Peter Hooper (2 February 1933 – 13 August 2011) was a 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 Bristol Rovers,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

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 ...

. Born in Teignmouth, he was an outside left with a thunderous shot, especially from free kicks. Although a proud Devonian, Hooper made one appearance for the Kenyan national team against

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

in 1951 while on national service in the country. He first caught the eye of Bristol Rovers scouts in 1953 while playing for Dawlish Town and made his Football League debut in March 1954. Between October 1957 and August 1961 he appeared in 163 consecutive matches. By the time he left to join Cardiff City, he had played 297 games for Rovers in the old Second Division – the equivalent of today's Championship – scoring 101 goals, thus becoming one of only six players to score more than 100 goals for the club. After one season with Cardiff, he had a spell with Bristol City. When his career was ended in 1966 by a bout of peritonitis he moved to North Devon where he played non-league football for Barnstaple Town. After retiring from professional football, Hooper was landlord of The Three Pigeons in Bishops Tawton, where he lived, before spending 19 years as a probation assistant in Barnstaple.

References

* * 1933 births 2011 deaths People from Teignmouth Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Kenyan men's footballers Kenya men's international footballers Bristol Rovers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Dawlish Town A.F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Footballers from Devon {{Kenya-footy-bio-stub