Date / Year of birth: 12.11.27

Position: Striker

Season of first appearance: 53/54

Season of last appearance: 56/57

Also played for: Bowater Lloyds, Leicester (0), Reading (0), Whitwick Colliery, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Snowdown and Brett Sports

Legendary 6' 0" tall, pacy striker born in Sittingbourne who was known as "The Flying Dutchman" despite not actually being Dutch ! Peter's parents were English although the fact that he married a Dutch girl often caused confusion !

He started his career as a centre-half with Kent League side Bowater Lloyds aged 16 before gaining a scholarship to Loughborough College in 1944.

Peter spent two years there and represented both the College and Northern Universities. It was at that time that he moved out of the half back line and became a striker, initially an inside-forward. The Loughborough centre-half was captain of English Universities, the left-half was a tutor and the right-half was captain of the side. Because of that Peter said he was an inside-forward as he felt it was the only way he'd get a game !

The ploy obviously worked as Peter was soon signed by Leicester and played mainly for their reserves until being called up into the army in 1946. He played regimental football whilst in the Army Physical Training Corps and also played for the British Army basketball team.

Following his military service Peter returned to Loughborough and spent the period from 1949-1951 back there. He played for Whitwick Colliery in the Birmingham League during that time and rode a BSA 350 motorbike.

Peter continued his studies (he was training to become a P.E. teacher) and also continued playing basketball. Loughborough were University champions and the side even played a game on the same bill as The Harlem Globetrotters !

Peter was also playing for Reading's reserves at that time but he decided not to take up their offer of becoming a full-time professional when he completed his studies and in August 1951 he returned home to join Sittingbourne. He also took up a job as Head of Physical Education at Canterbury Technical High School (later known as The Geoffrey Chaucer School).

After scoring 75 goals in just two seasons for Sittingbourne (including four in a 6-0 win over Margate in February 1952) Peter signed for Margate in June 1953 and continued his prolific run.

He scored 34 times during 53/54 at a rate of almost a goal a game and his tally included five hat-tricks, one of them coming in the Kent League Cup Final Replay - a 5-0 win over Canterbury on 6.5.54. He'd also scored twice in the first match - a 3-3 draw on 1.5.54.

However Peter did endure one barren spell that saw him dropped to the reserves in February 1954. But after scoring four goals in a 5-1 win over Bexleyheath & Welling he was quickly restored to the first team and he put his return to goalscoring form down to buying some new boots !

Amazingly the 54/55 season was an even better one for Peter. He scored 46 times in just 40 appearances and managed three hat-tricks plus a four goal haul in a 5-2 win at Betteshanger in September 1954. He also scored Margate's goal as they went down 2-1 to Tunbridge Wells in the Final of the Kent Senior Shield on 14.5.55.

During the summer of 1955 Peter suffered a slipped disc and the injury meant that he missed the first part of the 55/56 season. However when he regained fitness in November 1955 Peter predictably made up for lost time.

He scored four goals in his first comeback match in the reserves followed by a hat-trick in his second and when Peter returned to first team duty he scored four in only his second appearance - an 8-1 win at Whitstable. He hit a second consecutive hat-trick the following week as Margate beat Whitstable 3-2 in the return match and on 7.1.56 Peter scored his 100th goal for the club in a 3-1 Kent Senior Cup defeat at Ramsgate.

He made a total of 21 appearances during the 55/56 season and finished with an amazing tally of 30 goals which included a Margate career best effort of five in an 8-0 win at Sheppey in March 1956.

It seemed as if 56/57 was going to be 'business as usual' for Peter as he scored nine goals in eight appearances during August and early September. His tally included yet another hat-trick, this time in an 8-1 win over Sheppey in the FA Cup. But then on 24.9.56 Peter left the club to become player-coach (player-manager) of Faversham having kept up his remarkable goal average of more than one per game played for Margate.

Peter scored a hat-trick on his Faversham debut and went on to score 30 goals for them during the remainder of the 56/57 campaign, making him the Kent League's second highest scorer for the third time in his career with 39 in total for the season. He'd previously finished second in the league's scoring charts for both 52/53 (32 goals for Sittingbourne) and 53/54 (34 for Margate) as well as being joint top scorer for 51/52 (42 goals for Sittingbourne). Peter ended up spending three years with Faversham and under his guidance the club won the Kent Amateur Cup twice.

However he had a few injuries and after a second cartilage operation Peter moved on to Snowdown Colliery where he again tasted success - the club winning the Aetolian League in it's first year of formation. He stayed with the club until 1965.

By that time Peter was 38 and decided that he'd had enough of playing but then he was approached to run Canterbury-based Brett Sports' teams. Peter accepted the offer and changed his mind about retiring. He eventually gave up playing in 1969 aged 42 by which time Brett had become a senior club and won various leagues and cups.

After his football career ended Peter extended his service at Canterbury Technical High School / The Geoffrey Chaucer School to almost 30 years before two heart attacks in 1980 led him to retire.

In 1982 Peter took up bowls as he recovered his health and in 1991 aged 64 he won the Kent County Singles, a competition entered by over 1000 players ! He also became involved in coaching the game.

Peter had a trial for the England amateur side during the early part of his football career, scoring in a game played at Eastbourne, and in April 2002 he was still playing bowls regularly and living near Canterbury. His two sons Julian and Jonathan both played a few games for Whitstable during the 82/83 season.

Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 46/47 onwards.

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