Harry Hooper (footballer, born 1933)
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Harold Hooper | ||
Date of birth | 14 June 1933 | ||
Place of birth | Pittington, England | ||
Playing position | Outside forward | ||
Youth career | |||
194?–1950 | Hylton Colliery Juniors | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1950–1956 | West Ham United | 119 | (39) |
1956–1957 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 39 | (19) |
1957–1960 | Birmingham City | 105 | (34) |
1960–1963 | Sunderland | 65 | (16) |
1963–1965 | Kettering Town | 68 | (17) |
1965–1967 | Dunstable Town | ||
1967–1968 | Heanor Town | ||
National team | |||
1954–1957 | England B | 6 | (2) |
1955 | England under-23 | 2 | (2) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Harold "Harry" Hooper (born 14 June 1933) is an English former footballer who played as an outside forward. He made more than 300 appearances in the Football League, and represented England at under-23 and 'B' international level.
Life and career
Hooper was born in Pittington, County Durham.[1] He played football for Hylton Colliery Juniors and for the Durham youth side[2] before joining West Ham United in November 1950 when his father, also named Harry Hooper, was appointed assistant trainer at the club.[1][3] He played for the reserve team in the London Combination before making his debut in the Football League on 3 February 1951, at the age of 17 years 7 months, at home to Barnsley in the Second Division. West Ham won 4–2, and Hooper himself came close to scoring eight minutes from time, when "Barnsley's Pat Kelly had to stretch like elastic to push Harry's 25-yard drive over the bar".[4][5] He went on to play 119 league games for West Ham, scoring 39 goals.[1]
Hooper, an England under-23 and England 'B' international, was named as a reserve for the 1954 FIFA World Cup squad but did not travel, and never won a full international cap. He represented the Football League in games against the Irish League in 1954, and the Scottish League in 1955. He also played for the London XI in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup group stage game against the Basel XI on 4 June 1955, scoring the last goal of a 5–0 rout.
Hooper moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £25,000, and scored 19 goals in 39 league matches. He then joined Birmingham City for a fee of £20,000, spending nearly three years at the club and winning a runners-up medal in the 1960 Fairs Cup, before returning to the north-east with Sunderland for a fee of £18,000. He went on to play non-league football with Kettering Town, Dunstable Town and Heanor Town before retiring.[6]
References
- General
- Hogg, Tony (2005). Who's Who of West Ham United. Profile Sports Media. p. 101. ISBN 1-903135-50-8.
- "Harry Hooper". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- Specific
- 1 2 3 "Harry Hooper". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- ↑ "Durham juniors for Stockton game". Sunderland Daily Echo. 17 October 1949. p. 12 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
- ↑ "Hardwick move fixed". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 6 November 1950. p. 6 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
Harry Hooper, former Sheffield United back who is at present coach and second team trainer to Hartlepools United, has been appointed assistant trainer by West Ham United.
- ↑ "Soccer stars on parade. Roar for Hooper". Daily Express. London. 5 February 1951. p. 6.
- ↑ "Harry Hooper". westhamstats.info. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ↑ Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
External links
- West Ham profile at westhamstats.info
- Sunderland profile at thestatcat.co.uk