David Rocastle

David Rocastle

Personal information
Full name	David Carlyle Rocastle
Date of birth	(1967-05-02)2 May 1967
Place of birth	Lewisham, London, England
Date of death
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1982–1985	Arsenal
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1984–1992	Arsenal	228	(23)
1992–1993	Leeds United	25	(2)
1993–1994	Manchester City	21	(2)
1994–1998	Chelsea	29	(0)
1997	→ Norwich City (loan)	11	(0)
1997	→ Hull City (loan)	11	(1)
1999	Sabah	13	(8)
Total		338	(36)
International career
1986–1988	England U21	14	(2)
1988–1992	England	14	(0)
	England B	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

David Carlyle Rocastle (2 May 1967 – 31 March 2001) was an English professional footballer, who played as a midfielder from 1984 until 1999.

He spent the majority of his career at Arsenal where he was nicknamed "Rocky", and then went on to feature in the Premier League for Leeds United, Manchester City and Chelsea, before later playing in the Football League for Norwich City and Hull City and finishing his career in Malaysia with Sabah FA. Rocastle earned 14 international caps for England between 1988 and 1992.

Playing career

Rocastle was born at Lewisham on 2 May 1967 to Caribbean immigrant parents who came to England during the 1950s. His father died in 1972, when Rocastle was five years old. His mother Linda remarried.

Rocastle joined Arsenal in May 1982 and turned professional in December 1984. In his early career he faced problems with his eyesight, and contact lenses had to be used. According to his team mate Martin Keown "They couldn't work out why Rocastle was running around dribbling with his head down. So they took him to the halfway line and said: 'Can you see the goal?' and he couldn't. His eyesight was terrible. They sorted him out with contact lenses and his career took off."

He made his debut against Newcastle United and made 26 league appearances that season, scoring once as Arsenal finished seventh in the league. He remained a regular player in the first team following the departure of Don Howe and the appointment of George Graham as manager at the end of the 1985–86 season.

In 1987, just before his 20th birthday, he won a League Cup winners medal after Arsenal beat Liverpool in the final at Wembley. He was a member of the Arsenal side which reached the final against Luton Town the following year but Arsenal surrendered a 2–1 lead with only seven minutes of the final left to play, and ended up losing 3–2 to a last minute Luton goal. He was ever present in the league in 1987–88.

Rocastle won two league championship medals with Arsenal. The first came in 1989, when he played in every game. Arsenal's success was sealed when they beat Liverpool 2–0 in the final game of the season at Anfield, snatching the title from the hosts on goals scored. But Arsenal were unable to compete in the 1989–90 European Champions Cup because the ban on English clubs in European competition after the 1985 Heysel tragedy still had one year to run. Arsenal finished fourth in the 1989–90 league season and missed out on a return to Europe because only the runners-up were entitled to a UEFA Cup place.

In 1990–91, a knee injury restricted Rocastle to just 18 league appearances for Arsenal but he still played his part in Arsenal winning the league championship – losing only one league game all season. The following season he only missed three out of 42 league games, scoring four goals.

During his time with Arsenal, Rocastle was capped 14 times for England, but did not make the squad for either 1990 World Cup or Euro 92, with Rangers' Trevor Steven preferred instead. In 1992 he played his 14th and last game for England, and was not selected in the squad for Euro 92.

Leeds United

On 23 July 1992, after nearly a decade at Arsenal, Rocastle was sold to league champions Leeds United in a £2million deal, making him their most expensive signing. Manager Howard Wilkinson saw Rocastle as an eventual replacement for the veteran Gordon Strachan as Leeds entered the first-ever Premier League, but in fact Strachan still had three more seasons left at Elland Road. Rocastle, meanwhile, was kept out of the side by both injury and competition from the likes of Gordon Strachan, Gary Speed and David Batty.

Manchester City

He was at the club until December 1993, when he was transferred to Manchester City for £2million as replacement for David White, who in turn had joined Leeds earlier that month.

But the move to Maine Road was not a success for Rocastle, who managed two goals from 21 Premier League games as City finished 16th – their lowest finish since winning promotion to the top flight in 1989. At the end of the season, manager Brian Horton signed the Swindon Town winger Nicky Summerbee (son of former City player Mike) and Rocastle's days at the club looked numbered. So, just before the start of the 1994–95 season, he was transferred to Chelsea in a £1.25million deal.

Chelsea

In 1994–95, Rocastle played in nearly 40 games for Chelsea and scored two goals; one in the European Cup Winners Cup against FK Viktoria Žižkov (in which Chelsea reached the semi finals and lost to eventual winners Zaragoza by a single goal) and the other was scored in a League Cup win over Bournemouth. The following season his injuries returned, and he played just one more game for the club, away to Blackburn in October 1995, although he remained on the club's pay roll until his contract expired in the summer of 1998. In 1996–97, after a summer trial at Hertha BSC Berlin and similar spells at Aberdeen and Southampton, Rocastle was loaned out to Norwich City and in 1997–98 had a brief spell on loan to Hull City in Division Three, scoring on his debut against Scarborough, but nothing came of either spell, and both times, he ended up back on the Stamford Bridge reserve team.

Sabah FA

On completing his contract with Chelsea in 1998, Rocastle joined the Malaysian team Sabah on a free transfer but was unable to stay clear of injury and retired in December 1999.

International career

Rocastle was capped 14 times for England at under-21 level during the 1980s, scoring twice. At the age of 21, he was capped at senior level for the first time against Denmark on 14 September 1988. His final appearance came on 17 May 1992, just after his 25th birthday, against Brazil. He had been capped 14 times for England at senior level and failed to score, but was never on the losing side as England won seven of the international games he appeared in and drew the other seven. He did not feature at the 1990 World Cup or 1992 European Championships, all of his appearance coming in friendlies or in qualifiers for the two major tournaments of that era.

He also made two goalless appearances for the England 'B' side.

Personal life

He was the cousin of another professional footballer, Craig Rocastle, and his brother Stephen was on the books of Norwich City and played for Derry City F.C..

Illness and death

In February 2001, Rocastle announced that he was suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer which attacks the immune system. He underwent a course of chemotherapy and was hopeful of a recovery. He died in the early hours of 31 March 2001, aged 33.

Rocastle was survived by his wife Janet, son Ryan and daughters Sasha, Melissa and Monique. Six weeks after Rocastle's death, his son Ryan was Arsenal's mascot in their FA Cup final match against Liverpool in which they took the lead but ended up losing 2–1 because of two last gasp goals by Michael Owen.

Five years and a day after his death, 1 April 2006 was designated "David Rocastle Day", as part of the themed matchday celebrations of Arsenal's final season at their stadium Highbury, a 5–0 win over Aston Villa. Fans paid tribute to Rocastle before the match with a minute's applause. Arsenal have also opened up a new youth team indoor training facility named after him, as a tribute to his contributions to the club. Rocastle is also one of 32 Arsenal legends honoured by having their images painted on the side of the new Emirates Stadium. On 30 March 2013, Arsenal played a game against Reading FC which marked the 12-year anniversary of Rocastle's death. The fans sang his name throughout the first ten minutes, and his quote of "Remember who you are, what you are, and who you represent!" was shown on the screen. Just after this, Arsenal scored the first goal in a 4–1 victory.

The David Rocastle Trust

The David Rocastle Trust is a charity based in London, UK founded in memory of Rocastle. The charity, which was chosen by Arsenal F.C. as their club charity for the 2005–06 season, supports Rocastle's family as well as community projects and other registered charities.

Honours

With Arsenal:

Winner:

• First Division: 1988–89, 1990–91
• Football League Cup: 1986–87
• FA Charity Shield: 1991 (shared)

Runner-up:

• Football League Cup: 1987–88
• FA Charity Shield: 1989

With Leeds Winner FA Charity Shield 1992 Runner-up Makita Tournament 1992

Career statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
1985–86	Arsenal	First Division	26	1
1986–87			36	2
1987–88			40	6
1988–89			38	6
1989–90			33	2
1990–91			16	2
1991–92			39	4
1992–93	Leeds United	Premier League	18	1
1993–94			7	1
1993–94	Manchester City	Premier League	21	2
1994–95	Chelsea	Premier League	28	0
1995–96			1	0
1996–97	Norwich City	First Division	11	0
1997–98	Hull City	Third Division	11	1
Malaysia			League		FAM Cup		Malaysia Cup		Asia		Total
1998	Sabah
Total	England		325	28
	Malaysia
Career total

External links

• Part 1 and Part 2 Rocastle profile on Arsenal-land
• The BBC obituary
• The David Rocastle Trust
• Rocky 7 Day (2008)
• David Rocastle career statistics at Soccerbase
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk