Hopcraft was born in Shoeburyness, Essex. He soon moved to Cannock, Staffordshire, and as a teen, he started working at local newspapers. By the age of 17, he was reporting on the Stafford Rangers' semi-professional football games using the pseudonym "Linesman." After his service in the military, he worked at the Daily Mirror in Manchester and then the Guardian. He had assignments in west Africa, India and Brazil. In the mid-1960s, he began doing football writing at The Observer as well.

He was a "self-described loner whose claustrophobia extended to refusing to use the London Underground." Obituary: Arthur Hopcraft | Media | The Guardian He never married, noting that "I tried both sexes, but ended up wishing they would all just go away" .