Craig Aaron Rocastle (born 17 August 1981) is a former 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 played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. A former

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

player at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

, in 2001, he joined Kingstonian from Gravesend and Northfleet after a loan spell with Ashford Town (Kent). He signed with Chelsea via Slough Town in 2003, and was

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

ed out to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

, Lincoln City, and

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

. He joined

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 ...

in February 2005, helping the "Owls" to

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 ...

out of

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

via the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. Loaned out to

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

, he switched to

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 ...

in 2006 before moving on to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

in June 2007. He was loaned out to Gillingham before joining Greek side Thrasyvoulos in 2008. He returned to England the following year with

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

, later playing for

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the , the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1983 afte ...

and

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

. He joined American club

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

in March 2010 and briefly played for the

Missouri Comets The Kansas City Comets are an American professional indoor soccer team based in the Kansas City metropolitan area that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). Originally called the Missouri Comets, the team joined the Major Indoor S ...

in January 2012, before he returned to Thrasyvoulos. Born in England, he represented

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

internationally.

Club career

Rocastle was with

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division club Gravesend and Northfleet when in September 2001 he went on trial to

, who during his stay with them went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

. After a loan spell in November 2001 with Southern League Eastern Division club Ashford Town (Kent), it was announced in early December 2001 that he had left Gravesend and Northfleet. Later that month (initially on a one month trial) Rocastle signed with Isthmian League Premier Division side Kingstonian for whom he made 23 goal-less league appearances. In February 2003 he signed with Slough Town, making 13 Isthmian League Division One North appearances without scoring. He then signed with

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club Chelsea in 2003, although he did not make a first-team appearance, appearing once as a non-playing substitute. Rocastle made his debut in the

English 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 ...

on 14 February 2004, at the age of 22, playing for

in a 1–0 defeat at

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 ...

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground (), is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C., Wrexham AFC. It is the largest stadium in North Wales and the List of football stadiums in Wales, fifth-largest in Wales. It is the world's o ...

. He had joined the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

men on

and made another four

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 ...

appearances before leaving

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports ground in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used by Barnsley Football Club for home fixtures, and those of their reserves. As of 2023, the Barnsley F.C. Women's team also play at the stadium. While the na ...

the next month. In late-March he joined Third Division side Lincoln City on loan, but only made two substitute appearances before returning to

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in ...

before the end of the season. He spent the first half of the 2004–05 season at

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English football manager and former footballer who was most recently the manager of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a d ...

, playing 13 league games in a very successful season for the SPL club. The club had kept faith with the

as he damaged a thigh muscle in September and was feared to have damaged knee ligaments in December, and were hopeful of acquiring him permanently. With no future with Chelsea, he instead joined

on a free transfer in February 2005, signing a -year deal. His first senior goal came in a 3–2 win over

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

at Hillsborough on 12 March. He played for the "Owls" in the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, which finished as a 4–2 victory over

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

in front of close to 60,000 spectators. Rocastle played 17 games of the club's 2005–06

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

season before going out on loan to League One side

in late-March. At the end of the season Rocastle's

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

at Wednesday was terminated by mutual consent. He quickly signed for

. He played 35 league games in 2006–07, helping Oldham to a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eith ...

place. However, most of these appearances were as a substitute. In the play-offs they were defeated by eventual

winners Blackpool in the semi-finals. In June 2007, he signed a two-year deal to join

. He was not a first-team favourite in 2007–08, but did manage 21 starts and a goal against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, ...

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

. He spent two weeks in January on loan with League One rivals Gillingham, playing two games for the "Gills". After talks with

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Lee Sinnott, his contract was terminated by mutual consent in April 2008. Rocastle had a trial with Hibernian in May 2008, having impressed on loan there previously, but manager

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri "Mixu" Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and manager who is currently serving as the sporting director of Scottish club The Spartans. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for ...

did not offer him a contract. Rocastle instead joined Thrasyvoulos Filis in the

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repl ...

. He made 13 appearances for the club in 2008–09. However, they finished bottom with a mere 14 points from 30 games and were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to 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 ...

. Rocastle then joined

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

for a trial, but he failed to win a contract after playing 45 minutes in a pre-season friendly with Nantwich Town. He played for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

as a trialist in the

Dean Windass Dean Windass (born 1 April 1969) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He played spells at Bradford City A.F.C., Bradford City and contributed to his hometown ...

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

against

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, however, he was not offered a contract by the club. In August 2009, he signed for

, but left almost immediately after two

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

appearances and joined

on a non-contract basis. He made his debut for Dover as a substitute in an 8–0 win over East Preston in the

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 ...

. However, his stay at the Kent club was short, and in October 2009, he joined

on a non-contract basis. Rocastle impressed on his Forest Green debut, winning the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award in Rovers 1–1 draw with Eastbourne Borough. He went on to make 15 appearances in the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

for Forest Green before interest was shown in him by Swedish and American clubs. Following a short trial in March 2010, Rocastle departed Forest Green to sign for

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown K ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. He played 12 matches in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, however, he was waived by Kansas City

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

Peter Vermes Peter Joseph Vermes (; born November 21, 1966) is an American professional soccer coach and former player. From 2009 to 2025, he was the manager of Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer. Entering the 2025 MLS season, Vermes was the lon ...

following the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

season on 23 November 2011. Six weeks later, on 4 January 2012, Rocastle signed with the

of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Ten days later he returned to Thrasyvoulos.

International career

Rocastle was eligible to play for both

or Jamaica as his father was from Grenada and his mother was from Jamaica. He made his

international debut on 26 November 2010, in a

2010 Caribbean Cup The 2010 Caribbean Cup (also known as Digicel Caribbean Cup 2010 for sponsorship reasons) was the 2010 edition of the Caribbean Championship, an international football championship for national teams affiliated with the Caribbean Football Union ...

match against

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

at the Stade d'Honneur de Dillon in

Fort-de-France Fort-de-France (, , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. History Before it was ceded to France by Spain in 1635, the area of Fort-de-Fra ...

. He was named by

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Mike Adams in the

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the 21st CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's 50 years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition started on Jun ...

at the United States, and played the first half of the 4–0 defeat to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

The Home Depot Center Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Digni ...

, before being taken off for Lancaster Joseph. Grenada exited the competition after finishing bottom of their group. On 15 November 2012, Rocastle scored from an indirect free kick from out in a 1–1 draw with

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

Personal life

He is a cousin of the late England and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

midfielder

David Rocastle David Carlyle Rocastle (2 May 1967 – 31 March 2001) was an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the roles of a playmaker and a winger. He spent the majority of his career at Arsenal where he was nicknamed "Rocky". Ro ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sheffield Wednesday * League One play-offs:

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocastle, Craig 1981 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Lewisham People from Lewisham English people of Grenadian descent Sportspeople of Grenadian descent Grenadian men's footballers English men's footballers Grenada men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Kingstonian F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Slough Town F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Thrasyvoulos F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Sporting Kansas City players Kansas City Comets (2010–) players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players Major League Soccer players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–2014) players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 21st-century English sportsmen