Richard Hegarty (1884 – 3 October 1917) 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

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

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 Stockport County.

Personal life

Hegarty served as a

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

in the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and died of "

wounds A wound is a rapid onset of injury that involves lacerated or punctured skin (an ''open'' wound), or a contusion (a ''closed'' wound) from blunt force trauma or compression. In pathology, a ''wound'' is an acute injury that damages the epider ...

and

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

" at Northumberland War Hospital on 3 October 1917. He was buried in Stranton Cemetery & Crematorium, Hartlepool. His elder brother Daniel died in service on 29 July 1919.

Career statistics

References

1884 births 1917 deaths Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks West Hartlepool F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Sunderland Rovers F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players North Shields F.C. players West Hartlepool St Joseph's F.C. players English Football League players Northern Football League players British Army personnel of World War I Royal Field Artillery soldiers British military personnel killed in World War I {{England-footy-defender-1880s-stub