John O’Rourke, English footballer, Died at 71

  Sports

John O’Rourke was born on February 11, 1945, and died on July 7, 2016.

He was a professional footballer.

He played Centre Forward.

Teams he played for include Ipswich Town F.C., Middlesbrough F.C., Coventry City F.C., Luton Town F.C., Queens Park Rangers and A.F.C. Bournemouth.

His scoring success and popularity on Teesside that fans would sing “Give us a goal, John O’Rourke” to the tune of The Troggs song “Give it to Me”.

There was a £18,500 signing from Luton Town, O’Rourke scored two on his debut at Colchester and went on to score 27 in 39 games as Boro clinched promotion from Division Three at the first attempt.

He also scored a hat-trick in the crucial last match of the season, a 4-1 victory over Oxford United.

During the next season, 1967-68, John scored two further hat-tricks before moving to Ipswich Town in February 1968 for £30,000.

He played for Middlesbrough, on December 31, 1966, O’Rourke was involved in a collision with Bristol Rovers goalkeeper Bernard Hall, which left Hall in a coma for sixteen days and ended his footballing career.

When he retired from playing, O’Rourke became a newsagent on the south coast.

He died due to cancer.

John O’Rourke passed away at 71 years old.