Biography

Attacking midfielder David Hawker was born and raised in Hull and had a choice between football and rugby league as a teenager. He was handed his first professional contract by Hull City in July 1975 but had to wait until midway through the 1977/78 season to make his first team debut, by which time he was captain of City’s reserves side. He made four appearances on the right side of midfield but all four games were lost and full back-turned-midfielder Gordon Nisbet was restored to midfield. Two further appearances in April 1977 also ended in defeat for the Tigers. It wasn’t until February 1979 that Hawker was again given a regular start, this time in the Third Division. Hawker was deployed in a deeper lying midfield role and spent the last four months of the season in the first team, opening his goal account with a March 1979 winner in a 1-0 victory over Rotherham United.
Despite starting the 1979/80 seasn in City’s first team, Hawker dropped out of the picture in September 1979, returning two months later. David was used across the midfield by manager Ken Houghton, whose side was experiencing a withering winless streak that led to the manager’s dismissal in the run-up to Christmas 1979. When new manager Mike Smith joined in January 1980 Hawker was not favoured and he left the club two months later.
Hawker joined Darlington in March 1980 and immediately slotted into the Quakers’ first team as a right sided midfielder. For two seasons Hawker was a first team regular as Darlington inhabited the mid-table area of Division Four. He started the 1982/83 season in the Darlo first team but played his last game in late October 1982 and left the club the following summer.
Having rehabilitated at non-league side Bishop Auckland during the 1983/84 season, Hawker re-signed for Darlington in the 1984 close season but after 12 first team appearances – which took his total appearances for the Quakers to 103 over four seasons – Hawker was again out of the first team. In February 1985 he signed for Northern League side Brandon United then in the summer of 1986 he moved to divisional rivals Whitley Bay. Hawker spent three years at Whitley Bay, making 125 appearances and scoring in Bay’s 1987 Northumberland Senior Cup final victory. He moved to Teesside club South Bank for the 1989/90 season at which point his playing days ended.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 29 November 1958, Hull
Hull City First Game: 31 December 1977, Sheffield United H (Division Two), 19 years, 32 days old
Hull City Final Game: 21 December 1979, Blackburn Rovers H (Division Three), 21 years, 22 days old
Clubs
Hull City (1975-1980), Darlington (1980-1983), Bishop Auckland (1983-1984), Darlington (1984-1985), Brandon United (1985-1986), Whitley Bay (1986-1989), South Bank (1989-1990)
Hull City Record
Career: 42 apps, 2 goals
David HawkerSeason | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1975/76 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
1976/77 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
1977/78 | 4 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
1978/79 | 22 (0) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | - | - | - | - |
1979/80 | 7 (1) | 1 | 2 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | - | - | - | - |