Donald George Beaumont Roper (14 December 1922 – 8 June 2001) was an English

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 for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

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 ...

, winning two league titles with the latter in the 1947–48 and 1952–53 seasons. Playing as a winger, he made nearly 300 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 88 goals. In addition to playing association football, Roper also made one appearance in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

in 1947.

Sporting career

Football

Roper was born in December 1922 at

Botley, Hampshire Botley is a historic village in Hampshire, England, approximately east of Southampton. It was developed as a natural crossing point for the River Hamble, and received its first market charter from Henry III in 1267. The village grew on the su ...

. He was a prolific schoolboy footballer, who played for Hedge End at youth level and played his early league football for Bitterne Nomads in the

Hampshire League The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides o ...

. It was while playing for Bitterne Nomads what he was scouted by Toby Keleher, assistant manager to Tom Parker, and in July 1940 was persuaded to sign for his local club,

, making his debut for them during wartime matches. During the war, he was employed in

at the

Supermarine Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. The company built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three cons ...

factory, where he helped to manufacture the

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...

. During the war, he was Southampton's leading goalscorer in wartime competitions, having formed a successful strike partnership with Ted Bates. Against

in 1944, his performance in a 4–2 victory was described as "remarkable", with then Arsenal manager

George Allison George Frederick Allison (24 October 1883 – 13 March 1957) was an English football journalist, broadcaster and manager. He was the BBC's first sports commentator and Arsenal's second longest serving manager. Journalism career Allison was b ...

monitoring his development as a player. By the resumption of competitive football in 1946, Roper had established himself as a "two-footed powerful (right) winger" in the

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

. After impressing in the Second Division in 1946–47, he was signed by Arsenal in the close season by Allison's successor Tom Whittaker (who had watched Roper at The Dell eleven times during that season) for £12,000, plus George Curtis and

Tom Rudkin Thomas William Rudkin (16 June 1919 – 30 April 1969) was an English professional footballer who played as a left winger. He made 50 appearances in the Football League in the years before and after the Second World War. Career Pre-war Born in ...

moving in the opposite direction, an estimated total fee of £24,000. His move to Arsenal was described as "one of the most drawn-out and delicate deals in the history of football transfers". Roper immediately became a regular for Arsenal, playing 40 times and scoring ten goals in 1947–48, as Arsenal won the

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 ...

. He formed partnerships with

Archie Macaulay Archibald Renwick Macaulay (30 July 1915 – 10 June 1993) was a Scottish football player and manager. Playing career Born in Falkirk, Macaulay started his playing career in junior football and joined Rangers in 1933, where he became a regular a ...

and

Ronnie Rooke Ronald Leslie Rooke (7 December 1911 – 9 June 1985) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. During his three decades' playing career, he scored at least 931 goals in 1029 official matches, among which more than 765 league go ...

, with Arsenal's success being in stark contrast to their previous season, in which they had avoided relegation. He switched to the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...

in 1949–50, but was displaced by both

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most of his ca ...

and

Freddie Cox Frederick James Arthur Cox Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom), DFC (1 November 1920 – 7 August 1973) was an English association football, football player and manager. Playing as a outside forward, winger, he scored 25 goals from 182 a ...

in Arsenal's

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 ...

-winning side of

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. The loss of his first-team place proved to be temporary, with him regaining his place in the Arsenal side from the 1950–51 season. After a strong start in the 1950–51 season, where Arsenal competed with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

for the league leadership in the opening weeks of the season, their season fell away. This was attributed to problems on the Arsenal wings, with Compton having given up playing, Ian McPherson being less effective, and Roper losing speed due to an increase in his weight; Roper built a reputation for his "gargantuan appetite" at

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

. He later played in Arsenal's 1952 FA Cup final defeat to

, although in that match he was forced to deputise for full back

Walley Barnes Walley Barnes (16 January 1920 – 4 September 1975) was a Welsh footballer and broadcaster. Whilst playing as a defender he featured for Southampton and Arsenal and captained the Welsh national side. Early career He was born in Brecon to Engli ...

after Barnes was stretchered off with an injury, with his performance in the match being described as "outstanding". During the 1952–53 season, Roper enjoyed one of his finest seasons, winning another League title, in which he scored 14 goals in 41 appearances. Earlier in the season, in a friendly match against

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 scored 5 times; the match was one of the first in the country to be played under

floodlight A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. It can provide functional area lighting for travel-ways, parking, entrances, work areas, and sporting venues to enable visibility adequate for safe task performance, ornament ...

s and televised in the evening. Roper's performances during that season earned him an England B cap against Scotland B, although he never played for the full

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 ...

side. He played for another two seasons as a first-team regular, but lost his Arsenal first-team place during 1955–56, dropping to the reserves. He played 321 matches for Arsenal in total, scoring 95 goals in league and cup competitions. Roper rejoined former club Southampton who were now in the

Third Division (South) The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

, in January 1957. He went on to become club captain, playing alongside star player

Derek Reeves Derek Reeves (27 August 1934 – 22 May 1995) was an English association football, footballer, born in Poole, Dorset, who played as a Forward (association football), centre forward for Southampton F.C., Southampton and Bournemouth & Boscombe At ...

and the young

Terry Paine Terence Lionel Paine (born 23 March 1939) is an English former professional footballer. Originally from Winchester, Paine is best known for his career with Southampton, for whom he made a club-record 808 appearances across 18 seasons. He playe ...

. At the end of the 1958–59 season, Roper fell out with the club over terms and alleged promises from Ted Bates that he would be given post-playing employment as a club trainer, and left holding a grudge which he never overcame, refusing to attend any club reunions or even to visit The Dell. In 1993, he was visited by Bill Stroud who attempted to persuade Roper, in vain, to forgo his grudge against Bates and attend his 75th birthday celebrations. During his second spell at Southampton, he played in 80 matches and scored 32 goals. He finished his career by playing for Weymouth under the management of Arthur Coles during the 1959–60 season, and Dorchester Town from the 1960–61 season, finally retiring from the game in 1963, having made 103 appearances for Dorchester Town, in which he scored 31 goals.

Cricket

Described by ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' as a "useful middle order batsman", Roper made a single appearance as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

for

against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in 1947. Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed in Hampshire's first innings for 30 runs by Michael Mills, while in their second innings he was dismissed without scoring by

Guy Willatt Guy Longfield Willatt (7 May 1918 – 11 June 2003) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Cambridge University from 1938 to 1947, for Nottinghamshire from 1939 to 1948, for Scotland from 1948 to 1950 and for Derbyshire f ...

. After joining Arsenal, he played

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obse ...

in London for

Southgate Cricket Club __NOTOC__ Southgate Cricket Club is in Southgate, part of the London Borough of Enfield, England. The club plays at the Walker Cricket Ground, and in the Middlesex County Cricket League. Middlesex County Cricket Club occasionally plays County Cha ...

Later life and death

After retiring from football, he settled in Southampton and worked as an engineer in the aviation industry, before working for a local engineering firm which went out of business in the 1980s, forcing him into an early retirement. In his latter years, he was afflicted by

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

, succumbing to the disease at Southampton in June 2001, at the age of 78. He was survived by his wife, Joyce, and their two sons.

Honours

Arsenal *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1947–48, 1952–53 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

runner-up: 1951–52

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roper, Don 1922 births 2001 deaths People from Botley, Hampshire Footballers from Hampshire Cricketers from Hampshire English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers Eastleigh F.C. players Southampton F.C. wartime guest players Southampton F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players English cricketers Hampshire cricketers Arsenal F.C. players England men's B international footballers Weymouth F.C. players Dorchester Town F.C. players Deaths from Parkinson's disease in England 20th-century English sportsmen