Richie Pitt

{{short description|English footballer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Richie Pitt

| image =

| caption =

| fullname =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|10|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Ryhope, County Durham, England

| height =

| position = Defender

| youthyears1 = –

| youthclubs1 = Sunderland

| years1 = 1968–1975 | clubs1 = Sunderland | caps1 = 126 | goals1 = 7

| years2 = – | clubs2 = Blyth Spartans | caps2 = | goals2 =

}}

Richie Pitt (born 22 October 1951) is a former professional footballer, born in Ryhope, County Durham, who played in the Football League as a defender for Sunderland,{{cite web |url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player4/richiepitt.html |title=Richie Pitt |work=UK A–Z Transfers |publisher=Neil Brown |accessdate=9 November 2009}} and was part of the club's 1973 FA Cup Final-winning team.

Pitt was an England schoolboy international, played in Sunderland's 1969 FA Youth Cup-winning side, and made his first-team debut in the First Division as a 17-year-old, on 4 March 1969 in a 3–1 defeat away at Coventry City.{{cite web |url=http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Mplayers/MPG681.asp |title=Player details Richie Pitt |work=The Stat Cat |accessdate=9 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831035703/http://www.thestatcat.co.uk/Mplayers/MPG681.asp |archivedate=31 August 2006 |df=dmy-all }}{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104044839/http://www.safc.com/history/?page_id=6544 |archivedate=4 November 2006 |url=http://www.safc.com/history/?page_id=6544 |publisher=Sunderland A.F.C |title=Past Players (N–Q) |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} He was part of the Sunderland team, by then playing in the Second Division, which beat Leeds United, FA Cup-holders and in their ninth season as a top-four side,{{cite web |url=https://www.fchd.info/LEEDSU.HTM |title=Leeds United |work=Football Club History Database |publisher=Richard Rundle |access-date=25 November 2009}} in the 1973 FA Cup Final. After only a few more games, and only in his early twenties, Pitt sustained an apparently minor knee injury which proved to be a cruciate ligament injury and effectively ending his professional career. He went on to play for non-league club Blyth Spartans, and trained as a teacher working at Thornhill School, later becoming assistant head of Duncan House. In 2013, he was working as a mathematics teacher and head of year at Seaham School of Technology.{{cite news |url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/2153463.print/ |title=Bay follow Wearside way |newspaper=The Northern Echo |date=28 March 2008 |accessdate=25 November 2009}}