Peter Roney
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 15 January 1887 | ||
Place of birth | Rutherglen, Scotland | ||
Date of death | 25 August 1930[1] | (aged 43)||
Place of death | Clydebank, Scotland | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
–1906 | Cambuslang Hibernian | ||
1906–1907 | Ayr | 18 | (0) |
1907–1909 | Norwich City | 69 | (0) |
1909–1915 | Bristol Rovers | 178 | (1) |
–1919 | Ayr United | 0 | (0) |
1919–1921 | Albion Rovers | 10 | (0) |
1921 | Ashington | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only |
Peter Roney (15 January 1887 – 25 August 1930) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Norwich City and Bristol Rovers prior to the First World War.
Footballing career[]
Roney began his footballing career in Scotland with Cambuslang Hibernian, before moving to Scottish League Second Division club Ayr in 1906.[1] He moved to England in 1907 and joined Southern League First Division club Norwich City.[2] Two years later, Roney joined divisional rivals Bristol Rovers and became one of the first goalkeepers to score a goal,[3] when he scored from the penalty spot in the club's final match of the 1909–10 season.[4] As of January 2022, Roney is the only goalkeeper to have scored for Bristol Rovers.[5] He made a total of 178 Southern League appearances during his six-year stint with the club.[6] Roney finished his career after the First World War with Ayr United, Albion Rovers and Ashington.[1]
Personal life[]
Roney was born in Rutherglen, Scotland in January 1887.[1] He married his wife Violet in 1909 and at the time of the 1911 census he had one son, Kenneth.[7]
In 1914 Roney joined the 17th Middlesex Battalion, better known as the Football Battalion, with whom he served as a private in the First World War.[8] He later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.[8] He found the realities of war difficult to cope with and the mental traumas that he suffered meant that he only briefly returned professional football,[1] it being reported in 1919 that he had undergone "such experiences during the war that he is unlikely to be heard of again in professional football".[9]
You could hear the Germans talking and singing among themselves as though there was no war on at all. Then all of a sudden our artillery would send them a reminder, and then all you could hear were cries of agony. I've nearly turned grey listening to the groans of the wounded.
— Peter Roney, March 1917[9]
His plight became a matter of concern to Bristol Rovers in 1921 when he was said to have been "down on his luck", "[lying] on a bed of sickness" and suffering from severe rheumatism as a result of his time fighting in the war.[2] The directors of the football club donated ten guineas (£10.10s) to him and arranged for a collection to be made at a Southern League match between Bristol Rovers and Norwich City, his two former clubs.[10]
Roney died on 25 August 1930 in Clydebank, Scotland, at the age of 43.[1]
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f Litster, John. Record of Pre-War Scottish League Players. Norwich: PM Publications.
- ^ a b "Roney Peter Norwich City 1907". Vintage Footballers. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
- ^ "Goalscoring Goalies". Goalkeepers are Different. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
- ^ Byrne & Jay (2003), p.90
- ^ Byrne & Jay (2003), p.91
- ^ Byrne & Jay (2003), p.492
- ^ "Census of England and Wales, 1911". 1911. Retrieved 22 January 2016 – via Findmypast.
- ^ a b "Peter Roney | Service Record". Football and the First World War. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
- ^ a b Hudson, John (30 December 2008). "From football pitch to battlefield". This is Bristol. Bristol Evening Post. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2010.
- ^ "For Peter Roney". Western Daily Press. 11 November 1921. Retrieved 21 January 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
Sources[]
- Byrne, Stephen; Jay, Mike (2003). Bristol Rovers Football Club – The Definitive History 1883–2003. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-2717-2.
- 1887 births
- 1930 deaths
- Sportspeople from Rutherglen
- Scottish footballers
- Norwich City F.C. players
- Bristol Rovers F.C. players
- Middlesex Regiment soldiers
- British Army personnel of World War I
- Machine Gun Corps soldiers
- English Football League players
- Association football goalkeepers
- Cambuslang Hibernian F.C. players
- Ayr F.C. players
- Scottish Football League players
- Ayr United F.C. players
- Albion Rovers F.C. players
- Ashington A.F.C. players
- Scottish Junior Football Association players