Dale started his career at
Arsenal, where he was on schoolboy forms, but was released by the club and instead began his senior playing career at Welsh side
Conwy United. He was a prolific scorer for the North Walian side, scoring 47 goals during the 1984–85 season which remained a club record until 1996 when it was surpassed by
Ken McKenna, and followed it up by finding the net on a regular basis for their neighbours
Rhyl and
Bangor City. This prompted a move from Bangor City to
English Football League side
Chester City in May 1988, for £12,000. Unlike many strikers to move up from non-league to professional football, Dale remained prolific in
Division Three. He made his debut as a substitute in the opening game of the
1988–89 season against
Blackpool, with his first goal following a fortnight later against
Bristol City. He ended the season with 24 goals to his name, with 22 of them coming in league matches as he struck up a successful forward partnership with
Steve Johnson. and
Cardiff City snapped up the North Walian for £82,000. Dale went on to spend the majority of his playing career at Cardiff where he played over 200 league games for them and became a firm favourite with the club's supporters. During his time at Cardiff he won a division three championship and two Welsh cups with the team. As a result of his time there he is currently one of Cardiff's top ten all-time top scorers. He eventually left Cardiff to sign for
Yeovil Town where he only spent one year. He helped the non-league side reach the
FA Cup third round, where the luck of the draw meant he was handed a trip back to Cardiff in January 1999. Dale scored to give Yeovil the lead, but Cardiff snatched a late equaliser and won the replay. Two months later, Dale returned to South Wales when he joined
Newport County, where he finished his playing days. Despite being a consistent performer for his club sides Dale never earned a cap for the
Wales national side although he did play for them at schoolboy level. This is mainly down to the fact that at the time Wales had a strong premier division strike force while he was playing in the likes of
Ian Rush,
Mark Hughes,
Dean Saunders and emerging talents like
Nathan Blake and
John Hartson. He was though called into the full Welsh squad when in prolific form at Chester in 1989, although he was not selected in any matches. ==Honours==