Peter Roe (rugby league)

Peter Roe
Personal information
Born	Keighley, Yorkshire, England
Playing information
Position	Centre
Club
Representative
Coaching information
Club
	Source:

Peter Roe is a rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. He played at club level for Keighley, Bradford Northern, York and Hunslet, as a centre, and coached at club level for Keighley (three spells), Halifax, Barrow (two spells), Swinton (two spells), Featherstone Rovers and Wakefield Trinity.

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, 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 rugby league instead.^[4]

Playing career

Keighley

Roe started his professional career at Keighley and was promoted to the first team in 1974.^[4] Whilst at Keighley he represented Yorkshire at the age of 18.

Bradford Northern

In December 1975, Roe was transferred to Bradford Northern for a fee of £7,500.^[5] He played 99 games under Roy Francis and Peter Fox, who coached the team to back-to-back championships. His playing position was at centre. Roe was selected to play for Great Britain 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.^[4] 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 York and Hunslet.

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 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.^[6]

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 Featherstone Rovers from 1999 to October 2001 on a part-time contract, before leaving to take charge of Wakefield Trinity.^[7] He was replaced at Featherstone Rovers by his assistant Ian Fairhurst.

In October 2001, Roe left his part-time role as Featherstone Rovers coach and his job as a benefit fraud investigator to take up a full-time head coach post with Wakefield Trinity.^[8] He was sacked in July 2002 and was replaced by his assistant Shane McNally.^[9]

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.^[10]

Peter Roe returned for his second spell in charge of Keighley 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 Barry Eaton 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 player-coach in 2007.

References

^ "Player Summary: Peter Roe". Rugby League Records. Rugby League Record Keepers Club. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
^ "Peter Roe - Playing Career". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
^ "Peter Roe - Coaching Career". Rugby League Project. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c de la Rivière, Richard (8 October 2021). "Rugby League Heroes: Peter Roe". Total Rugby League. League Publications. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^ "Bygones: 'What they did to me absolutely broke my heart, but I still wanted to play for Bradford'". Yorkshire Post. JPIMedia Publishing. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^ "Rugby League Round-Up: Bradford's hopes damaged by Hull". The Independent. 4 April 1994. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
^ "Peter Roe". fevarchive.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
^ "Roe joins Wildcats". BBC Sport. 1 November 2001. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^ "Roe: I was sacked". BBC Sport. 16 July 2002. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^ "Barrow forced to let Roe leave". BBC Sport. 16 September 2005. Retrieved 8 February 2022.