Fulham's War Time Ronaldo

[Cambridge Away]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Rooke
During his three decades' playing career, he scored at least 934 goals in 1030 official matches.
According to the RSSSF he is fourth overall as the best league goalscorer of all time, behind Erwin Helmchen, Josef Bican and Cristiano Ronaldo. He has a better goal per game ratio than Pele, and more goals scored than Messi!

So, why do i barely recognise his name? Someone THAT good who played for us for 10 years you'd expect a statue for! Was he just eclipsed and then overshadowed by Johnny Haynes? And why is he not listed as our top ever scorer? He has miles more goals than Gordon Davies.

He even went on to win the league with Arsenal, scoring 33 league goals and remains Arsenal's all-time record-holder for the most goals scored in a postwar season. He once scored a record 6 goals in a game for us.

[cmg]

Depends, I guess, on what exactly is meant by 'official' matches. Rooke, who was obviously a tremendous striker, was, because he was drafted as an Army PT instructer, able to play continuously for Fulham during WW2. Others were not so fortunate (Jimmy Tompkins, for instance, served in the infantry throughout the war and died in Normandy.
The Wartime League matches were held under more relaxed regulations, teams were able to field any players they coud get their hands on to replace regulars who were unavailable at short notice (Aldershot were able to field some super stars during the war years!).
The 212 goals Rooke scored in 199 Wartime matches, although extremely impressive, are not generally counted in historical records.

[Cambridge Away]

Depends, I guess, on what exactly is meant by 'official' matches. Rooke, who was obviously a tremendous striker, was, because he was drafted as an Army PT instructer, able to play continuously for Fulham during WW2. Others were not so fortunate (Jimmy Tompkins, for instance, served in the infantry throughout the war and died in Normandy.
The Wartime League matches were held under more relaxed regulations, teams were able to field any players they coud get their hands on to replace regulars who were unavailable at short notice (Aldershot were able to field some super stars during the war years!).
The 212 goals Rooke scored in 199 Wartime matches, although extremely impressive, are not generally counted in historical records.

Thank you. That's really interesting. Especially about Aldershot
It seems harsh his goals are wiped from the slate though just because it was war. He was prolific before and after the war too

[bog]

I do wish I saw Ronnie play.