Dawkins was born in Thorpe Bay, Essex and began his professional career with West Ham United when he was fifteen. In 1964, he entered West Ham's first team. but made only six league appearances before signing for Crystal Palace of Division Two in October 1967. He made his league debut in January 1968, in a home 0–1 defeat to Hull City but it was his only league appearance that season, although he made two as a substitute in the League Cup. In 1968–69, when Palace achieved promotion to the top tier for the first time, Dawkins made four appearances scoring once. In each of the subsequent two seasons he made 10 appearances, scoring two goals in 1969–70. In September 1971, he moved to Brentford on loan. In 1978, he moved to the United States where he signed with the Sacramento Gold of the American Soccer League. He played at least two seasons in Sacramento, with part of the 1979 season spent as a player-coach. The team withdrew from the league following the 1980 season and Dawkins joined the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League. In 1984, Dawkins signed with the Canton Invaders of the American Indoor Soccer Association. While he remained with the team the entire year, he never saw first team time.
Coach
In 1979, Dawkins became the head coach of the Sacramento Gold for the last four months of the American Soccer League season. On 11 July 1985, Dawkins was hired as the head coach of the Canton Invaders in the American Indoor Soccer Association. He took the team the AISA title and was named AISA Coach of the Year. He took the Invaders to the 1987 championship series which they lost to Louisville. He began the 1987–1988 season with Canton, but was fired on 14 March 1988. He was subsequently hired as part of the staff at the Cleveland Force Fitness Facility. In 1989, Dawkins moved to the expansion Cleveland Crunch as an assistant coach. During the 1990–1991 season, the team began a slide down the table at mid-season and on 20 December 1990 Dawkins replaced Kai Haaskivi as head coach. He took the team to the championship series and was named the 1991 MISL Coach of the Year. When the league collapsed following the 1991–1992 season, the Force moved to the National Professional Soccer League and replaced Dawkins with Gary Hindley. On 15 August 1992, Dawkins was hired as the head coach of the Buffalo Blizzard. After a disappointing 1993–1994 season, the Blizzard fired Dawkins on 23 June 1994. On 8 February 1995, the Houston Hotshots of the Continental Indoor Soccer League hired Dawkins. In 1996, he added to his achievements when he was named the CISL Coach of the Year. Financial problems led the Hotshots owner to withdraw the team from the CISL in 1998. Dawkins passed on several coaching offers in order to be available when the Hotshots returned in 1999. In 2000, the Hotshots moved to the World Indoor Soccer League which replaced the CISL.
