Richard Dorsett (3 December 1919 – November 1999) was an English

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 ...

, who played as a striker. Dorsett was sometimes known as "the Brownhills Bomber" after his birthplace of

Brownhills Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. A few miles south of Cannock Chase and close to the large Chasewater reservoir, it is northeast of Walsall, a similar dista ...

, Staffordshire (now

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Football career

Dorsett started his career with

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 ...

, making his debut in 1938. During that season he scored their only goal in the 4–1 defeat by

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in the

1939 FA Cup Final The 1939 FA Cup Final was contested by Portsmouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Wembley. Portsmouth won 4–1, with goals from Bert Barlow, John Anderson and two by Cliff Parker. Dicky Dorsett scored Wolves' effort. As a result of the suspe ...

. During World War II, Dorsett served with the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and guested for Brentford,

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

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 ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, for whom he made 16 appearances, scoring 23 goals. He was a member of the Wolves side that won the 1942

Football League War Cup The Football League War Cup was an association football tournament held between 1939 and 1945. It aimed to fill the gap left in English football by the suspension of the FA Cup during the Second World War. Though it was often referred to in conte ...

and played 58 wartime games, scoring 40 goals. In September 1946, he joined Aston Villa for £3,000. His career almost came to an end in 1950 when he was involved in a car crash, but he recovered and played another three seasons before retiring from the game in 1953.

Later career

He stayed at Aston Villa coaching the club's youth team before joining

in 1957 as assistant trainer, a job he held until 1962. He died in November 1999, a month before what would have been his 80th birthday.

Honours

;

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 ...

finalist: 1939

References

External links

Article on "Wolves Old Gold"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsett, Dicky 1919 births 1999 deaths People from Brownhills English men's footballers English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Southampton F.C. wartime guest players Liverpool F.C. wartime guest players Brentford F.C. wartime guest players Grimsby Town F.C. wartime guest players Queens Park Rangers F.C. wartime guest players Men's association football forwards Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen Military personnel from Staffordshire