Mark Hooper (14 July 1901 – 9 March 1974) 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 for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

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 briefly with

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 ...

in a 16-year career which lasted from 1923 to 1939, although he appeared in 1945 in a few games after

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 ...

. In total he played 500 League games (550 including cup games) in that time, scoring 168 League goals with 11 more in the

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 ...

. Hooper was a diminutive

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who was only 5 ft 6 in (1.67 m) tall, weighed under 10 stone (64 kg) and wore size 4 boots.

Family

Hooper was born in

on 14 July 1901. He was brought up in the

Rise Carr Rise Carr is a place in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the north of the centre of Darlington. Notable people Rise Carr was the birthplace of Manchester United legend Charlie Roberts Charles Roberts (6 April 18 ...

area and was part of a family of footballers. His brother

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

had an eight-year-long professional career while other brothers

Carl Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

and

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English journalis ...

had brief periods in the paid ranks. His uncle

Charlie Roberts Charles Roberts (6 April 1883 – 7 August 1939) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre-half in the Football League for Grimsby Town, Manchester United and Oldham Athletic. He spent nine years at United, where he was capta ...

captained

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

while his sisters Sarah and Betty were members of the Darlington Quaker Ladies team. His father worked in the local

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

Playing career

Hooper was initially a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

but switched to an outfield position after being told he was too small to be an effective keeper. He played as an amateur for Cockfield and featured in the inaugural

Northern League Cup The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division O ...

final in 1922–23. He was part of the team that reached the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

semi-final in that season, which they lost to Evesham Town 4–2.

Darlington

He signed professionally for local club Darlington for the 1923–24 season, joining his brother Bill, who was already a Quakers player. The pair were key members of the team which won the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

Championship in the 1924–25 season to put Darlington in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

for the first time in their history. Mark Hooper scored 11 goals from the right wing during that promotion campaign and bettered it with 18 the following year in Division Two. On 27 March 1926 of that season Darlington beat Second Division Champions elect Sheffield Wednesday 5–1 at

Feethams Feethams is a cricket and former football grounds in Darlington, England. The cricket ground has hosted Durham CCC matches. The football ground was the home of Darlington F.C. for from 1883 to 2003 until the club moved into another ground, ...

with Mark Hooper having an exceptional match, a performance which undoubtedly influenced the future direction of his career. The following season Darlington struggled in Division Two and would eventually be relegated at the end of the season. The Darlington directors decided to change the team midway through the campaign and sell Mark Hooper to Sheffield Wednesday and use the money to purchase Jimmy Waugh, a defender, from

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 ...

. Darlington directors met Sheffield Wednesday officials in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

on Friday 21 January 1927 and the deal was done, with Hooper signing for Wednesday for a fee of £1,950. Darlington then added £50 to the fee and promptly signed Waugh for £2,000 to bolster their defence. Hooper knew nothing of this and had to be summoned from a night out at the cinema to be told that he had been sold to Sheffield Wednesday.

Sheffield Wednesday

Hooper made his Sheffield Wednesday debut the following day on 22 January 1927 in a 2–2 draw with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

at Hillsborough. He played 15 games in the remainder of that season scoring two goals. The following season, he netted 22 goals for Wednesday (a record at the time for a winger) as he finished as top scorer and played a vital part in Wednesday's "Great Escape" season of 1927–28. Towards the end of that season he was joined at the club by left winger

Ellis Rimmer Ellis Rimmer (2 January 1907 – 16 March 1965) was an English professional footballer who played for Tranmere Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town. He was a left winger who was quite tall and scored his fair share of headed goals. His c ...

and the pair were feted as one of the best pair of extreme wingers in the game. Another accolade often aimed at Hooper in his time at Wednesday was that he was "the best uncapped winger in the country", during his best years he was kept out of the

side by

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

's fine right winger

Sammy Crooks Samuel Dickinson Crooks (16 January 1908 – 3 February 1981) was an English footballer who played as outside forward or outside right for Derby County in the mid-war era. He was one of the best-known footballers of the 1920s and 1930s and was c ...

. Hooper was a consistent performer and remained injury free for much of his career. Between April 1928 and April 1932 he amassed 189 consecutive League and Cup matches for Sheffield Wednesday to create a new record for the club. This record stood for 55 years, until February 1987 when it was beaten by

Martin Hodge Martin Hodge (born 4 February 1959 in Southport, Lancashire) is an English former professional footballer. He played as a goalkeeper for Plymouth Argyle, Everton, Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester City, Hartlepool United and Rochdale. His career ...

. In the 1928–29 and 1929–30 seasons Hooper was an ever-present as Wednesday lifted back to back Division One championships. He played in Sheffield Wednesday's 2–1 defeat by Arsenal in the Charity Shield at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

in October 1930. In 1933–34 he was joint top scorer with 13 goals along with

Neil Dewar Neil Hamilton Dewar (11 November 1908 – 10 January 1982) was a Scottish footballer who played for Third Lanark, Manchester United, Sheffield Wednesday and the Scotland national team. He usually played as a forward and had a prolific goalsco ...

and

Harry Burgess Harry Burgess may refer to: * Harry Burgess (footballer) (1904–1957), footballer for England, Stockport County, Sheffield Wednesday and Chelsea *Harry Burgess (governor) {{Infobox officeholder , image=Harry Burgess.jpg , caption= Burgess as a W ...

as Wednesday finished outside of the top three in Division One for the first time in five seasons. In 1935 he won a FA Cup winners medal as Wednesday beat

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

4–2 in the final. Hooper scored the second goal for the Owls with a shot that went in off the post. Gives further details of career. He also played as Wednesday won the

1935 FA Charity Shield The 1935 FA Charity Shield was the 22nd FA Charity Shield, a football match between the winners of the previous season's First Division and FA Cup competitions. The match was contested by league champions Arsenal and FA Cup winners Sheffield W ...

. Hooper lost his place in the Wednesday team after suffering relegation from the top division in 1937. A knee injury led to a

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck an ...

operation in May 1937 and he only made eight appearances in 1937–38 and none the following season as he became player-coach of the A team. His last game for the first team was on 7 May 1938 against Spurs. Mark Hooper left Wednesday to join Rotherham United in May 1939 just before the outbreak of

, he amassed a total of 423 games for Sheffield Wednesday in all competitions and is tenth on the all-time list of appearances. He scored 136 goals and is fifth on the all-time list of goalscorers for the club.

Rotherham United

Hooper joined Rotherham as a player-coach at the age of 37, none of his three league appearances for the club in the 1939–40 campaign have been officially recorded as the season was abandoned with the outbreak of the war. He did return after the war and play three FA Cup matches for the club as Rotherham reached the 4th round before losing to Barnsley in January 1946. He remained at Rotherham until 1958 as a coach.

After football

Mark Hooper opened a

tobacconist A tobacconist, also called a tobacco shop, a tobacconist's shop or a smoke shop, is a retailer of tobacco products in various forms and the related accoutrements, such as pipes, lighters, matches, pipe cleaners, and pipe tampers. More specia ...

and confectionery shop on Middlewood Road, just 200 metres from the Sheffield Wednesday ground in the early 1930s whilst still a Wednesday player. He kept the shop going throughout his coaching time with Rotherham and it remained open until the 1970s. Mark Hooper died on 9 March 1974 in Sheffield, aged 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooper, Mark 1901 births 1974 deaths Footballers from Darlington Association football wingers Cockfield F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players English footballers FA Cup Final players