Biography
Richard “Dick” Spivey was born and raised in the Holderness Road area of East Hull and attended Southcoates Lane School, a renowned hotbed of local footballing talent between the two world wars. In April 1931 a 14 year old Spivey was captain of the Hull Schoolboys XI, playing in front of 8,000 people in a match at Anlaby Road against York Schoolboys. It was reported that the strongly built but diminutive five foot five winger scored 125 goals in one schoolboy season and 320 goals in five seasons.
It is therefore no surprise that he joined the amateur ranks at Hull City when he was 18 and signed his first professional contract in August 1935. Spivey had already made his debut at the end of the 1934/35 season in a 5-1 win over Notts County, in September 1935 he played in consecutive games at Manchester United and Bury.
After waiting patiently in the Reserves he became a first team regular in February 1937 when David Menzies took over as City manager and immediately placed his faith in young Spivey to perform in the outside left position. Dick scored his first goal for City in mid-February 1937 during a 2-5 defeat against Bradford City. Further goals came in March and April against West Ham United, Bradford Park Avenue and Sheffield United but none of these games were won as City drifted to the foot of the table and were relegated to Division Three North. Spivey started the 1936/37 season with a goal in a 3-1 win over Port Vale, but within two weeks an injury meant he lost his first team place. When he returned to fitness a few weeks later Menzies had been replaced by new manager Ernest Blackburn and Spivey was overlooked for the remainder of the season, leaving the club in the summer of 1937.
Dick began a trial at Division Three South side Torquay United in July 1937 and was signed on a full-time contract in September 1937. He was a first team regular for the Gulls, making his debut in October 1937 and ending the season with 29 starts and one goal, a March 1938 equaliser against Millwall. Spivey was transferred to Bristol Rovers, another Division Three South side, in June 1938 and after netting a brace on his Rovers debut in September 1938 his season was hampered by injury and returned five goals in just 12 starts.
Dick joined Southport in July 1939 and starting the 1939/40 season in the Sandgrounders’ first eleven. In his third start for Southport he scored in a Division Three North fixture against Hull City, however days later the outbreak of World War Two meant the Football League was suspended and his appearances and goal for Southport were expunged from the record. Spivey immediately returned to Hull to work as a shipyard plater, and was soon back in the Hull City starting eleven for wartime fixtures. Between October 1939 and April 1941 he represented the Tigers a further seventeen times, though those were not classified as senior first team appearances.
Spivey also played wartime fixtures for Bradford City and Bradford Park Avenue and represented the Hull Civil Defence in a 1942 forces charity match at Anlaby Road, but by the end of the war he had drifted out of the game. He returned to the East Riding, working as a bookmaker and living off Spring Bank West in West Hull. He died suddenly in March 1973 at 56 years of age.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 18 August 1916, Hull
Hull City First Game: 4 May 1935, Notts County H (Division Two), 18 years, 259 days old
Hull City Final Game: 7 September 1936, Rotherham United A (Division Three North), 20 years, 20 days old
Clubs
Hull City (1935-1937), Torquay United (1937-1938), Bristol Rovers (1938-1939), Southport (1939)
Hull City Record
Career: 21 apps, 5 goals
Dick Spivey| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934/35 | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1935/36 | 17 | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1936/37 | 3 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |