Today marks the death of Arsenal legend David "Rocky" Rocastle. It's been seven years since Rocky, as he was fondly known by Gooners, passed away. He tragically died at the age of 33. That's no age for anyone to die. Especially having a wife and four kids.
He was a class football player and loved Arsenal so much that he cried when sold to Leeds. That's how much Arsenal meant to him.
It was strange to see him in another shirt, and although I was only young at the time it just didn't seem right to see him wearing the white of Leeds when he should have been wearing the red and white of Arsenal!
He went on to play for Manchester City, Chelsea, Norwich and Hull as well, but to me he will always be a Gooner.
I'm sure that the mentioned clubs above will be remembering Rocky in their own ways too.
See, we have had English players! Happy days for Rocky.
He played for England on 14 occasions and should really have played alot more for his country. It seems wrong that he only played that many games for England considering his talent.
My best memory of him was the goal against Manchester United when he dribbled past a few United defenders and chipped Schmeichal, it hit the bar and bounced down into the net via Schmeichal's head! I loved that goal!
He will always be remembered, especially by us Gooners. Arsenal have also opened up a new youth team indoor training facility named after him, as a tribute to his contributions to the club.
He deserves to be remembered, not just for him. But for his family who he had to leave behind. His wife Janet, son Ryan and daughters Sasha, Melissa and Monique must all be very proud of him and his achievements in football.
Thats why it's important to keep his name alive, because of them. And I'm sure that us Gooners will do that year after year.
You can leave a Rocky tribute here, or on the official Rocky website at www.rocky7.co.uk.
Lets chant his name against Liverpool, and make his family even prouder.
Rocky-A true Arsenal Legend-Rest In Peace,
Keep it Goonerish........
10 comments:
Couldn't have put it better myself Wrighty7
RIP Rocky
RIP ROCKY
Well put,
us gooners will always remember Rocky,
my thoughts are with his family at this time,
A great number 7 RIP!
Wonder who will be wearing the 7 shirt next season?
Vela?
Probably Rosicky Northbank. Vela will have number 8. RIP Rocky.
RIP ROCKY, AN ARSENAL LEGEND
NICE ONE WRIGHTY, ROCKY, YOU ARE A GOONER LEGEND AND ALWAYS WILL BE REMEMBERED BY ARSENAL
RIP Rocky. A very timely post.
If you don't mind a bit of self-piblicity, for my mates who have started a website selling Rocky tshirts with ALL PROCEEDS going to charity:
Since we lauched our Facebook group "David Rocastle - Arsenal Legend - Never Forgotten", the response has been amazing... Over 950 people have joined (including various members of Rocky's family) and many have left touching messages and tributes to Rocky.
Rocky famously wore the Arsenal No.7 shirt and, with the 7th anniversary of his passing coming up on 31st March 2008, we thought that it was time to do something truly amazing to honour the great man's memory.
We have teamed up with Arseshirts.com to design 3 limited edition Rocky t-shirts that will only be on sale until the end of April. Every penny of profit will go straight to TreeHouse, the children's autism charity.
We have already had greatsupport for this project from the Rocastle family, Arsenal, TreeHouse and a huge number of Arsenal websites who have agreed to promote the project.
We now call on you, Arsenal fans, to visit www.rocky7.co.uk, leave your own tribute, and, if you can, dig deep and buy a t-shirt both to support the charity and to let the world know that we will never forget our beloved Rocky.
T-shirts can be bought directly from http://www.arseshirts.com/
No problem FBK. I urge all Gooners to check it out.
No problem FBK. I urge all Gooners to check it out.
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