 Rooney was a left winger who played first team football with Lochee Harp, Peterborough United and Montrose F.C.in the United Kingdom, before emigrating to Melbourne, Australia in the late 1960s.He was an instant success there with Ukrainian Essendon Lions before transferring to Sydney to join the Prague club in 1970, and later playing at APIA Leichhardt, in the New South Wales First Division.