 His first cap came on 22 October 1927 in a British Home Championship match at Windsor Park Belfast; Northern Ireland were the hosts and won the game 2–0.Cooper was given the ultimate honour of captaining his country twice in his last two appearances for England; the first time was against Czechoslovakia on 16 May 1934; the Czechs won the game 2–1.He would surely have been selected to play even more representative matches had it not been for injuries, including having both knee cartilages removed.