| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Peter Roney | ||
| Date of birth | 15 January 1887 | ||
| Place of birth | Rutherglen, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 25 August 1930 (aged 43) | ||
| Place of death | Clydebank, Scotland | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| ????–1909 | Norwich City | ||
| 1909–1915 | Bristol Rovers | 178 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Peter Roney (15 January 1887 – 25 August 1930) was a professional footballer who played in goal for Norwich City and Bristol Rovers prior to the First World War.
Roney was born in Rutherglen in Scotland and after a spell with Norwich City, joined Bristol Rovers in 1909. He was one of the first goalkeepers to score a goal,[1] netting in Rovers' final game of the 1909–10 season from the penalty spot against Queens Park Rangers,[2] and the only goalie to have scored for Bristol Rovers.[3] He went on to play in a total of 178 games in the Southern League for Rovers in his six-year stint with the club.[4]
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.
In 1914 Roney joined the 17th Middlesex Battalion, with whom he served in the Great War. He found the realities of war difficult to cope with, and the mental traumas that he suffered meant that he would never return to professional football, 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". A collection was held for him at a Southern League match between Bristol Rovers and Norwich City, his two former clubs, that raised £10.50.[5]
Roney died on 25 August 1930 in Clydebank in Scotland at the age of 43.