Mark Maley (born 26 January 1981) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. Maley started his career with Sunderland and progressed through the youth system at the club. He was loaned out to lower-league sides Blackpool,

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

, making a number of appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. His career was brought to an end after accidentally being shot in the eye by Sunderland teammate

John Oster John Morgan Oster (born 8 December 1978) is a football coach and former professional player who played as a midfielder. Oster was a product of the youth team at Grimsby Town where he was added to the first team squad in 1994, however he didn't ...

with an air gun in 2002. After leaving football, Maley earned a degree in

corrosion engineering Corrosion engineering is an engineering specialty that applies scientific, technical, engineering skills, and knowledge of natural laws and physical resources to design and implement materials, structures, devices, systems, and procedures to mana ...

and established a firm specialising in inspecting offshore oil rigs using drones.

Club career

Maley was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, Tyne and Wear and started his footballing career with Sunderland after progressing through their

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

. He made his first team debut after starting at

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 a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

first round second leg game against

on 18 August 1998, which Sunderland won 2–1. This proved to be his only appearance of the 1998–99 season. He made another appearance in this competition the following season, starting in a 3–2 victory over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

, before being substituted for Michael Gray on 80 minutes. His third, and eventually final appearance for Sunderland came in a 3–0 victory over

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in a second round League Cup tie on 19 September 2000. Less than a month later, he was loaned out to Third Division team Blackpool for a month. His debut came in a 2–2 draw with

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in a Football League game on 8 October and made one further appearance in a 2–0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle. He was soon sent out on loan again, joining

for a month, and again made two appearances, featuring in defeats to Walsall and

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

. He joined York City on an initial month's loan on 27 September 2001, which materialised as part of an agreement between the two clubs, with Sunderland loaning some players out to York. He made his debut two days later, playing at left back in a 3–1 victory over Lincoln City. The loan was extended for a second month in November and hinted he may have been interested in signing for the club permanently. He was handed the first red card of his career in a 2–0 defeat to Scunthorpe United. He suffered from a knee injury during 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 ...

tie against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on 17 November, which led to him undergoing a late fitness test for their game against Swansea City, and was able to play, entering the game as a substitute. The loan was extended for a third month on 22 November. It was extended until the end of the 2001–02 season on 18 December, but he was forced to return to Sunderland in March 2002 after suffering from a

thigh In human anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip ( pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb. The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of ...

injury. He finished his spell at the club with 17 appearances in all competitions. He was accidentally shot in the eye by Sunderland teammate

with an air gun at Oster's home in April 2002, with neither believing the gun was loaded, which resulted in Maley undergoing emergency surgery. This led to Maley's career being brought to an end at the age of 21. The pair came to an

out-of-court settlement In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...

over the incident in February 2007.

International career

Maley was an England schoolboy international and captained the England under-18 team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maley, Mark 1981 births Living people Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English footballers Association football fullbacks Sunderland A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players York City F.C. players English Football League players Wallsend Boys Club players Engineers from Tyne and Wear