David Clarke (born 11 September 1970) 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 ...

, went to

New College Worcester New College Worcester (or NCW; formerly RNIB New College) is an independent boarding and day school for students, aged 11–19, who are blind or partially sighted. It caters for around 80 students. It is located in the city of Worcester, Engla ...

- school for the blind and visually impaired, whose career spanned 17 years from 1995 to 2012 for the England and Great Britain blind football team."David Clarke v Wayne Rooney"
Channel Four Paralympics.

Sports career

Clarke made 144 international appearances scoring 128 goals. He was part of the British team which finished fifth in the 5-a-side at the 2008 Summer Paralympics."The Athletes: David Clarke"
Channel Four Paralympics. and he was selected as the Stadium torch bearer for the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

, where he was the first person to receive the torch in the Stadium, and passed it to the final torch bearer.Olympic Broadcasting Service, channel IPC1, Paralympics International Feed, "2012 Summer Paralympics Opening Ceremonies", airdate 29 August 2012. He was a member of the 2012 Summer Paralympic blind-five-a-side Team GB football team. The following year he was guest of honour at the 2013 FA Cup Final between Manchester City and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

and handed the trophy over to his hometown team Wigan Athletic. He was inducted into the

English Football Hall of Fame The English Football Hall of Fame is housed at the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. The Hall aims to celebrate and highlight the achievements of the all-time top English footballing talents, as well as non-English players and man ...

in September 2013. David received a lifetime achievement award at the FA England football awards in February 2013 and received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...

in November 2013.

References

1970 births Living people English footballers English Football Hall of Fame inductees Paralympic 5-a-side footballers of Great Britain 5-a-side footballers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics 5-a-side footballers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Men's association football players not categorized by position {{England-footy-bio-stub