Richard Ernest York (25 April 1899 – 9 December 1969), also known as Dicky York, which is often also spelled as Dickie York, 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 le ...

, who in addition to a long club career with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in the

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 Engla ...

appeared twice for the England national team. A winger, he spent 16 years at Villa from 1915 to 1931, and was on the losing team in the

1924 FA Cup Final The 1924 FA Cup Final was contested by Newcastle United and Aston Villa at Wembley. Newcastle won 2–0, with the goals scored by Neil Harris and Stan Seymour. The match has become commonly known as the "Rainy Day Final" due to the weathe ...

. He later had brief spells with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and Brierley Hill Alliance.

Club career

York started his career with Handsworth Royal, Birchfield Rangers and the

Royal Air Force 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 also guested for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and Boscombe Town during

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 ...

. In March 1915 he joined

as an amateur, signing professional forms in August 1919. He scored one goal in 17 games in 1919–20, but did not feature in the

1920 FA Cup Final The 1920 FA Cup Final, the first since the end of the First World War, was contested by Aston Villa and Huddersfield at Stamford Bridge. Aston Villa won 1–0, with the goal coming in extra time from Billy Kirton, to clinch the trophy for a reco ...

, which ended in a 1–0 victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

. He appeared just 11 times in 1920–21, before going on to make 47 appearances in the 1921–22 campaign, as the "Villans" finished fifth in the First Division. He scored nine goals in 37 games in 1922–23 and five goals in 43 games in 1923–24. He also appeared at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in the

, in a 2–0 defeat to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He scored seven goals in 34 matches in 1924–25, before hitting 20 goals in 44 appearances in 1925–26. He bagged 13 goals in 43 games in 1926–27, before being limited to just four goals in 30 appearances in 1927–28. He rediscovered his scoring form with 18 strikes in 48 matches in 1928–29, before hitting seven goals in 32 games in 1929–30. However he played just four times in the 1930–31 campaign, as Villa finished second in the league with an English record of 128 top-flight league goals scored. He joined

in June 1931, making his debut in a 3–1 win at

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on 29 August. He was a first team regular until he was struck by injury in December of that year. After his recovery he played infrequently, and ended the 1931–32 season with five goals in 26

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

appearances. He left

the Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditio ...

and was transferred to Brierley Hill Alliance in August 1932.

International career

He made two appearances for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, both 1–0 defeats to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in April 1922 and April 1926.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Aston Villa *

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 ...

runner-up:

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:York, Richard 1899 births 1969 deaths Footballers from Handsworth, West Midlands Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Association football wingers English footballers England international footballers Chelsea F.C. wartime guest players Aston Villa F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Brierley Hill Alliance F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players FA Cup Final players