Every year, on this day, I have the same feeling of regret. On the day that marks the premature loss of David Rocastle, I feel I missed the chance to watch a unique player and character.
I’ve been an Arsenal fan for over twenty years now and I’ve watched so many talented footballers and special characters but I never got the chance to watch David Rocastle play. Of course, there are many other former Arsenal players that I wish I saw in front of my eyes, like Liam Brady, George Armstrong or Charlie George but that’s different, they’re from a different era and I had no chance at all.
With Rocky, it’s different. I could have seen him play. It was a matter of a couple of years.
My first memory of the Arsenal is the Cup Winners’ Cup final in Copenhagen, in 1994, and at that time David Rocastle was still playing, although at Manchester City. I could have found out about the Arsenal a bit earlier and would have witnessed something special. That’s the whole problem, I could have seen him play but I missed out.
There is no Arsenal fan or former player not speaking very highly of David Rocastle as a player and as a man, a unique character on and off the pitch who helped change the game in England, with his silky moves and educated feet.
DD Quote on Rocky
“He could have been Brazilian but was born in Lewisham”, to quote David Dein, and was a spectacular exception in a football world still very much physical and based on kick and run.
From abroad, English football was seen as very basic, very fierce but essentially poor in terms of flair, technique and skills: the access to the games was very limited so all I could see were bits, here and there, and the outcome wasn’t very flattering, to be honest.
I was captivated by the passion on the field, by the crazy tackles barely noticed by the referees and by the contrast between some of the best and worst pitches I’ve ever seen but I was never really struck by an intricate pattern of play or a piece of skill.
I’m not saying that all English football was a continuous rugby melée but technique wasn’t the most outstanding aspect of the game, based on the few images I could watch.
Had I seen David Rocastle play, my opinion would have been different.
If possible, David Rocastle was even a better man off the pitch that he was on, which makes the regret even worse to swallow. When you hear Ian Wright speaking so fondly of Rocky, or Lee Dixon, or whoever had the chance to spend a bit of time with him, you immediately understand that he wasn’t just a gifted player, he was an outstanding character.
The Magnitude of his greatness
The magnitude of his greatness lies in the fact that someone like me, who never had the chance to see him or listen to him, knows how special he was.
That’s why it feels so bad to have missed out on something so special, on someone so unique. I was so close, yet so far.
Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
Great article, and though you never saw him play, you summed up perfectly, genius on the pitch, extraordinarily decent and resilient man off it. I did see him play – a lot, it was at the point when I was going home and away, two games spring to mind – firstly a semi final (league cup at Highbury) against Everton, he was unplayable, unplayable that night. Secondly, funnily enough, when he was playing for City, every time he got near the ball, the travelling support went potty, he was cheered more robustly, than the 11 men in red and white that day.