The Life and Legacy of Rocky Rocastle In The Words of His Son and Ian Wright
In March 2001, Arsenal legend David Rocastle died at only 33 years of age. We spoke to his son Ryan and former teammate Ian Wright about his life and career.
"He was unbelievable." This is the first observation that Ian Wright makes about David Rocastle, reminiscing about the first time he saw his future Arsenal teammate take to the football pitch. "We grew up on the same estate – the first time I met him he would have been about eight or nine, and I'd have been about 12 or 13. I used to play in the Crematorium, a park called the 'Crem' up in Brockley. David would come past, we'd put him in goal and then what he would do, he would get the ball and literally go through the whole team. We're talking about an eight or nine-year-old here, walking through a whole team and beating everybody. Still, I didn't quite realise just how good he was until Arsenal scouted him when he was about 13 or 14, but when you saw him play he was so skilled – he was brilliant, amazing."
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Despite coming from similar backgrounds and growing up so close to each other, Wright and the man the fans would nickname 'Rocky' took very different paths to Arsenal stardom. While the former came to the professional game relatively late and was forced to work his way up through the ranks of Sunday League football, the latter was snapped up by the Arsenal youth system in 1982, making his professional debut only two years later. In the 10 years he spent with the club, Rocastle would make 277 appearances and score two dozen league goals from the midfield, winning two First Division titles and a League Cup in the process. He was a crucial part of the side which won the league on that famous night at Anfield in 1989 – Arsenal's first title in almost two decades – and so it was little surprise that Rocky became an icon in North London and a cult hero among the fans.
A young Rocastle celebrates alongside Charlie Nicholas and Tony Adams // PA ImagesBy the time that Wright arrived at Highbury in September 1991, this after a prolific six years at Crystal Palace in which he helped the South London side to promotion and an FA Cup final, Rocastle was not perhaps at the absolute peak of his powers. Though Arsenal had won the league the previous season, Rocky had been limited to only 16 appearances owing to a knee injury and took some time to come back to form. Nonetheless, over the course of the 1991/92 season, he played 39 times as Arsenal recorded a respectable fourth-placed finish. As such, it came as an unhappy surprise to many when George Graham decided to sell Rocastle to Leeds United that summer, not least to the striker signed from Palace who had known him since he was a child.Read more on VICE Sports.
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