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Ronnie Rooke

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Ronnie Rooke
Personal information
Full name Ronald Leslie Rooke[1]
Date of birth (1911-12-07)7 December 1911[1]
Place of birth Guildford,Surrey, England
Date of death 9 June 1985(1985-06-09)(aged 73)[1]
Place of death Bedford,Bedfordshire, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Centre forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1931–1933 Guildford City 19 (20)
1932–1933 Woking 25 (29)
1933–1936 Crystal Palace 18 (6)
1936–1946 Fulham 105 (70)
1946–1949 Arsenal 88 (68)
1949–1950 Crystal Palace 45 (26)
1950–1953 Bedford Town 103 (79)
1954–1956 Haywards Heath Town 71 (67)
1956–1957 Addlestone 23 (13)
1959–1961 Bedford Town 50 (22)
Total 547 (400)
International career
1942 England (wartime) 1 (0)
Managerial career
1949–1950 Crystal Palace(player-manager)
1951–1953 Bedford Town(player-manager)
Haywards Heath Town(player-manager)
Addlestone(player-manager)
1959–1961 Bedford Town(player-manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ronald Leslie Rooke(7 December 1911 – 9 June 1985) was an Englishfootballerwho played as acentre forward.[3]During his three decades' playing career, he scored at least 931 goals in 1029 official matches, among which more than 765 league goals at all levels. According to theRSSSF,he is thebest league goalscorer of all time,and the third overall behindErwin HelmchenandJosef Bican.[4]

Playing career

[edit]

Rooke was born inGuildford,Surrey,[1]and began his playing career with local clubGuildford City.[5]He then had a spell withWokingin 1932–33 during which he scored 29 goals from 16 appearances in all competitions.[5][6]In 1933, he joinedCrystal Palace,who were at the time in theThird Division South.He played mainly for the Palace reserve side, only playing eighteen league matches and scoring six goals between 1933 and 1936.[7]He then moved toSecond DivisionclubFulhamfor a £300 fee in November 1936. He was the club's leading scorer for three consecutive seasons and contributed all six goals in a 6–0FA Cupdemolition ofBury,which is still (as of 2013) a club record.[2]

He had scored 57 goals in 87 league matches for Fulham before the outbreak of the second world war. However, Rooke's career did not stop, serving as aphysical training instructor[8]in theRAF,enabled him to continue playing, where he made 199 appearances in the wartime games for Fulham, scoring 212 goals. He also won a Wartime International cap forEnglandin 1942, againstWales.[2]In 1945, Rooke had guested forArsenalin a match against the touringDynamo Moscowteam.[9]The resumption of league football in 1946 saw Rooke score a further 13 goals in 18 appearances for Fulham, before a surprising transfer to thefirst divisionstrugglers Arsenal in December that year. Rooke left Fulham after scoring 70 goals in 105 league appearances for the club.[10]Despite being 35 years old and never having played in the top flight,[11]the Gunners paid £1,000 with two players,Cyril GrantandDave Nelson,moving to Craven Cottage.[2][12]

However surprising the signing may have been, Rooke made an immediate impact: he scored the winner on his debut, againstCharlton Athleticon 14 December 1946, and by the end of the season had taken his total to 21 goals from 24 league matches and helped Arsenal finish in mid-table.[11]He scored 33 league goals in1947–48,a total that made him that season'sFirst Division top scorer,[13]and helped propel the Gunners to their sixth League title.[14]He remains (as of 2020) Arsenal's all-time record-holder for the most goals scored in a postwar season. Rooke scored another 15 goals in1948–49,including one in Arsenal's 4–3 victory overManchester Unitedin the1948 FA Charity Shield.[15]For the Gunners Rooke scored 70 goals in 94 matches in all competitions.[8]

In total he scored 170 goals from 256 appearances in theFootball LeagueforCrystal Palace,FulhamandArsenal.His goal exploits continued innon-league football,becoming a player-manager for various clubs before his eventual retirement, ending a career that stretched over thirty years.

Managerial career

[edit]

Rooke left Arsenal in the summer of 1949, to rejoin former club Crystal Palace asplayer-manager.His first season as manager was moderately successful as Palace finished seventh in the Third Division South. The next season began poorly, and in November 1950 he moved on toBedford Town,having increased his appearances and goals totals for Palace to 63 and 32 respectively.[5]He initially featured as a player for Bedford, before being appointed player-manager in February 1951, a job he held until December 1953.[16]During this spell at the club Rooke scored 97 goals from 136 appearances in all competitions.[17]

He then moved on to become player-manager atHaywards Heath TownandAddlestone,before returning to Bedford in 1959. Although his second spell saw him appointed only as a manager, he made two first team appearances when the club were lacking players.[17]He was sacked after the club lost an FA Cup match againstHitchin Townin September 1961.[16]

Personal life

[edit]

Rooke later worked atHeathrow AirportandWhitbread brewery.[16][18]He died of lung cancer inBedford,Bedfordshire,[1]in June 1985.[2]

Honours

[edit]

As player

[edit]

Arsenal

As manager

[edit]

Bedford Town

  • Huntingdonshire Premier Cup: 1951–52[19]

Individual

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abcde"Ronnie Rooke".Barry Hugman's Footballers.Retrieved16 March2018.
  2. ^abcde"Throwback Thursday".Fulham F.C. 4 July 2013.Retrieved16 March2018.
  3. ^"Ronnie Rooke".UK A–Z Transfers.Neil Brown.Retrieved18 March2018.
  4. ^Kolos, Vladimir."Prolific Scorers Data".RSSSF.Retrieved7 February2022.
  5. ^abcKing, Ian (2011).Crystal Palace: The Complete Record 1905–2011.Derby Books. pp. 204–05.ISBN9781780910468.
  6. ^Youlton, Clive (7 December 2016)."Arsenal, Fulham and England star Ronnie sets benchmark for Woking FC's Gozie Ugwu".GetSurrey.Retrieved16 March2018.
  7. ^King, Ian (2011).Crystal Palace: The Complete Record 1905–2011.pp. 284–91.
  8. ^abc"Ronnie Rooke".Arsenal F.C.Retrieved16 March2018.
  9. ^Kowalski, Ronald; Porter, Dilwyn (March 1999)."Moscow Dynamo's British Tour 1945".History Review:9 – via General OneFile.
  10. ^"DT92 ~ Ronnie Rooke".doingthe92.Retrieved19 January2023.
  11. ^abHarris, Jeff (1995). Hogg, Tony (ed.).Arsenal Who's Who.London: Independent UK Sports. pp. 219–20.ISBN978-1-899429-03-5.
  12. ^"Cyril Grant".Arsenal F.C.Retrieved16 March2018.
  13. ^abRoss, James M. (8 June 2017)."English League Leading Goalscorers: Football League Div 1 & 2 Leading Goalscorers 1947–92".RSSSF.Retrieved16 March2018.
  14. ^"Whittaker leads Arsenal to sixth title".Arsenal F.C. 10 May 2017.Retrieved18 March2018.
  15. ^abKelly, Andy."Arsenal first team line-ups".The Arsenal History.Retrieved3 November2017.Select season required.
  16. ^abc"Managers and Coaches, 1945–82".Bedford Old Eagles.David Williams.Retrieved27 June2017.
  17. ^ab"Best Years Players J–R".Bedford Old Eagles.David Williams.Retrieved18 March2018.
  18. ^Purkiss, Mike; Sands, Nigel (1990).Crystal Palace: A Complete Record 1905–1989.Derby: Breedon Books. p. 50.ISBN0907969542.
  19. ^"1951/2 Summary".Bedford Old Eagles.David Williams. Archived fromthe originalon 2 October 2016.Retrieved18 March2018.
  20. ^"Ronnie Rooke: Express Soccer star of season".Daily Express.London. 3 May 1948 – via afchistory.wordpress.
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