Peter Eccles (born 24 August 1962 in Dublin) is an Irish former professional soccer player. He played for

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most su ...

for many years as a centre back and was part of their successful teams of the 1980s. He won a record five league championships with the club, captaining the Rovers side to win the

1993–94 League of Ireland Premier Division The 1993–94 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 9th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division was made up of 12 teams. Shamrock Rovers won the title. Regular season The regular season initially saw the 12 teams use ...

. He scored 30 league goals for the Hoops.

Shamrock Rovers career

He made his

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

debut on 18 October 1981 at Milltown against UCD. Eccles played throughout the 1980s in the Rovers team that won four league championships in row from 1984 to 1987 – a record achievement in Irish football. The team also won three FAI cups in a row, from 1985 to 1987 – a record only bettered by the Shamrock Rovers team of the 1960s. The Rovers 'four in a row' team fell apart after the club fell into crisis after the sale of

Glenmalure Park Glenmalure Park, often simply known as Milltown, was a football stadium on the Southside of Dublin city in Ireland. Located in the suburb of Milltown, it was home to Shamrock Rovers from 1926 to 1987, when it was sold to property developers ...

in 1987. Eccles went to Australia for six months Australia and a short spell with

Dundalk F.C. Dundalk Football Club ( ; ga, Cumann Peile Dhún Dealgan) is a professional association football club that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. The club is based in Dundalk ...

(4 games including one substitute appearance in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

) he signed a 2-year deal with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in England but only made one first team appearance for them (against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

) in 1989. He returned to Rovers in October 1989 and stayed until 1994. In the season 1993/94, he captained Rovers to their 15th league title at the

RDS Arena RDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland. The arena was developed to host equestrian events, primarily the annual Dublin Horse Show, which wa ...

. However the following year, he left the club on bad terms with the then board of directors. In the absence of any recognition by SRFC to honour his 12-year stint at the club, Rovers fans organised a testimonial night for Peter on 13 November 1994. Peter made 9 appearances in European competition for Rovers, scoring once, against Linfield in the

1984–85 European Cup The 1984–85 season of the European Cup club football tournament was overshadowed by the Heysel Stadium disaster that happened prior to the final match. That edition was won for the first time by Juventus in a 1–0 win against defending champio ...

He was Rovers Player of the Year in 1992/93 Shamrock Rovers#Player of the Year.

International career

Eccles had one of Ireland's shortest ever international careers when he replaced

Chris Hughton Christopher William Gerard Hughton (born 11 December 1958) is a professional football manager and former player. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team. After making his professional debut aged 20, Hughton spen ...

on 23 April 1986 at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

to play the last ten minutes of a 1–1 home friendly game against Urugua

This was his only ever appearance for the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

. As well as his full international cap he represented the

League of Ireland XI The League of Ireland XI, more recently referred to as the ''Airtricity League XI'' for sponsorship reasons, is the representative team of the League of Ireland, the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. For much of its ...

in Inter-League games and

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

qualifying teams scoring against France in November 1987. He also won one youths cap.

Post Rovers

Peter signed for

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

after being let go by Rovers but suffered a broken leg on his debut in a

North Belfast derby The North Belfast derby is the name given to football matches between Cliftonville and Crusaders who play in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The two are separated by around 1.5 miles with Cliftonville based at Solitude on Cliftonville Road and Cr ...

with

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

in the

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League for senior clubs. History Beginning in 1949, it was held on fifty-one occasions until being suspended after the 1998/99 season and discontinued after a one-of ...

on 13 August 1994 which kept him out for the whole season. After 14 months out he signed for Home Farm in December 1995. After a short spell at

Athlone Town F.C. Athlone Town Association Football Club () is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they pl ...

he returned to the Hoops for his third spell in September 1996. However lacking first team action he moved to Home Farm Everton in November where he played his last game in the

on 27 April 1997. Soon after he retired from the League of Ireland he signed up for top Dublin GAA club Erin Go Bragh where he made a big impact during a distinguished three-year spell at centre half forward.

Honours

;Shamrock Rovers *

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

/ Premier Division: 5 ** 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1993–94 *

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

: 3 ** 1985, 1986, 1987 * Leinster Senior Cup ** 1982 *

LFA President's Cup The LFA President's Cup was an association football cup competition featuring League of Ireland clubs affiliated to the Leinster Football Association. It was played for between 1930 and 2002. It was a ''de facto'' national super cup and on twent ...

: 2 ** 1984–85, 1987–88 ;Individual * SRFC Player of the Year: ** 1992–93

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eccles, Peter 1962 births Living people Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Shamrock Rovers F.C. players League of Ireland players Leicester City F.C. players English Football League players Dundalk F.C. players Athlone Town A.F.C. players Home Farm F.C. players Crusaders F.C. players NIFL Premiership players League of Ireland XI players