Dale was born in
Coventry,
England. He won the Welsh Amateur Championship, which allowed him to compete at the World Amateur Championship in Bangkok. Dale reached the final, but lost 9–11 against
Noppadon Noppachorn. Dale turned professional for the
1992–93 season. Both of his ranking victories were in the season-opening tournaments; he also reached the semi-finals of the season-opening events in 2002 (
LG Cup) and 2006 (
Northern Ireland Trophy). He also beat
Peter Ebdon at the
2008 Malta Cup, despite a bout of stomach cramps and a drinking session the night before the match. Dale is the only player to have won multiple ranking tournaments without ever reaching the top 16, but he was 14th on the one-year list for both 1997/1998 and 1999/2000 (missing out due to an unsuccessful 1998/1999 season). His best
World Championship performances were in 2000 and 2014, when he reached the quarter-finals. Dale won the third professional tournament of his career when he won
Event 6 of the
Players Tour Championship 2010/2011, beating
Martin Gould 4–3 in the final. This win, along with other consistent performances, were enough to see him back into the top 32 players. He also qualified for the
World Championship for the first time since 2004, although he was comprehensively beaten 10–2 in the first round by
Ronnie O'Sullivan.
2011/2012 season Dale had a good start to his
2011–12 season as he reached the quarter-finals of the first event, the
Australian Goldfields Open. Dale was originally due to meet
Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round, but due to his withdrawal for medical reasons he instead played amateur
Steve Mifsud and won 5–2. He then beat home favourite
Neil Robertson on the final black in a 5–4 win lasting almost four hours, before losing to
Mark Williams in another final-frame decider, having never been behind in the match until the end. He then reached the final stages of the
UK Championship for the first time since
2005 by beating
Nigel Bond in the final qualifying round and was drawn against
Judd Trump in the last 32. Dale led 4–2 before Trump had a large slice of fortune in the seventh frame by a pink. Dale would eventually lose the match 4–6. He also reached the
2012 PTC Finals courtesy of finishing twentieth in the
Order of Merit. His qualification was largely due to making the final of
Event 10, where he was beaten by
Michael Holt 2–4. In the Finals he lost 2–4 to
Xiao Guodong in the first round. Dale qualified for the
World Championship with a 10–3 victory over
Ben Woollaston to set up another first round meeting with Judd Trump. Dale finished the season ranked world number 23, meaning he had climbed 8 places during the year.
2012/2013 season Dale qualified for nine of the eleven ranking events during the
2012–13 season, but lost in the first round in eight of them. The exception was at the
International Championship where he beat
Graeme Dott 6–3, before losing 5–6 to 14-year-old
Lü Haotian in the second round. Dale's best run in the
PTC's came at
Event Three by reaching the semi-finals in a run that included a 4–2 over
Mark Selby, but he lost to world number 65
Rod Lawler 0–4. Dale reached the opening round of the
World Championship by dispatching
Alfie Burden 10–5 and played
Judd Trump at this stage for the second successive year where he was defeated 10–5.
2013/2014 season Dale reached his second quarter-final in the
Australian Goldfields Open in three years in the early stages of the
2013–14 season. He eliminated
Mike Dunn and
Fergal O'Brien, but then lost 5–1 to
Marco Fu. In the next four ranking events he lost in the first round of two and failed qualify for both of the others. The result seemed to kick start his season as the following week he beat
Steve Davis and
John Higgins at the
German Masters, but let a 3–1 lead slip in the last 16 against
Ding Junhui to lose 5–3. Dale also won two matches before falling at the third round in the
Welsh Open and
World Open, losing to
Mark Selby and
Alan McManus respectively. He faced
Mark Davis in the first round and beat him 10–5, marking his first win at the Crucible since 2000. Dale followed this up with a 13–4 win over
Michael Wasley (who had beaten pre-tournament second favourite
Ding Junhui in his opening match) to reach the quarter-finals for the second time, 14 years after the first. Dale played
Barry Hawkins and trailed 11–5 after the second session, but then amazingly won seven frames in a row to be just one away from reaching the semi-finals and matching the biggest comeback at this stage ever at the
Crucible. However, Hawkins won the two frames he required without giving Dale a chance to beat him 13–12. Later, Dale revealed that he had reverted to an old cue action before the start of the final session.
2014/2015 season Dale lost 5–3 to
Mark Davis in the first round of the
Australian Goldfields Open and he reached the semi-finals of the
Six-red World Championship, where
Ricky Walden beat him 7–1. At the
Shanghai Masters he knocked out
Judd Trump 5–2, before losing 5–1 to
Stuart Bingham. This last 16 defeat would prove to be Dale's best finish in a ranking event this season as he could not win another match at a venue until the
China Open, when he ousted
Jimmy Robertson 5–3, but then fell 5–2 to
Barry Hawkins in the second round. His second round match with
Peter Ebdon at the
UK Championship finished at 1:30am as Dale relinquished a 5–4 advantage to be beaten 6–5. Breaks of 72, 73, 82 and 61 saw Dale sneak past
Mark Williams in the opening round of the
Players Championship Finals 4–3, before he lost 4–1 to
Shaun Murphy. Dale won more than one match at a ranking event for the only time this season when he knocked out
Jamie Jones and
Darryl Hill at the
China Open, but then was beaten 6–1 by
Stephen Maguire in the third round. Dale was defeated 4–2 by
Mark Selby. He lost in the second round of the
International Championship 6–2 to
Stuart Bingham and won three frames in a row to take his third round match with
Shaun Murphy at the
UK Championship in to a final-frame decider. He had chances in it but could not take them to be ousted 6–5. In the final
World Championship qualifying round Dale made the 200th century break of his career, but would be defeated 10–5 by
Luca Brecel.
Retirement Dale retired from professional snooker after failing to progress through qualifying for the
2025 World Championship. His final match was a defeat to
Daniel Wells. ==Personal life==