Frederick William Hooper (14 November 1894 – 1982) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who scored 62 goals from 166 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, playing for

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. An

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

, he scored Darlington's first Football League goal.

Personal life

Hooper was born in

, County Durham, where his father worked in the local

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simi ...

s. His younger brother

Mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

played 500 matches in the

and won two First Division titles and one

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. Two other brothers,

Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

and

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.🖾🖾 People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...

, also played League football, and an uncle,

Charlie Roberts Charles Roberts (6 April 1883 – 7 August 1939) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre-half in the Football League for Grimsby Town, Manchester United and Oldham Athletic. He spent nine years at United, where he was cap ...

, captained

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and played for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Hooper's two sisters, Sarah and Betty, were members of various Darlington-based women's teams that played charity matches in the 1920s and 1930s, raising money for causes including the

National Union of Railwaymen The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. The largest railway workers' union in the country, it was influential in the national trade union movement. History The NUR was an industrial union ...

's Orphans Fund. In 1973, Hooper was interviewed by

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

for an edition of '' The Frost Programme'' focussing on

Darlington F.C. Darlington Football Club is an association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, England. As of the 2024-25 season, the team competes in the National League North, at the sixth level of English football. The club was founded in 188 ...

as an illustration of the unglamorous end of football, described 40 years later by the ''

Northern Echo ''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its the ...

'' as "an insight into a town's heart-aching relationship with its football club, and a reminder of the ridiculous resilience of optimism". Hooper died in Darlington in late 1982.

Football career

Hooper played for Cockfield and for Darlington club Rise Carr before the First World War interrupted his progress. After the war, he played five times for

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

club

, where his older brother Danny was also on the books. He then returned home and signed for

. He and Tommy Winship were instrumental in Darlington finishing as runners-up in the

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although ...

, which led to their inclusion in the newly formed

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

. On the opening day of the season, 27 August 1921, Darlington played

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

at home, and beat them 2–0. After "barely a minute", Winship crossed for Hooper to score Darlington's first goal in the Football League; the goal came so quickly that the ''Northern Echo'' reported how Hooper could "in all probability, lay claim to the honour of being the first player to score a goal in the Northern Section of the Third Division". He finished the season as Darlington's top scorer, with 18 goals from 31 games, as the club finished in second place in the division. Three seasons later, playing alongside younger brother Mark, Hooper contributed to Darlington's Third Division North title and

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. After one season at the higher level, in which Darlington's 15th place remains, , their best ever finish, Hooper left the club and became one of several new recruits to the forward line of ambitious Third Division club

. He played 20 League matches, his only goal coming in a 3–1 defeat of

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, in 1926–27, which was his final season in the Football League.

Notes

References

External links

"Football for Girls – Degrading?"
film clip of 1930 women's charity match involving Hooper's sisters, at

British Pathé British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Bill 1894 births 1982 deaths Footballers from Darlington English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Cockfield F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Consett A.F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen