Joseph Cockroft (20 June 1911 – February 1994) 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 le ...

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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

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 ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. Cockroft played for Yorkshire Paper Mills, Barnsley Old Boys, Ardsley Athletic, Wombwell,

and then

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

before moving to

, then of Division Two, in 1933. Signed after a months trial from Gainsborough by

Charlie Paynter Charlie Paynter (28 July 1879 in Swindon – 1 December 1971) was the manager of West Ham United from 1932 to 1950. He moved to Plaistow with his family as a child. He played for the local teams Victoria Swifts and South West Ham, but while ...

, Cockroft made his West Ham debut on 14 April 1933, having made just four reserve appearances for the club. Drafted in after injuries to first-choice left-halves Albert Cadwell and

Joe Musgrave Joseph William Musgrave (29 February 1908 – 1981) was an English Association football, footballer who played as a left-half or inside-left in the Football League for West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, Swindon Town F.C., Swindon Town and H ...

, he made the position his own and rarely missed a game up to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Cockroft played as a left-half, but often switched positions with

Len Goulden Leonard Arthur Goulden (16 July 1912 – 14 February 1995) was an English footballer who played as an inside-left. His son Roy was also a footballer. Club career Goulden was born at Homerton, in Hackney, London, and raised in nearby Plai ...

during matches to dumbfound oppositions. He was an ever-present in the team for the 1933–34, 1934–35, 1935–36 and 1936–37 seasons, making 217 consecutive appearances. Cockroft played in the first three games of the 1939–40 season, but these were expunged from the records after the League was suspended following the outbreak of World War II. The war saw Cockroft's home destroyed in

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. He was part of West Ham's War Cup-winning side of 1940, appearing in all 9 games including the final, and made 20 appearances in the League South. He guested for

as direction of labour laws compelled his employment at

Edgar Allen and Company Edgar Allen and Company was a steel maker and engineer, which from the late 19th century was based at Imperial Steel Works, Tinsley, Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The site was bounded by Sheffield Road, Vulcan Road and the Sheffield District Railway ...

, a

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. He made 198 wartime appearances for Wednesday, more than any other player, and scored 13 goals. He played for the Owls in the northern final of the War Cup in 1943, and went on to join the club after hostilities ended. Cockroft spent almost three years at Hillsborough after the war, making a total of 97 appearances in all competitions. His debut came on 5 January 1946 in a goalless

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

3rd round first leg game against

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

. He went on to play in all of the Owls' FA Cup games in the 1945–46 season; the club were eventually knocked out by

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

in the 5th round following comprehensive wins over

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

and Mansfield. He joined

for £4,000 in November 1948 and became the oldest First Division debutant as a 37-year-old. He left a year later to take on a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

role at

Wisbech Town Wisbech Town Football Club is a football club based near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Fenland Stadium. History Although a Wisbech Town existed in the 1890s, the current club was estab ...

. His tenure of 1,065 days makes him one of Wisbech's longest serving managers. He was also an FA coach, outside of football, Cockroft had many other interests. He was a keen golfer, swimmer and motorist, and was also interested in anatomy. He was landlord of the Angel Inn,

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

. He retired to

Hunstanton Hunstanton () is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash, making it one of the few places on the east coast of Great Britain where the sun sets over the sea. Hunstant ...

, Norfolk with his wife Winifred. He died on 8 February, 1994. He had two children, a son Terry and daughter Joyce.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockroft, Joe 1911 births 1994 deaths Footballers from Barnsley English men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Wombwell F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Wisbech Town F.C. players English Football League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. wartime guest players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. wartime guest players English football managers People educated at Dinnington High School