Peter Roe is a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played at club level for

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of ...

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, playing in the Championship. They have won five Challenge Cups, six league championships and three World Club Challenges. The team jersey is pre ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

and

Hunslet Hunslet () is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past. It is situated in the Hunslet and Riverside ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central parliamentar ...

, as a , and coached at club level for

(three spells), Halifax, Barrow (two spells), Swinton (two spells),

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rovers are one of the last "smal ...

and

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the ...

Early life

At an early age, Roe played football and was given a trial at Manchester United. Roe had also received interest from

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, but he suffered a back injury in an accident which prevented him from playing sport for 12 months. Once Roe had recovered, he had turned his attention to playing

instead.

Playing career

Keighley

Roe started his professional career at

and was promoted to the first team in 1974. Whilst at Keighley he represented

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

at the age of 18.

Bradford Northern

In December 1975, Roe was transferred to

for a fee of £7,500. He played 99 games under Roy Francis and Peter Fox, who coached the team to back-to-back championships. His playing position was at . Roe was selected to play for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

in France but had to pull out due to a serious knee injury and subsequently had to retire prematurely from the game when Bradford Northern cashed in their insurance policy (£30,000) on Roe in 1981. Roe proved the medical people wrong and fought his way back to fitness but was not allowed to play again for Bradford Northern due to the legalities of the payout. He finished his playing career with

and

Coaching career

He began his coaching career at Keighley, taking over from the late Geoff Peggs who 'died in office' in 1985. He left the following year. Peter Roe was appointed as head coach at Halifax for season 1990-91 when they achieved promotion along with

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

who were their opponents in the Divisional Final at Old Trafford. Roe was removed from office 24-hours later when he refused to re-apply for his own job. The Halifax board stated that he did not have the required experience for a club in the top division. He returned to Keighley in September 1991 and coached the club to the division three title in 1992-93 and stayed at his home town club until 1994. He was coach of Barrow for a 15-month period, ending in January 1996. Peter Roe led Swinton to promotion from Division Two in 1996. Peter Roe was in charge of

from 1999 to October 2001 on a part-time contract, before leaving to take charge of

. He was replaced at Featherstone Rovers by his assistant Ian Fairhurst. In October 2001, Roe left his part-time role as

coach and his job as a benefit fraud investigator to take up a full-time head coach post with

. He was sacked in July 2002 and was replaced by his assistant Shane McNally. Peter Roe quit as coach of Swinton in September 2003, after less than a year in charge. In Peter Roe's second spell with Barrow, they were National League Two champions in 2004, their first trophy for 20 years with 14 wins from their 18 games. Roe won Coach of the Year in the process. They were promoted to National League One but were relegated back to National League Two at the end of the 2005 season after winning just one of their 18 matches. The financial situation at the club forced a review of the coaching structure and the position of head coach was made part-time and the club parted company with Peter Roe. Peter Roe returned for his second spell in charge of

at the end of 2005, succeeding Gary Moorby and starting the rebuilding process of a club still ravaged by relegation from National League One. The majority of players had left and money was in short supply.

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

Barry Eaton Barry Eaton (born 30 September 1973) is a Welsh former international rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, and coached in the 2000s and 2010s. He played at representative level for Wales, and at club level for Doncaster, Wa ...

was the only major signing and promising youngsters were blooded; the side struggled to compete and they finished joint-bottom. Roe gave Eaton full control as

in 2007.

References

External links

Player statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roe, Peter Living people Barrow Raiders coaches Bradford Bulls players Bramley Buffaloes coaches English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers coaches Halifax R.L.F.C. coaches Hunslet R.L.F.C. players Keighley Cougars coaches Keighley Cougars players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Keighley Swinton Lions coaches Wakefield Trinity coaches York Wasps players Yorkshire rugby league team players Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Rugby articles needing expert attention