Richard Watmough (1912 – 7 September 1962) 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 ...

and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. He played as 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 ...

in the former sport.

Football

Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

(then the West Riding of Yorkshire) but brought up in

Idle Idle generally refers to idleness, a lack of motion or energy. Idle or ''idling'', may also refer to: Technology * Idle (engine), engine running without load ** Idle speed * Idle (CPU), CPU non-utilisation or low-priority mode ** Synchronous ...

, Bradford,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, Watmough signed for his hometown club in the early 1930s. He went on to make almost one hundred league appearances for ''the Bantams'', scoring 24 goals. In 1934, he signed for Blackpool. He made his debut for the club on 13 October 1934, ten games into the 1934–35 season, and scored the winning goal in Blackpool's 2–1 victory over

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the At ...

. He went on to make a further 31 league appearances and score another eight goals. The following season, 1935–36, under new manager Joe Smith, he made 23 league appearances and scored eight goals. He also scored twice in Blackpool's short

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 ...

campaign, netting two goals in a 3–1 victory over

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

in the third round (the round in which they entered the competition). In 1936–37, Watmough scored thirteen goals in his 31 league appearances, helping the club to a runners-up finishing position and promotion to

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. In their first season back in the top flight, 1937–38, Watmough's place came under pressure from Alex Munro, who was signed from Hearts. Watmough made fourteen league appearances and scored two goals before he was sold to arch-rivals Preston North End in early December 1937, in an exchange deal that brought Frank O'Donnell to Blackpool and also took Jim McIntosh to

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

. Watmough's final game for Blackpool was in a single-goal defeat at home to

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 populat ...

on 27 November. At Preston, he won the

in 1938, at the end of his only season with the club.

Cricket

Watmough played for

Yorkshire County Cricket Club Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...

's Second XI in the 1932

Minor Counties Cricket Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

and was once twelfth man for the First XI.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Watmough became a

publican In antiquity, publicans ( Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'' (singular); Latin ''publicanus'' (singular); ''publicani'' (plural)) were public contractors, in whose official capacity they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed th ...

in his hometown of

with his wife Ruth Watmough (née Farrar 912-2012 and scouted for Bradford Park Avenue. He died on 7 September 1962.

Honours

Blackpool

*Promotion to

: 1936–37

Preston North End

winner: 1938

References

;Specific ;General *
"Search for story of biggest local hero"
- ''Telegraph & Argus'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Watmough, Dickie 1912 births 1962 deaths People from Idle, West Yorkshire English footballers Bradford City A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players English Football League players English cricketers Association football midfielders FA Cup Final players