Ronnie Rooke

Ronnie Rooke was a centre forward who played for Fulham from 1936 until 1946. A tough character lethal with either foot, he was one of the hardest strikers of the ball the club has ever seen. His goalscoring record was exemplary - had it not been for the Second World War, Ronnie could have easily been the club's all-time record goalscorer, having scored over 200 goals in that period in roughly as many matches.

Before Fulham
Ronnie was born in Guildford, Surrey and as a child attended Stoke School where he began playng football. After playing for local teams, he was briefly on the books of Reading, signing amateur forms with them in May 1930 as a 17 year-old.

He signed for Guildford City in August 1930 after which he joined Woking just over two years later in September 1932. In the short time he was at Woking, he scored 29 goals in just 26 league & cup matches and before his first season with them was over, he would be off once more. His goalscoring exploits had alerted him to Football League clubs, and after a trial with Stoke City in February 1933, he signed for Crystal Palace the following month. At the time they were playing in the Third Division South.

It was fairly remarkable that Ronnie was not picked more often for Crystal Palace as he was a prolific goalscorer with their reserves and scored over 50 goals in the 1933-34 season alone. Despite this, he was only selected to play for the first team on 18 occasions from 1933 until 1936, scoring 6 goals.

Fulham (1936-1946)
Ronnie signed for Fulham on 22 October 1936 for £300, and it was at Craven Cottage that his career would truly take off. He scored a hat-trick on his debut (the first and only Fulham player to date to do so) against West Ham United in a 5-0 victory. He finished his debut season with the Whites as the top goalscorer, with 19 goals in only 22 appearances including four hat-tricks.

He would go on to be Fulham's top goalscorer in every season he was with the club, even in his final season (1946-47), where he left before Christmas.

On 7 January 1939, Ronnie would go into the club's record books as he netted all six goals during a 6-0 thrashing over Bury at Craven Cottage in the third round of the FA Cup in which he scored a hat-trick either side of half-time.

As the Second World War broke out, and the FA ceased competitions, Ronnie was one of a small handful of Fulham players who would continue to play regularly for the club in the hastily arranged competitions during wartime. The climate may have changed but Ronnie's goalscoring certainly did not, as he managed a total of 205 goals in all competitions in around 199 matches. On 24 October 1942, he played for England against Wales at Molineux in a wartime international which would turn out to be his only international honour.

Upon the return of professional football, Ronnie began the 1946-47 season much like the previous campaign, scoring 13 goals in 18 league matches until his move across London came in December 1946.

After Fulham
Ronnie signed for Arsenal on 11 December 1946 in which Fulham were paid £1,000 plus two Arsenal players (Cyril Grant & David Nelson). He played at Highbury for two and a half seasons, and won the First Division title with them in the 1947-48 season as top scorer in the league. Despite being in his mid to late thirties and having never played in the top tier of English football, he managed an incredibly impressive 70 goals in 90 matches for the Gunners during his time there.

He left Arsenal in the summer of 1949, to rejoin former club Crystal Palace as player-manager. After one moderately successful season with the Eagles, the 1950-51 season did not start well and on 30 November 1950, he resigned his position from the club. He quoted the follwoing as the reason behind his resignation - "I have resigned because of difference with the board of directors. The board persuaded me to hang up my boots and devote all my time to managing the club but we have been at variance over team management and selection."

Ronnie signed a three year contract with Bedford Town as player-manager on 8 February 1951, who were playing in the Southern League. Despite receiving offers from three other Football League clubs, he had ties with several Bedford Town officials, including the club secretary CS Folkes whom he worked with during the war as a physical training instructor.

His contract was not renewed in 1954 as Bedford Town stated that they needed a younger player-manager. In December 1953 upon hearing this news, Ronnie stated "The directors attitude shocks me. When I signed the contract they knew my age and limited playing time. The decision could at least have been left until the end of the season. The club was in the doldrums when I was persuaded to take over, and I have worked hard to build the present standard. I was the club's top scorer for the last two seasons, and I am the highest scorer to date in this campaign."

In August 1954, he was hired as player-manager for Haywards Heath where he spent two seasons, before joining Addlestone in the same role.

He returned to Bedford Town in the summer of 1959, this time initially as manager. However, owing to short numbers he turned out for them on a few occasions, even at the age of 48. He was relieved of his duties in 1961 and retired from the game.

In later life, Ronnie worked as a public relations officer for Whitbread's Brewery and was also a porter at Luton Airport.

He died of lung cancer in Bedford on 9 June 1985 at the age of 72.

Arsenal

 * First Division
 * Winners (1): 1947-48
 * Charity Shield
 * Winners (1): 1948

Bedford Town

 * Huntingdonshire Premier Cup
 * Winners (1): 1951-52