1994. In his first season at the club he helped Palace to the semi finals of both domestic cups. It was in these cup runs that he scored his only two goals for Palace. In the League Cup quarter final against

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 ...

he scored his first goal, and his second came in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

quarter final replay against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. However Palace's runs were ended by

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 ...

in the League Cup semi final and

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 ...

in the FA Cup semi final. His career was ended at Crystal Palace in a match against Huddersfield Town in August 1996, after a challenge by Paul Reid. He attempted to bring a case of negligence against Huddersfield Town, which he lost. He never played for Palace again, and never played professional football again except for a brief loan spell at Leyton Orient in January 1998. Pitcher later played in

Non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

, for

, Purfleet,

, Chelmsford City and Ilford.

Personal life

After retiring from football, Pitcher worked in the building trade.

Death

On 26 November 2018, it was announced that Pitcher had died.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitcher, Darren 1969 births 2018 deaths English footballers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Romford F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Carshalton Athletic F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Ilford F.C. players Premier League players Footballers from Stepney English Football League players Galway United F.C. (1937–2011) players League of Ireland players Association football defenders