Dick Healey (footballer)

Richard "Dick" Healey (20 September 1889 – 1974) was an English amateur footballer who played as an inside right or centre forward in the Football League for Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Darlington, and in non-league football for Bishop Auckland, Stockton and Darlington (before the latter's admission to the League).^[1] He scored four goals in four appearances for the England national amateur football team, and played for the Amateur XI in the 1913 FA Charity Shield. As a cricketer, he played a few matches for Durham in the Minor Counties Championship, and had a long association with Darlington Cricket Club, as player, captain and president.^[3]

Personal life

Healey was born in Darlington,^[1] County Durham, the older child of Albert Healey, who had taught at the Bluecoat School in Stockton-on-Tees before moving to Darlington where he opened a hardware shop, and his wife Elizabeth née Jackson, daughter of a Stockton draper.^[4] The family were sufficiently well off to keep a servant.^[5] After his father, who was by then employed by the National Telephone Company, died in February 1899,^[4] his mother remarried; at the time of the 1911 Census, Healey and his sister Winifred were assisting in their stepfather's business as a licensed victualler in Bishop Auckland.^[6][7]

He attended Darlington Grammar School, where he captained both the cricket and the football team, and went on to Armstrong College, Newcastle, to train as a teacher. He taught for the rest of his working life, and retired in about 1950 from the post of headmaster of Rise Carr school.^[3] During the First World War, Healey served with the 151st (Darlington) Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery.^[8][9]

Healey married Florence Bradley, the daughter of a local florist, in a Bishop Auckland Presbyterian church in 1914;^[10] a daughter, Winifred, was born the following year.^[11] Healey died in Darlington in late 1974.^[1][2]

Club football

Early career and Sunderland

Healey began his football career with Darlington while still a schoolboy,^[3] and was playing for Bishop Auckland as they won the Northern League title in the 1908–09 season.^[12] His play attracted attention. In February 1910, he was selected for an amateur international trial,^[13] and in March, he appeared for Sunderland's North-Eastern League team, creating two goals and scoring the last in a 6–0 defeat of Darlington.^[14] He made his First Division debut in April, in a 2–0 defeat away to Manchester United; the Sunderland Daily Echo commented that he and fellow inside forward George Holley "perhaps did not make the most of their opportunities, for when in possession in the shooting zone they failed to shoot with sufficient power."^[15] He kept his place for the last home match of the season, against Bradford City, proved himself a keen worker, according to the Echo correspondent, and scored the first two goals in a 3–0 win. The first resulted from Bradford's goalkeeper Harry Maskrey losing the ball when attempting a clearance; he then "seized Healey, but the latter struggled free and jumping over Maskrey he put the ball in the net". The second was a header from a corner.^[16] He missed Sunderland's last match of the season to play for Bishop Auckland in a match which would secure them the Northern League title if they won;^[17] they did. Sunderland retained Healey's services for each season up to 1913–14,^[18] but he played only once more for the first team, at Aston Villa in October 1911.^[19]

Back to non-league football

For family reasons, Healey began the 1910–11 season with Stockton,^[20] but soon returned to Bishop Auckland, whom he helped reach the 1911 FA Amateur Cup final. He scored in the semi-final, against Ilford, but Bishops lost to Bromley in the final, despite their opponents having a man sent off for striking another player.^[21] He moved on to Darlington in February 1912,^[22] and the following season was their top scorer with 41 league goals as the club won the North-Eastern League title.^[23] Healey was included at inside right in a forward line "about as strong as it could be made" for the Amateur XI that faced a Professional XI in the 1913 FA Charity Shield.^[24] Although the amateurs lost 7–2, the Mirror's reporter picked him out as the "most consistent forward in the line".^[25]

He was selected for the North-Eastern League eleven to face the Central League in February 1914.^[26] In March, Scottish club St. Mirren were without the services of the injured George Elmore for their Scottish Cup quarter-final, and had hoped to use Healey in his place; he had previously played in the area with the Northern Nomads travelling team.^[27] Sunderland were agreeable to the idea, but it was initially reported that business prevented Healey obliging, and then that he had an injured knee.^[28]

Professional football with Middlesbrough

Four days later, he turned professional with First Division Middlesbrough. He was described as "[possessing] fine physique, and is a remarkably clever dribbler and good shot" – he had already reached the 20-goal mark for Darlington^[29] – and it was expected that "professional training will increase his pace".^[30] He made his first-team debut on 4 April at home to Preston North End, scoring Middlesbrough's third goal 15 minutes into the second half as they won 4–1,^[31] and "proved himself well up to the first grade of Association Football".^[32] He was retained for the 1914–15 season – the last before league football was discontinued for the duration of the First World War – but played mainly for the reserve team in the North-Eastern League, in which capacity he was chosen for the Rest of the League team for the annual fixture against the league champions.^[33] He made three more Football League appearances, and scored one more goal,^[1] a second-half header against Bradford in November 1914 in what was Middlesbrough's first home defeat of the season.^[34]

Post-war football with Darlington

After the war, he played in the Northern Victory League for Darlington Forge Albion, the new club formed to replace the former Darlington club which had folded, and then in the North-Eastern League for the new club, renamed as Darlington.^[35] By December, Healey was the league's top scorer,^[36] and contributed to Darlington's runner-up finish and to their run to the second round proper (last 32) of the 1919–20 FA Cup. He scored twice in the fifth qualifying round against former club Bishop Auckland,^[37] and scored two and set up two more as Darlington beat Southern League club Norwich City 5–0 in the sixth,^[38] to progress to the first round proper in which they faced First Division club Sheffield Wednesday. A damaged shoulder meant Healey was unfit for the scheduled date,^[39] but the flooded Feethams pitch gave him an extra few days to regain fitness. The match ended goalless, he was unusually indecisive in front of goal, and was standing in an offside position when Aaron Travis did put the ball in the net.^[40] Although reported doubtful for the replay,^[41] he appeared, pressured Wednesday's goalkeeper into conceding a corner from which Darlington took the lead – the goal variously attributed to George Stevens or to Healey himself – and when the goalkeeper failed to deal with the loose ball after Healey was tackled, Stevens doubled the lead.^[42] He did not play in the second-round tie at Birmingham because his wife was ill; Darlington lost 4–0.^[43] He represented the North-Eastern League against the Central League in 1920 as he had done six years earlier,^[44] and helped Darlington finish as runners-up. The following season they went one better, winning the 1920–21 North-Eastern League title under Healey's captaincy.^[3] In the FA Cup, Darlington faced Second Division club Blackpool in the first round. Healey scored the opener, was involved in Darlington's late equaliser, and missed a chance to score another, heading wide when well placed;^[45] they lost the replay.

Darlington were invited to form part of the new Northern Section of the Third Division in 1921–22. Healey was no longer a first choice in the forward line, but appeared not infrequently, particularly when the ground was heavy.^[46] He had a run in the side in early 1922. Replacing the injured Arthur Wolstenholme for the FA Cup match against Manchester City, he opened the scoring with a header, but City won 3–1.^[47] He kept his place for the next match,^[48] and continued in the side after Wolstenholme returned: he scored the winner against Rochdale,^[49] contributed four goals in Darlington's 6–1 defeat of Hartlepools United in the Durham Senior Cup,^[50] and took advantage of a goalkeeping error to produce the only goal of the league visit to Tranmere Rovers.^[51] Healey was retained for the 1922–23 season,^[52] and scored against Accrington Stanley in September, but played mainly in the reserves, and in one match, against Hartlepools United reserves in November, he was the butt of the crowd's mockery because, as the Northern Daily Mail put it, he had "now lost some of his former vigour".^[53] He finished his Football League career with five goals from 21 matches.^[1]

International football

Healey played at centre forward for The North in an amateur international trial match in February 1910; his side lost 3–2, and he was not selected for the upcoming internationals.^[13] He did receive a last-minute call-up to the England Amateur XI for their visit to Europe in March 1911 after Frank Monk and Vivian Woodward dropped out.^[54] He opened the scoring against the French national team as his team won 3–0,^[55] and scored again a couple of days later against Switzerland in a 4–1 win.^[56] Against the Wales Amateur XI in February 2012, he was involved in the buildup to the second goal, scored by Sydney Sanders, and scored the third as England won 3–0.^[57] He was selected as reserve for matches at home to the Netherlands and away to Belgium in March and April,^[58] but did not make his next, and what turned out to be last, appearance until November against Belgium, in which he scored the second of England's four goals.^[59] He had to withdraw from the match against Wales in February 1913,^[60] and was an unused reserve for the visits to Germany and Belgium in March and to Wales the following February.^[61]

Cricket career

Healey's first involvement with Darlington Cricket Club was as a nine-year-old. He made his debut for the second eleven in 1906, finished at the top of both batting and bowling averages the following season, and played for the first eleven in 1908.^[3] In 1910, he played in a county trial match^[62] and for Durham Colts against a full county side.^[63] A sound performance with the bat in the corresponding fixture in 1911^[64] earned him selection for Durham. He played in five Minor Counties matches that season,^[65] two in 1913, and his eighth and last in 1920.^[65] In 1913, Healey was appointed captain of Darlington CC, a position he held until resigning at the end of the 1930 season after leading the club to their seventh North Yorkshire and South Durham League title under his captaincy.^[3] In 1951, after he retired from teaching, Healey became president of the club. He remained in post until his death.^[66]

Notes

References