Percival Hall Dawson (born 4 December 1889 – 1974) 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
centre forward. He played in the
Scottish Football League for
Heart of Midlothian and in the
English 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 Engl ...
for
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
, moving between them in 1914 for what is believed to be a record transfer fee at the time.
Career
Dawson was born in
Cullercoats
Cullercoats is a coastal settlement in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, North East England. Historically in Northumberland, it has now been absorbed into the wider Tyneside conurbation, sitting between Tynemouth to the ...
. Early on in his football career, he played for non-league sides
Whitley Athletic and
North Shields
North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth.
Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...
before moving to Scottish club
Heart of Midlothian in 1911. In 1913, however, Hearts were required to sell Dawson in order to fund improvements to their
Tynecastle Stadium
Tynecastle Park is a football stadium in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh, which is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Heart of Midlothian (Hearts). It has also hosted Scotland international matches, and been used as ...
, and he was transferred to
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
for a fee of £2,500 – a fee which several sources claim was a then
world record transfer fee.
In his
first season with Blackburn, he contributed to the club winning the
English First Division
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 ...
, and helped them to a third-place finish the
following season.
The outbreak of
World War I
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 ...
brought about an end to professional football in England for four seasons. After serving as a
sergeant in the
Royal Garrison Artillery
The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) ...
during the war,
Dawson returned to Blackburn and remained with the club until 1922. He played four matches for
Barrow in 1923 before retiring from football.
References
External links
Spartacus Educational Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Percey
1889 births
English footballers
Footballers from Tyne and Wear
People from Cullercoats
Heart of Midlothian F.C. players
Scottish Football League players
English Football League players
Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
Barrow A.F.C. players
North Shields F.C. players
Scotland wartime international footballers
Association football forwards
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Garrison Artillery soldiers
1974 deaths
Newcastle United F.C. wartime guest players
Military personnel from Northumberland