Ronald Leslie Rooke was an English footballer who played as a centre forward.
15 Facts About Ronnie Rooke
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Ronnie Rooke was born in Guildford, Surrey, and began his playing career with local club Guildford City.
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Ronnie Rooke played mainly for the Palace reserve side, only playing eighteen league matches and scoring six goals between 1933 and 1936.
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Ronnie Rooke had scored 57 goals in 87 league matches for Fulham before the outbreak of the second world war.
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However, Ronnie Rooke's career did not stop, serving as a physical training instructor in the RAF, enabled him to continue playing, where he made 199 appearances in the wartime games for Fulham, scoring 212 goals.
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Ronnie Rooke won a Wartime International cap for England in 1942, against Wales.
7.
In 1945, Ronnie Rooke had guested for Arsenal in a match against the touring Dynamo Moscow team.
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Ronnie Rooke left Fulham after scoring 70 goals in 105 league appearances for the club.
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However surprising the signing may have been, Ronnie Rooke made an immediate impact: he scored the winner on his debut, against Charlton Athletic on 14 December 1946, and by the end of the season had taken his total to 21 goals from 24 league matches and helped Arsenal finish in mid-table.
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Ronnie Rooke remains Arsenal's all-time record-holder for the most goals scored in a postwar season.
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Ronnie Rooke left Arsenal in the summer of 1949, to rejoin former club Crystal Palace as player-manager.
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Ronnie Rooke initially featured as a player for Bedford, before being appointed player-manager in February 1951, a job he held until December 1953.
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Ronnie Rooke then moved on to become player-manager at Haywards Heath Town and Addlestone, before returning to Bedford in 1959.
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Ronnie Rooke was sacked after the club lost an FA Cup match against Hitchin Town in September 1961.
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Ronnie Rooke died of lung cancer in Bedford, Bedfordshire, in June 1985.