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David Carlyle Rocastle (born 2 May, 1967 in
Lewisham, London; died March 31, 2001) was an
England|English football (soccer)|football player.

On leaving school in the summer of 1983 he joined
Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal as an apprentice and spent
two years in the youth team before signing a
professional contract just before the start of the
1985-86 season. He made his debut against
Newcastle United and soon became a regular member
of the first team. In 1987, just before his 20th
birthday, he won a League Cup winners medal after
Arsenal beat Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool in the final
at Wembley stadium|Wembley. He was a member of the
Arsenal side which reached the final against Luton
Town F.C.|Luton Town the following year but
Arsenal surrendered a 2-1 lead and ended up losing
3-2 to a last minute Luton goal. 

Rocastle won two league championship medals with
Arsenal. The first came in 1989, when he played in
almost every game. Arsenal's success was sealed
when they beat Liverpool 2-0 in the final game of
the season at Anfield, snatching the title of the
hosts on goal difference. But Arsenal were unable
to compete in the 1989-90 European Cup|European
Champions Cup because the ban on English clubs in
European competition after the 1985 Heysel Stadium
disaster|Heysel tragedy still had one year to run.
Arsenal finished fourth in the 1989-90 league
season and missed out on a return to Europe
because only the runners-up were entitled to a
UEFA Cup place.

In 1990-91, a knee injury restricted David
Rocastle to just 18 league appearances for Arsenal
but he still played his part in Arsenal winning
the league championship - losing only one league
game all season. The following season he only
missed three out of 42 league games. 

During his time with Arsenal, David Rocastle was
capped 14 times for England national football
team|England and although he did not score any
goals he was never on the losing side and looked
set for a long and successful international
career. But in 1992 he played his 14th and last
game for England.

At the end of 1991-92, David Rocastle was sold to
league champions Leeds United in a £2million
deal. Manager Howard Wilkinson saw Rocastle as an
eventual replacement for the veteran Gordon
Strachan as Leeds entered the first-ever FA
Premier League|Premier League, but in fact
Strachan still had three more seasons left as a
regular player at Elland Road. Rocastle,
meanwhile, was kept out of the side by both injury
and competition from other players. He was at the
club until December 1993, when he was transferred
to Manchester City for £2million as replacement
for David White, who in turn had joined Leeds
earlier that month. 

But the move to Maine Road was not a success for
Rocastle. At the end of the season, manager Brian
Horton snapped up the Swindon Town F.C.|Swindon
winger Nicky Summerbee (son of former City player
Mike Summerbee|Mike) and Rocastle's days at the
club looked numbered. So, just before the start of
the 1994-95 season, he was transferred to Chelsea
F.C.|Chelsea in a £1.25million deal. 

In 1994-95, David Rocastle played in nearly 40
games for Chelsea and scored two goals in the
European Cup Winners Cup, in which Chelsea reached
the semi finals and lost to eventual winners
Zaragoza by a single goal. The following season
his injuries returned and he played just one game
for the club in October 1995 against Blackburn,
although he remained on the club's pay roll until
his contract expired in the summer of 1998. In
1996-97 Rocastle was loaned out to Norwich City
and in 1997-98 had a brief spell on loan to Hull
City A.F.C.|Hull City, but nothing came of either
spell and both times he ended up back in the
Stamford Bridge reserve team.

On completing his contract with Chelsea in 1998,
David Rocastle joined the Malaysian team Selangor
on a free transfer but was unable to stay clear of
injury and retired after just one season. 

In February 2001, David Rocastle announced that he
was suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, an
aggressive form of cancer which attacks the immune
system. He underwent a course of chemotherapy for
the illness and was hopeful of a recovery. But he
died on 31st March 2001, aged only 33, and was
buried six days later after a funeral service
attended by many well known footballers of the
past and the present.

David Rocastle was survived by his wife Janet, son
Ryan and daughters Melissa and Monique. Six weeks
after David Rocastle's death, his son Ryan was
Arsenal's mascot in their FA Cup final match
against Liverpool in which they took the lead but
ended up losing 2-1 because of two last gasp goals
by Michael Owen.

==External Links==
*http://www.arsenalarsenal.co.uk/Rocky.htm/
Rocastle biography on arsenalarsenal.co.uk
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1253012.
stm/ The BBC obituary