John Cocking (born 13 May 1944) is an English 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 defender.

Career

Born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, Cocking spent his early career with Gillingham,

Crook Town Crook Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Crook, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield. The club won the FA Amateur Cup five times. History Crook Town Football ...

Alvechurch Alvechurch ( ) is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Bromsgrove (district), Bromsgrove district in northeastern Worcestershire, England, in the valley of the River Arrow, Worcestershire, River Arrow. The Lickey H ...

and Enfield. At Crook he won the Northern League title in 1962–63. Cocking then spent seven seasons in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

(NASL) for the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1967), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League ...

between 1967 and 1973, making a total of 108 appearances - 4 in the NPSL and 104 in the NASL. With the Chiefs he won the NASL championship in 1968.

Personal life

Cocking was married to Jane and the couple had sons.

References

1944 births Living people Footballers from Sunderland English men's footballers Gillingham F.C. players Crook Town A.F.C. players Alvechurch F.C. players Enfield F.C. players Atlanta Chiefs players National Professional Soccer League (1967) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Men's association football defenders English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States {{England-footy-defender-1940s-stub