Peter Roney

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.

Peter Roney

Personal information
Date of birth	(1886-01-15)15 January 1886
Place of birth	Knightswood, Scotland[1]
Date of death	25 August 1930(1930-08-25) (aged 44)[1]
Place of death	Scotstoun, Scotland[1]
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
	Petershill
0000–1905	Strathclyde
1905–1906	Cambuslang Hibernian
1906–1907	Ayr	18	(0)
1907–1909	Norwich City	53	(0)
1909–1915	Bristol Rovers	178	(1)
0000–1919	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 July 2025, 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]