Pēteris Lauks (10 February 1902, in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

– 15 March 1984, in Kitchener,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

) was a

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender, one of the most capped footballers for

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team ( lv, Latvijas futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

Lauks began playing football when being a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

near

Ufa Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital city, capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya River (Kama), Belaya and Ufa River, Ufa rivers, in the centre-n ...

in 1916. Upon returning to Latvia he was a longtime player with Amatieris (from 1921 to 1933. His highest achievement with Amatieris was earning bronze medals in the

Latvian Higher League Latvian Higher League or Virslīga is a professional football league and the top tier of association football in Latvia. Organised by the Latvian Football Federation, the Higher League is contested by 10 clubs. The full name of the league is O ...

in 1929. Lauks was one of the most reliable defenders in Latvian football of his era and he was called up to the national team a few times in 1926 and 1927, capping three matches in total. When Lauks was already aged over thirty and his football career was presumably near its end he moved to RFK and made a sudden comeback. With RFK he won three Latvian league titles, became a two-time winner of the

Latvian Cup The Latvian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Latvian football. Since 2021, its full name is Responsible Game Latvian Football Cup (''Atbildīgas spēles Latvijas kauss'') due to the sponsorship by sports betting company Wil ...

and at the age of 33 returned to the national team. Lauks played in the last international match for Latvia before its loss of independence on 18 July 1940, he was aged 38 at the time. In total between 1926 and 1940 he had played in 38 matches for Latvia – only

Ēriks Pētersons Ēriks Pētersons (1909 in Riga – 1987 in United States) was Latvian footballer and hockey player. Between 1929 and 1939 he played 63 international matches and scored 21 goals for Latvia national team. He also played in Latvian national i ...

, Jānis Lidmanis,

Alberts Šeibelis Alberts Šeibelis (26 December 1906 – 12 April 1972) was a Latvian footballer, one of the most popular Latvian footballers in the era before World War II. In 54 matches for Latvia he scored 14 goals Biography Šeibelis was born in the provinci ...

, Vladimirs Bērziņš and Arnolds Tauriņš had more caps for Latvia. During the first

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

occupation of Latvia Lauks played with RDKA Riga, during the Nazi occupation – with Pērkons Riga and again with RFK. After

Lauks ended up in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

where he continued playing football until the age of 46. Later he left Germany for

where he lived until his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauks, Peteris 1902 births 1984 deaths Footballers from Riga People from Kreis Riga Latvian men's footballers Latvia men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Latvia Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Men's association football defenders Latvian World War II refugees Latvian emigrants to Germany German emigrants to Canada