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David Rocky Rocastle – He really was one of our own

David Carlyle Rocastle was born on the 2nd May 1967 in Lewisham, South London and joined The Arsenal as a 15 year old. He made his way up from the youth squads to play important parts in the George Graham’s teams in which he won 2 league titles (89+91) and a league cup (87). In total Rocky played 277 games scoring 34 times. He was sold by the club in 1992. He sadily passed away aged just 33 on 31st March 2001.

To copy what Perry Groves has said about him “Rocky had everything”, he was a flair player, the ball stuck to his feet even on muddy bumpy pitches, he could tackle and wasnt afriad to be tackled, he could pick a pass, read the game and when he wasnt assisting he knew where the goal was. Rocky was not only the kind of player you would want to open up a side he was also the kind of player and man you would want in the trenches, he had everything, the complete midifleder.

It’s well documented that Rocky sat up all night talking to Ian Wright when he signed for the club to tell him just what a special club it was, The Arsenal was in Rocky’s heart and on the terraces we loved him back. Rocky cried the day George Graham told him he has been sold to Leeds and he never regualrly put in the kind of displays for anyone like he did for The Arsenal. He wore our shirt with pride and did us proud.

For myself as a young teenager going to watch The Arsenal in the mid 80’s it was an amazing time, the team was full of young local lads giving it all every game (if they wasn’t George would sort them out at half time), there was a togetherness and fighting spirit on the pitch and we got behind them from the terraces home and away, Rocky knew what it meant to us as he was a fan, his family and friends were on the terraces and it showed, he battled for every ball.

I’ve met a few of Rocastle family over the last few years of doing the facebook page. and assisting in putting on a chairty gig to remember the 10th annerversy of his passing,The Rocastles are a lovely family, no airs and graces, great company and like David they all love the Arsenal. I know how proud they are of him, how much they miss him and I know everytime we sing Oh Rocky Rocky they know we remember him too, my heart goes out to all of his family today. .

I leave you with this youtube, if you can watch this without getting a tear in the eye you are a stronger person than me.

RIP Rocky – Gone but never forgotten.

MEDIA REACTION TO PITCH INVASION IS WHAT REALLY RUINS FOOTBALL.

3 Replies

I have a message for Mark Lawrenson, Jonathan Pearce and the BBC. Do us a favour: the next time you promote the FA Cup, please stop using those iconic images of 1970s Herford United fans running on to the pitch directly after Ronnie Radford blasted one into the top corner. Every year those special scenes at Herford are repeated, and yet when a similar thing happens at Villa Park in 2015, the media reaction is one of utter disgust and contempt. The revulsion in which BBC’s commentary pair Lawrenson and Pearce carried, was enough for a blind viewer to wonder if the Villa fans were having sex with farmyard animals in full view. ‘This is a disgrace’ ‘appalling scenes here at Villa Park and they’ll all be on CCTV” said Pearce in the shameful hope that these fans would soon face banning orders.

A young kid on the pitch was shown on camera holding up a Villa scarf and he looked overjoyed as Jonathan Pearce spoke of ‘Ugly scenes at Villa Park’.

When listening to such drivel, I feel like I’ve entered some kind of Twilight Zone; an upside down world where people being happy and exuberant are now the bad guys. A few rules were broken – so fucking what. Get over yourself, it’s just a game. Our game – and these establishment guys really don’t like it when the genuine custodians do something spontaneous.

Villa fans have had very little to cheer about in the last two decades, so how can such an outpouring of hope be so misunderstood?

Lawrenson snarled “It’s like a return to the 1980s” Yeah it was, which was why it was so brilliant.

When did a pitch invasion/celebration become a bad thing? I recall in 1988, at the age of ten, witnessing a manic pitch invasion at Highbury. 2,000 happy Gooners ran on the pitch to celebrate Arsenal getting to the League Cup Final. That kind of thing got you addicted to being a football fan. I urge you readers to watch that Highbury clip by going to youtube and typing in pitch invasion at Arsenal v everton.

When watching this video, please note how casual the commentator is compared to the reaction of Lawrenson and Pearce.

Today’s line of outrage is almost exclusive to the modern media. Most people I’ve spoken to, and most comments I have read on social media, emphatically conclude that the Villa fans did nothing wrong.

I coach children’s football and this week I asked them what they thought of the Villa Park incident. These ten year old kids thought it was wonderful. They identified with the excitement and passion and they could not understand why the Villa fans were so heavily condemned. One kid thought it was absurd that anyone would conclude that it would have ruined Tim Sherwood’s day, as suggested by some in the media.

Step forward Des Kelly from the Evening Standard. His outrage of the pitch invasion was enough for him to proclaim ‘Give me the Library (silent atmosphere) any day’. Next to his article were pictures of happy Aston Villa fans alongside the words “Disgraceful scenes at Villa Park”

Des, why so angry when you actually get what you want 99% of the time. In fact you’ve had what you prefer for a couple of decades now; as most games today will carry that dream of yours. Why

are you complaining because of one small incident – you get what you want every week – a boring and static atmosphere!

What was most appalling about Des Kelly’s classist article was that he claimed that the only people who complain about the sanitisation of football were aging white men. This is not true at all and how dare Des Kelly (a former writer for the Daily Mail) claim to know how ethnic minorities feel about the way football should be watched; I can confidently state that most black football fans I speak to long for the days when passionate crowds cheered on their team old school style. In the 1980s clubs such as West Ham, Birmingham, Man City and Spurs had a lot black fans who attended games, arguably more so than now. Just like ‘aging white men’ ethnic minorities do not appreciate being priced out of football and being told how to behave by orange coated kill joys.

I’ve been part of Arsenal fan protest movements where the the actual organizers have names such as Raj and Omar. They don’t like the modern game any more than so called aging white men.

Was there some overt racism in the 1980s – yes of course and aside from a few Chelsea morons on the Paris Metro last month (who exist today but somehow the 1980s got blamed) – nobody is calling for a return to that. However, fans of all races, genders and ages do want a game where supporters have the freedom to show a bit of exuberance – without being labelled as scum or village idiots.

Written by Matthew Bazell

Follow @matthewbazell