Harry Hooper (footballer, born 1933)

Harry Hooper
Personal information
Full name Harold Hooper
Date of birth (1933-06-14) 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
Specific
  1. 1 2 3 "Harry Hooper". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Durham juniors for Stockton game". Sunderland Daily Echo. 17 October 1949. p. 12 – via British Newspaper Archive. (Subscription required (help)).
  3. ↑ "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.
  4. ↑ "Soccer stars on parade. Roar for Hooper". Daily Express. London. 5 February 1951. p. 6.
  5. ↑ "Harry Hooper". westhamstats.info. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  6. ↑ Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
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