Malcolm Dawes

Malcolm Dawes was born on 3 March 1944 in Trimdon, County Durham, England, a village a few miles from Hartlepool. He became a professional footballer as a defender, beginning his league career with Aldershot in the mid-1960s before returning north to his home area with Hartlepool.

At Aldershot from 1965 to 1969 Dawes made 176 league appearances and scored two goals. He joined Hartlepool in 1970, debuting against York City in the League Cup on 19 August 1970, and went on to play 213 league games with 12 goals before his last league outing for the club against AFC Bournemouth on 16 August 1975.

In the NASL he played for the New York Cosmos (35 appearances, two goals) and Denver Dynamos (19 appearances, two goals). He often recalled leaving the Cosmos just as Pele arrived, and that Franz Beckenbauer later took the number 6 shirt he had worn.

Workington signed him in November 1975. He made 29 consecutive appearances in his first season, captained the side in 1976 to 1977, and left the league stage when injuries and the club's loss of Football League status closed that chapter. He scored once for the Reds, in a home defeat by Hartlepool, and finished with 55 league and cup games for Workington. A short spell at Whitby Town preceded retirement.

After football Dawes's main sporting interest was cricket. He was community and youth development officer at Newton Aycliffe Cricket Club and active in the Sedgefield District Cricket Development Group. Cumbria Crack noted he was a fairly frequent visitor to Workington and that on his last visit, for a friend's daughter's wedding four years before he died, he said he always loved coming to the town. The same report said he suffered from dementia in his latter years.

Dawes's death was announced on 10 September 2026. He was 82. Wikipedia's article states that he died from complications with his heart in September 2026; the Wikipedia Deaths in 2026 list, citing a Whitby Town tribute, records complications from dementia, and Cumbria Crack separately noted dementia in his later years. Exact medical detail beyond those reports was not widely published. Tributes followed from clubs linked to his career, including coverage by Cumbria Crack on Workington's former player.

Dawes is remembered as a Football League defender who bridged English lower-league football and the early NASL, and as Workington captain in the club's final Football League season. His Cosmos story, leaving before Pele and Beckenbauer's arrival in the number 6 shirt, remains a favourite anecdote in club reminiscences. Local cricket development work extended his contribution to sport beyond the pitch.