Trevor Hockey (1 May 1943 – 2 April 1987) 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 ...

. His professional career spanned 16 years, seven clubs and almost 600 appearances, plus nine international

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Playing career

Born in

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

, Hockey turned professional with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

in May 1960. Hockey had been discovered by the club in the local amateur ranks. Made his debut for Bradford City when aged 17. Attracted interest soon after his debut. He left

Valley Parade Valley Parade, known as the University of Bradford Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Built in 1886, it was the home of Manningham Rugby Football Club until 1903, when they c ...

for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in November 1961, but after just two years at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when E ...

, Hockey was on the move again, this time to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

where he collected a Second Division winners medal in 1965. Now transformed from a winger into a central midfielder, Hockey joined

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in November 1965 in a £25,000 deal. He went on to make 231 appearances for the Blues scoring 13 goals, and won the club's Player of the Year award in 1969. He was also the club captain when he was transferred to

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 ...

for £40,000 in January 1971. He made his debut in a 2–1 away victory against

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

and, following instructions "to battle, to win the ball, and give it to

Currie Currie ( gd, Currach, IPA: �kʰuːᵲəx is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edi ...

" he instantly became a

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...

cult figure on the pitch with his beatle-style haircut, beard and tough tackling. He played a large part in ensuring that United was promoted that year, including the scoring first goal in a 2–0 win, against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

on 13 April, sat down after colliding with the goalkeeper. His United career virtually ended with a broken leg against

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 12 February 1972. Struggling to regain his place in the first team, he made his final appearance on 30 December 1972 before

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

secured his services in February 1973, swapping him for Scottish striker

Jimmy Bone James Bone (born 22 September 1949) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a striker. Following his playing retirement he moved into coaching and has managed a number of Scottish League clubs. Playing career Early career ...

. However, after just six months with the Canaries, Hockey was back playing his football in Birmingham, this time for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. After just a year at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

he was on the move again, this time returning to his first club

. Hockey drifted into semi-professional football after leaving Bradford and played four Cheshire League games for Ashton United during the 1977–78 season.

Managerial career

In March 1976, Hockey became

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 ...

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

before taking his footballing talents across the pond and a spell with

San Diego Jaws The San Diego Jaws were a professional soccer team based in San Diego, California, playing their home games at the Aztec Bowl on the campus of San Diego State University. Founded in 1976, the team was a member of the North American Soccer Leag ...

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. Hockey returned to England the following year and took on the managers role at non-league

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921 Stalybridge Celtic ...

before another spell in the States as coach with both

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

and

Las Vegas Quicksilvers The Las Vegas Quicksilvers were an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) during the 1977 season. The team was based in Las Vegas, Nevada and played their home games at Las Vegas Stadium. After the 19 ...

. In 1981, he returned home to reform Keighley Town, a side that had played in the old Yorkshire League after the

Second World War 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 ...

. Hockey's intention was to guide Keighley Town into the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

by the end of the decade. Based at Utley, Town were accepted into the West Riding County Amateur league's first division. Keighley won the league in their first season back. However, their ground was deemed not acceptable for the league's premier division. Town defeated Shamrocks 3–1 in the Keighley FA Cup final, before going on to beat Silsden 2–0 in the revived Keighley Charity Cup final at the end of the season. In the years that followed, Town would win the County Amateur league premier title, and would be joined by Silsden in that league – yet by the end of the decade Keighley Town would again be defunct. This occurred at the same time as Hockey's death.

Music career

While a player with Birmingham City, he was persuaded to take on a singing role to promote the club. In 1968 he provided the vocals for the song "Happy 'Cos I'm Blue" released as a single on the Beau Brummie Promotions label, the B-side was "Keep Right on to the End of the Road" by The Blues Players.

Death

He died of a heart attack shortly after taking part in a five-a-side tournament in Keighley on 2 April 1987, aged 43.

Career statistics

International goals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hockey, Trevor 1943 births 1987 deaths Footballers from Keighley Welsh men's footballers Welsh expatriate men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Welsh football managers Welsh expatriate football managers Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English Football League players League of Ireland players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Bradford City A.F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Athlone Town A.F.C. players San Diego Jaws players Las Vegas Quicksilvers players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players Ashton United F.C. players League of Ireland managers Stalybridge Celtic F.C. managers Athlone Town A.F.C. managers Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland British expatriates in Ireland