Fred Cooper (6 November 1934 – 1 April 1972) was an English 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 le ...

who played as a full-back.

Career

Cooper started his career as a member of the ground staff for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

joining from school, aged fifteen, in 1949. He played and won honours with West Ham Boys, London boys and Essex boys teams and played in the first England Boys international at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, conceding a penalty in the first few minutes against Scotland in a match which England won 8 - 2. His West Ham footballing career started as a reserve player before making his first full appearance in the

Southern Floodlight Cup The Southern Professional Floodlit Cup was an association football competition played in the late 1950s, which involved clubs from London, South East England and a small number of teams from the Midlands (England), Midlands. The competition started ...

, against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, in April 1956.Welcome to the Wonderful World of West Ham United Statistics Fred Cooper
/ref> His league debut came in August 1956 in a 4–1 away defeat to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. Making only 3 further league appearances Cooper retired from professional football to become the licensee at the Essex Arms in Stratford. Cooper died in 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Fred 1934 births 1972 deaths English men's footballers West Ham United F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from the London Borough of Newham West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff