Description

Wolverhampton, Staffordshire born right half Dickie Rhodes began his football career with Redditch Town and played for Evesham Town in 1925, from where he was signed by hometown Second Division club Wolverhampton Wanderers and their legendary manager Major Frank Buckley in May 1928 as an inside right, Rhodes making his Football League debut at Chelsea in March 1929, one of a pair of appearances that month during his debut season. Rhodes scored 5 times playing at inside right in only 11 matches during Wolves’ 1929-30 campaign but from the start of the following season he had converted to right half and from October 1930 he established himself as a first team regular for Wolves, missing only two matches during their 1931-32 campaign as Wolves won the Second Division Championship to regain their top flight status they’d last enjoyed in 1906.

Rhodes then played in four campaigns as Wolves struggled to assert themselves in the First Division before being sold to FA Cup winners Sheffield Wednesday in October 1935 having scored 7 goals in 159 appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers, and in his second match for Wednesday the same month, he was part of their team that won the FA Charity Shield with a 1-0 win over League Champions Arsenal at Highbury. However The Owls suffered relegation in 1937 and Rhodes stayed a further season in the Second Division before a transfer to Swansea Town in June 1938 after 60 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday.

He had a single season at The Vetch Field, scoring once in 26 appearances for The Swans before a move to Third Division (North) club Rochdale in July 1939. However after playing in all 3 of ‘Dale’s opening fixtures at the start of the 1939-40 season, the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 forced its abandonment and effectively ended Rhodes’ professional football career. He did however play in a Football League XI against an All British XI in a wartime charity match at Molineux in December 1939, but retired during the War before League football resumed.