On This Day – 31st March

Happy birthday to my little sister Kate!

31st March 2001 will go down as one of the saddest dates in Arsenal’s 134 year history.
Winning or losing matches pale into insignificance when you lose someone who you hold dear. And one young man by the name of David Rocastle was adored by every Arsenal fan who ever had the privilege to see him in the red and white shirt.

I never had the pleasure of seeing David Rocastle play as he left Highbury a couple of months before I remember watching Arsenal. I therefore cannot do him justice in this article of how special he really was.

Having express their love and affection for (his nickname at Arsenal), I can only write this article based on what I have read and heard from the many fans who were privileged enough to see him play. He was voted as the 16th Greatest Arsenal player of all-time in a fan’s poll.

I have also seen many interviews with former team mates and the love and admiration for ‘Rocky’ is evident.
Not a bad word can be heard of Rocastle and many players even considered him under-rated.

David Rocastle joined Arsenal as a schoolboy at the age of 15. He made his first team debut against Newcastle United in September 1985.
A relatively small crowd of 24,104 at Highbury watched the goalless draw and Rocastle’s ability was noticeable from the off.
Rocastle would go on to make 26 league appearances in total over the course of his first full season.

Rocastle scored many notable goals for Arsenal, none more important than his League Cup Semi Final winner against bitter-rivals Tottenham.
Arsenal would go on and win the Final, beating Liverpool 2-1. It was Rocastle’s first piece of silverware and he was only 19 years old.

Arsenal won the League Championship in 1988/89 with Rocastle playing an important role in the Arsenal midfield. He won the Barclays Young Eagle Award for his performances over the course of the season.

Over the course of his career, he won 14 caps for England but he didn’t make the cut for the England 1990 World Cup squad.

Arsenal won the League Championship in the 1990/91 season but Rocastle was limited to only 18 appearances due to a knee injury.
He played in 39 league games in the following season in what was to be his last at Highbury.

In the summer of 1992, Arsenal manager George Graham made the decision to sell Rocastle to Leeds United. He told Rocastle the news that he had accepted an offer from the Yorkshire club whilst the two sat in Rocastle’s car in the training ground. Rocastle cried as he didn’t want to leave his beloved club.

His career didn’t quite live up to the heights of his time at Arsenal after he left Highbury.
He left Leeds for Manchester City, then on to Chelsea where he spent time on loan at Norwich City and Hull City. The last stop in his career was at a club called Sabah in Malaysia.

In February 2001, Rocastle announced that was suffering from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He passed away on the 31st March 2001, hours before Arsenal played Tottenham Hotspur at Highbury. He was only 33 years of age.

The minute’s silence in remembrance of Rocastle was impeccably kept. Several of the Arsenal players were in tears as they had played alongside him. It was a very poignant day at Highbury and Arsenal won the game 2-0.

The poignant video below that was made by the club sums up just how much Rocky meant to the club, the fans and his team mates. He is sorely missed.

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