Richard Philip Malone (born 22 August 1947) is a Scottish former 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 ...

. A defender, he appeared for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in the

1973 FA Cup Final The 1973 FA Cup Final was the 92nd final of the FA Cup. It took place on 5 May 1973 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Leeds United, the previous season's winners and one of the dominant teams in English football at the time, and Sunde ...

winning team. After playing for junior side Shotts Bon Accord, Malone started his senior career with Ayr United, for whom he had played 163 league matches and scored twenty goals. He was the only full back at that time to score a hat trick. Malone joined Sunderland in October 1970 and was a Scotland under-23 international (match against France). In the FA Cup Final victory, Second Division Sunderland beat Leeds United 1-0. Malone played 235 (+1) league matches for Sunderland, scoring two goals. Malone left Sunderland to join

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

in July 1977. After playing 36 league matches and scoring two goals for the club, he was transferred to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in November 1978, playing 49 matches for them scoring one goal. The goal came in a 5–2 victory over Swindon Town at Bloomfield Road on 15 May 1979. His contract with Blackpool was cancelled in May 1980 by Alan Ball. In season 1980–81, Malone returned to Scotland to play for Queen of the South. With the

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

club, Malone won promotion from the Scottish Second Division. Alongside Malone at Queen of the South was a player with a name that would have sounded familiar to Malone, Queens' long serving goalkeeper

Allan Ball Allan Ball (26 February 1943 – 21 July 2018) was an English footballer. Born in Hetton-le-Hole in County Durham, Ball played as a goalkeeper, spending most of his professional career with Scottish club Queen of the South in Dumfries. Ball ma ...

. QoS left winger Jimmy Robertson later said when asked who the best players were that he played beside at Queens, 'Dick Malone, you could tell he had played at a higher level than most of us'.Jimmy Robertson interview and career profile on the Queen of the South website
After leaving Queens he returned to non league football by joining

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

Honours

*Sunderland -

winner * Queen of the South - 1981 Scottish Second Division promotion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Dick 1947 births Living people Footballers from Motherwell Scottish men's footballers Shotts Bon Accord F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football defenders