SITTING cross-legged on the floor on the right end of the front row is one of the smallest, but best, footballers that Darlington has ever produced.

He’s wearing size four boots – they were so dinky that when he hit the big time in Division One, his club had to have them specially made.

The Northern Echo: Rise Carr Football Club, who won the Darlington Charity Cup in 1919 and 1920, and who won the Darlington District League Championship in 1920. At back: W Earl (trainer). Back: G Brennan (treasurer), E Martin (secretary), J Andrews, H Thomas, G Page, A

Rise Carr Football Club, who won the Darlington Charity Cup in 1919 and 1920, and who won the Darlington District League Championship in 1920. At back: W Earl (trainer). Back: G Brennan (treasurer), E Martin (secretary), J Andrews, H Thomas, G Page, A Cain, W Barker (committee), W Blewitt (committee). MIddle: G Burniston, D Hooper, A Reed, H Catterick, J Woodhouse, D Clark (chairman), W Thorpe (committee). Front: W Dinsdale, E Saint, W Neil, B Brennan, M Hooper 

The team is Rise Carr FC in 1920, the winners of the Darlington District League, and the player is Mark Hooper (1901-1974), who came from a Rise Carr family that was steeped in the rolling mills and in football.

His uncle was Charlie Roberts (1883-1939), who captained Manchester United and England and formed the Professional Footballers’ Association.

His younger brother Carl (1903-1972) made 34 appearances for Lincoln City in the Third Division in 1925-26, scoring six goals. He also played three times for both Chesterfield and Norwich City before returning to his home town to play in local leagues.

The Northern Echo:

Mark Hooper and Bill Hooper in the 1924-25 Darlington side that won promotion from the Third Division (North)

His eldest brother Danny (1893-1973) is also on the Rise Carr picture (second from the left on the middle row), but he’s in a wing collar and tie because that season he was on the verge of the big time: he’d just made his first appearances for First Division Oldham Athletic where their oldest brother, Frederick William, known as Bill (1894-1982), was also on the books. Both brothers made five appearances for the Latics in 1919-20, but their careers never went any further and they returned to their hometown. Danny went on to play for Shildon, while Bill established himself with Darlington FC.

He helped the Quakers win promotion out of the North Eastern League and then, on August 27, 1921, at Feethams, he scored their first goal in the Football League.

At the start of the 1924-25 season, he was joined in the black and white shirt of the Quakers by his wee brother Mark.

After winning the Darlington league with Rise Carr in 1920, Mark, was 5ft 6ins tall and weighed under 10 stone, played for Cockfield, and in 1923, he starred for them in the first Northern League cup final. Indeed, his performance caught the eye of a Sheffield Wednesday scout. Mark missed his shift at the Rise Carr rolling mills, where all the Hooper family worked, for a further meeting with the scout who told him he was too small to ever make it as a pro.

The Northern Echo: Echo memories - Darlington FC 1924-25, left when they won Division Three (North). Players in hooped jerseys and goalkeeper: Back: Tommy Greaves Crumley, Martin Joyce. Middle: Hugh Dickson, Billy Robinson, George Malcolm. Front: Mark and Bill Hooper, Davy

The full Darlington team that won promotion from the Third Division (North) in 1924-25

But when Mark joined brother Bill at the Quakers, he proved that judgement wrong. A tricky winger, his 11 goals in 1924-25 fired Darlo to promotion to the Second Division, and in 1925-26, he scored 18 as the Quakers rose to the giddy heights of 15th – their highest ever league position. Mark even got a measure of revenge over Sheffield Wednesday, who were top of the table on March 27, 1926, when they came to Feethams and the Quakers beat them 5-1 – Mark scoring twice and making an unforgettable impression on the Owls.

However, the following season, the Quakers struggled, and at the start of 1927 were near the bottom of the table with their defence leaking goals.

On January 21, Mark was dragged out of a Darlington cinema to be told that the club’s directors had sold him for £1,950 to Sheffield Wednesday. The directors immediately bought defender Jimmy Waugh for £2,000 from Sheffield United, but he couldn’t keep them up.

The Northern Echo: Mark Hooper

Mark Hooper of Rise Carr, a Sheffield Wednesday legend

But Mark helped Wednesday not just to establish themselves in the First Division but to win back-to-back titles in 1929 and 1930. Between April 1928 and April 1932, he played a club record 189 consecutive matches, and in the 1935 FA Cup final, he scored their second goal as they beat West Bromwich Albion 4-2.

He was known as “the greatest uncapped winger in the country” and “the midget outside right”.

In 1937, he had a cartilage operation on his knee which finished his ten year career at Wednesday. He’d made 423 appearances (the 10th all time highest for the club) and scored 136 goals (their fifth all time highest scorer).

His footballing brothers all returned to Darlington, but he stayed in Sheffield, running a tobacconist’s shop in the shadow of the Hillsborough stadium where he was hailed as a bona fide legend.

He died in the city in 1974.

  • With thanks to all who pointed out the Hooper brothers on this picture when it appeared in Memories 554. At least one other player on the picture went on to find footballing fame, and we’ll look at him next week. If you can tell us anything about any of the other names, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk. John Phelan, who usually compiles Sport Archive, is on holiday