The cause may be medically mundane, but premature loss is the stuff of legend. It confers an intimate form of immortality; the stricken player leaves a legacy of images in a multi-media age, but continues to exist, most powerfully, in the imagination of those who watched, and wished they could be him. At Arsenal, one word is sufficient to stir the soul. Rocky. David Rocastle was just 33 when he passed away on 31 March 2001, a month after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer which attacks the immune system. He died on the morning of a North London derby against Tottenham at Highbury. Most fans heard the news just before kick-off. Despite the tribal tensions of the fixture, the minute’s silence was broken only by the unmistakable sound of weeping. Rocastle had Everyman qualities. His audacity allowed him to chip Peter Schmeichel from 25 yards at Old Trafford. He was born a generation too early: his pace and technique, strength and nimbleness, were suited to the modern game.
