Peter Roney
Scottish footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Roney (15 January 1886 – 25 August 1930) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Southern League clubs Norwich City and Bristol Rovers prior to the First World War.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 15 January 1886 | ||
| Place of birth | Knightswood, Scotland[1] | ||
| Date of death | 25 August 1930 (aged 44)[1] | ||
| Place of death | Scotstoun, Scotland[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Petershill | |||
| –1905 | Strathclyde | ||
| 1905–1906 | Cambuslang Hibernian | ||
| 1906–1907 | Ayr | 18 | (0) |
| 1907–1909 | Norwich City | 53 | (0) |
| 1909–1915 | Bristol Rovers | 178 | (1) |
| –1919 | Ayr United | 0 | (0) |
| 1919–1921 | Albion Rovers | 10 | (0) |
| 1921 | Ashington | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Footballing career
Roney began his footballing career in Scotland with Petershill, Strathclyde and Cambuslang Hibernian,[2] before moving to Scottish League Second Division club Ayr in October 1906.[1] He moved to England in May 1907 and joined Southern League First Division club Norwich City.[1] 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 February 2026, 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.[7]
Personal life
Roney was born at Knightswood Hospital, Scotland in January 1886.[1] He married his wife Violet in 1909 and at the time of the 1911 census he had one son, Kenneth.[8] Whilst a player with Bristol Rovers, the family lived in Eastville.[1]
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.[9] He later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps.[9] 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,[7] 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".[10] It was reported in November 1919 that Roney was seriously ill at home in Ashington.[1]
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[10]
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 war service.[11] 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.[12]
Roney died on 25 August 1930 in Scotstoun, Scotland, at the age of 43.[1]