Rodney Rooke (born 7 April 1970) is an English former

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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

as a full-back for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

and a number of English

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

clubs.

Career

Born in

Orsett Orsett is a village, Ward (electoral subdivision), ward, former civil parish and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, it is north-east of Grays, Essex, Grays. In 2011 the ward had a population of 6,1 ...

, Rooke joined the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1986. During his second apprentice year, he was training with an athletic specialist in order to add extra pace to his skill. He did enough to be retained on a non-contract basis for the 1988–89 season, receiving his debut on 20 December 1988 in a 2–1 win over rivals

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

in the Associate Members Cup. Rooke failed to add to his solitary appearance during the season, generally confined to the reserve team. In pre-season for the 1989–90 season during a tour of Scotland, he displaced regular left-back Clive Stafford, impressing enough to earn him a run in the first-team during the opening games of the league season. However, after the defence leaked a number of goals, the inexperienced Rooke was one of the first players to be replaced. He made his final appearance for the club on 7 October 1989 in a heavy 4–0 away defeat to

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

. He made a total of four

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 ...

appearances for the U's. Shortly after the turn of the year, Rooke left Colchester for pastures new, joining neighbours

Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English association football, football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane. History The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students ...

before signing with Chelmsford City,

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

and Stambridge United until he later made a return to Wivenhoe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooke, Rodney 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Orsett English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Colchester United F.C. players Wivenhoe Town F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Dagenham F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Stambridge United F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Essex