Raphael Joseph Meade (born 22 November 1962) is an English former

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 for clubs in a variety of countries.

Career

Meade was born in Islington, where he attended Tollington Park Secondary School. He played football for Islington Boys, and began his club career at Arsenal as a schoolboy. He turned professional in June 1980, and was prolific for the club's reserve side: with 90 goals from 130 appearances in the

Football Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

, he was the leading scorer in both the 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons. Meade made his first-team debut on 16 September 1981 in a UEFA Cup first round tie away to

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

; entering the match after 66 minutes with his team 1–0 up, he scored the second goal with a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

with what the '' Daily Express'' reported as his first touch of the ball. On his league debut, in the starting eleven against Manchester City on 17 October, he scored the only goal of the match. Of his sixteen appearances in that season's First Division (eight as substitute), most were made from mid-February 1982 onwards. Select season required via bottom navbar. He scored twice against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

on his return from a cartilage injury in February 1983, but played only six more matches that season. In December 1983, he scored a winning

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

and his two goals against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in the

North London Derby The North London derby is the meeting of the association football clubs Arsenal F.C. and Tottenham Hotspur F.C., both of which are based in North London, England. Fans of both clubs consider the other to be their main rivals, and the derby is co ...

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

helped Arsenal to a 4–2 win, but he failed to score in any of his other 12 appearances. The signings of

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English football player and coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley. He became a professional player in 1973 with Plymouth Argyle, where he scored ...

and

Charlie Nicholas Charles Nicholas (born 30 December 1961) is a Scottish former professional footballer. A striker, Nicholas is best known for his spells at Celtic and Arsenal. He won 20 international caps for Scotland, including playing at the 1986 FIFA World ...

meant Meade had been pushed down the pecking order at Arsenal, and he made only eight appearances in 1984–85, taking his totals to 16 goals from 51 matches in all competitions. He was sold to

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

in the summer of 1985. In his debut season, Meade scored twice against Athletic Bilbao to help his team reach the quarter-finals of the 1985–86 UEFA Cup, produced

hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

against Académica Coimbra and

Vitória Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ( ...

, and finished the campaign with 13 goals from 26 appearances in all competitions. He produced 20 goals from 33 appearances the following season, including 2 in Sporting's 9–0

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

defeat of ÍA, and helped Sporting reach the

1987 Taça de Portugal Final File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, in which they lost to Benfica. He fell out of favour in the third year of his contract with Sporting, and joined

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

for the second half of the

1987–88 La Liga The 1987–88 La Liga season, the 57th since its establishment, started on August 29, 1987, and finished on May 22, 1988. Real Madrid finished the season as champions for the third season running, the runners-up this time being Real Sociedad, whi ...

season. He made just one start, in a 4–1 win away at

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

in early February, and two substitute appearances, In August 1988 Meade left Sporting CP to sign for

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

club

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

for £150,000. He scored 7 goals from 22 appearances, which included a winning goal against

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana ...

that took Dundee United through to the second round of the Cup Winners' Cup, and attracted enough attention for a local fanzine to publish a controversial "supposedly racist" image of him. In March 1989, Meade moved on to

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 ...

, for whom he made 4 appearances and was an unused substitute on the losing side in the 1989 Football League Cup Final. Meade's next employer was Danish club

Odense BK Odense Boldklub (; also known as Odense BK or the more commonly used OB) is a Danish professional football club based in the city Odense. The club has won three Danish championships and five Danish Cup trophies. OB play in the Danish Superliga ...

, from where he had brief spells back in England with

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

and Plymouth Argyle. In August 1991, Meade signed for Brighton & Hove Albion where he became a regular in the side and scored 12 goals from 46 appearances in all competitions. Released at the end of the season, he turned out for the reserve teams of several clubs and spent time with Hong Kong team

Ernest Borel Ernest Borel is a watch manufacturer founded in 1856 in Neuchatel, Switzerland. They have traditionally focused on export markets outside Europe and won several awards in the late 19th century, including first place in the 1866 Neuchatel observat ...

before returning to England, first with

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

and then for a second spell with Brighton & Hove Albion. He then played for Sussex County League club Southwick and for Southern League clubs

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

, where he top-scored in the 1995–96 season,, and and

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meade, Raphael 1962 births Living people Footballers from Islington (district) English footballers Association football forwards Arsenal F.C. players Sporting CP footballers Real Betis players Dundee United F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Odense Boldklub players Ipswich Town F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Sea Bee players Crawley Town F.C. players Sittingbourne F.C. players English Football League players Primeira Liga players La Liga players Scottish Football League players Southern Football League players English expatriate sportspeople in Spain English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong