Wallace's first competitive match was a rugby league one, playing for Greenburg Street in the Wigan Amateur league, where he remained for four years before switching codes to the round ball. He signed for
Everton Youths, where his teammates included
Cliff Marshall (the
Toffees first ever black player) and
Dave Jones. He also recalled
Bob Latchford as the star at the club, an England international who was a prolific goalscorer. Wallace was himself not shy in front of goal, but in the 1973–74 season, after making 22 appearances and scoring 21 times, he had the misfortune to break his leg against Blackpool. Wallace's bad luck was to work in Waterford's favour however, as he began his return from the injury. The
Blues manager at the time,
John McSeveney, happened to be a good friend of Everton manager
Billy Bingham, and in fact was best man at his wedding, and he asked Bingham if he could help out by sending someone over who could get some goals. Wallace decided to come to Waterford and see how it worked out, and what started out to be a twelve-month stint went on for five years. He made his
League of Ireland debut for the Blues against Bohemians on 9 November 1975. The following week, he netted his first goal against
Shelbourne at
Harold's Cross Stadium. In January 1976, he briefly played with
Bobby Charlton, who had signed a short-term contract at Waterford. He was the top scorer in the
1976–77 League of Ireland season. Wallace was Player of the Month in December 1977. He scored the winning goal in the 1979
FAI Cup semi final against
Shamrock Rovers at
Dalymount Park. Despite losing the
FAI Cup final to
Dundalk, this guaranteed entry to the
1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup as the
Lilywhites had won the
Double. Unfortunately for Wallace, he missed both ties against
IFK Göteborg through injury. In the summer of 1976, Wallace played for the
Utah Golden Spikers of the
American Soccer League. In the summer of 1977, he played in Canada in the
National Soccer League with the Windsor Stars. In his debut season with Windsor, he recorded 25 goals in 24 matches. In the summer of 1978, he played for the
Southern California Lazers. In the summer of 1979, he played for the
Cleveland Cobras. == Honours ==