Peter Boyle (26 April 1876 – 24 June 1939) was an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and manager. Born in Carlingford in Ireland, Boyle was a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

whose most successful playing spell was with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

with whom he reached the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

on three occasions, playing on the winning side on two of them. He also played for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

and

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

as well as representing

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on five occasions. He later had a brief spell as

player-manager 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. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

in 1912.

Career

Club career

Boyle moved from his home in Scotland to join

in 1896, making his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

debut against

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

in December of that year. After two years at the

Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in County Durham and Tyne and Wear, England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunderland Built- ...

club he moved south to the League champions

in December 1898 for £175. He became a regular for the ''Blades'' in a period when they were a dominant force in English football, finishing runners-up in the league in his first season and winning the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

in both

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

and

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's ...

along with another unsuccessful appearance in the 1901 FA Cup final. Described as a 'robust' player by the local media he was considered a 'fine tackler' and 'superb kicker' during his time at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall ...

. By 1903 however his relationship with the club had deteriorated following a dispute after the club failed to award him a benefit match which he believed he was owed. He was twice suspended for 'misconduct' before being transferred for a 'nominal' fee of £100 in 1904. Having told United that he wished to return to Scotland, Boyle spent only one season at

before he moved to

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

who had recently been admitted to the Football League. He then drifted back into the amateur game with brief spells at Wigan Town,

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

and Eccles Borough where his playing career looked to have come to an end. After several years out of the game, however, Boyle was appointed as

of newly admitted

Midland League The Midland Football League, officially known as the Capelli Sport Midland Football League since January 2025 for sponsorship reasons, is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midl ...

team

in 1912, before being replaced by Tommy Collier later the same season.

International career

Boyle was capped five times for

during his time with Sheffield United. He would have won several more had he not rejected the call-up on a number of occasions to play for the ''Blades'' instead.

Personal life

Although born in Ireland, Boyle's family had moved to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

when he was a child and it was here he began playing football regularly. Following the end of his playing career he worked as a miner at

Brodsworth Colliery Brodsworth Colliery was a coal mine north west of Doncaster and west of the Great North Road. in South Yorkshire, England. Two shafts were sunk between October 1905 and 1907 in a joint venture by the Hickleton Main Colliery Company and the Stav ...

where he also coached the colliery football team, Brodsworth Main, now Brodsworth Welfare A.F.C. His son Tommy Boyle would also go on to play for

with whom he also won an

winners medal in

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

Honours

Sheffield United *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

Runner-up: 1899–1900 *

Winner:

**Finalist:

1901 December 13 of this year is the beginning of signed 32-bit Unix time, and is scheduled to end in January 19, 2038. Summary Political and military 1901 started with the unification of multiple British colonies in Australia on January ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Peter 1876 births 1939 deaths Irish association footballers (before 1923) Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Men's association football defenders English Football League players Albion Rovers F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Chorley F.C. players York City F.C. (1908) players Republic of Ireland association football managers York City F.C. (1908) managers Eccles United F.C. players People from Carlingford, County Louth Footballers from Coatbridge