Peter Boyle - Irish International Football Player

Football Fever

Peter Boyle 1876-1939

Peter Boyle played professionally in Scotland and England, and he earned five caps for representing Ireland in international play. Peter started his professional football career with Coatbridge Gaelic, a Scottish team, then went to Sunderland, and then Sheffield United. With Sheffield United, he played in three FA Cup finals (1899/1900 v Sheffield Wednesday - United won; 1900/01 v Tottenham - Tottenham won; 1901/02 v Southampton - United won). Sheffield had acquired Peter to strengthen its defence. From 'Sheffield United FC 1889-1999', p.28 - "Peter Boyle - An Irish International left back with League and Cup winning medals for United. Brought up in Scotland, he joined United in 1898 from Sunderland. A hard tackler and very strong, he played football without a care in the world. His son Tommy, won a Cup medal with United in 1925." One other father/son combination for United shares this distinction-the Johnsons. Peter was also selected to play for Ireland. The Irish had the best record in international play at the time, being the first Irish side to win against Scotland, but they did not manage a win against the English.

After Sheffield, Peter played for Motherwell, Clapton Orient, and York City.

Four publications in the library of the Football Association in London, England contain references to Peter Boyle:

-Northern Ireland: Boyle P. Sheffield U 1901 v E, 1902 v E, 1903 v S, W, 1904 v E (5)

-Sheffield U Cup Winners 1899, 1902

-1902-1903 Ireland beat Scotland & Wales - Boyle: Played back against E,S,W

-(with reference to Sheffield United's English Cup success), "In P. Boyle the Irish Internationalist, he (Harry Tickett) has a fearless and dashing companion."

-Boyle Peter (back) Sheffield United, Born Carlingford County Louth,

    Ht 5' 10" weight 12st 7lb

    Previous Clubs - Coatbridge Gaelic & Sunderland.

    Rep Ireland vs England 1901-2-3 Picked 13 times
 

York City - from http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/sport/ycfc_history.html -

In 1912, a decision was made to turn (York City) professional and a plot of land was bought in Burton Stone Lane not far from the current ground at Bootham Crescent.

In May, the club were accepted into the Midland League and Peter Boyle, a former Sheffield United and Sunderland full back, who won five Irish caps, was appointed player manager.

In 1913 Peter was hired as a coal miner by the Brodsworth Colliery, near Doncaster to be player/coach for the colliery football team, Brodsworth Colliery FC. The colliery provided housing for the family in Woodlands, a model village built by the colliery for the miners.

In 1915, at age 38 he enlisted and served first in Gallipoli with the Army Service Corps. He was discharged in mid 1918- “no longer fit for war service”. In todays parlance – PTSD.

He returned to coaching Brodsworth Colliery FC. Subsequently Peter was a steward at the colliery club/pub in the area.

According to Anne Shepherd, during the '20's, Peter operated a cigar stand on the street adjacent to the Sheffield football ground.

Peter appears in the BBC's 'The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon' (BFIVD692) in the segment in Episode 2- Sport & Leisure showing Sheffield United. The commentary concentrates on the goalie, Foulkes, but Peter can be seen placing the football for Foulkes to kick.

Below is a photo of Jayne Boyle's showing Peter with the Irish International Team which played England in March 1901. Peter is in the back row, fifth from the left side of the photo. Regarding football in Ireland, two football associations exist in Ireland, and as Wikipedia notes, "Both bodies initially claimed to represent the entire island." However neither association shows much interest in what happened in international play before 1922.

The Football Association of Ireland says, "Although football was being played in Ireland since the 1860s, it was mainly based in Ulster and it was not until the 1880s that the game spread to other areas of the country. The first club outside Ulster was Dublin Association Football Club which was formed in 1883. At the time, the Irish Football Association (IFA) was the governing body. Based in Belfast, it found it difficult to promote football throughout the country. This led to the formation of the Leinster Football Association in 1892 as the game became more popular in the area. However, there was always a feeling among clubs from outside the Belfast area that the IFA favoured Ulster based, Protestant, clubs - especially when selecting sides for international matches."

As a result, at present it is necessary to go to an English site to find out about play in 1901. From the England Archive at www.thefa.com, we learn the match was played at the Dell on 9 March 1901, before 8000 spectators. Unfortunately Ireland lost 3-0. The Dell which opened in 1901, was the Southampton football ground until 2001.

Other Ireland players were Jim Nolan-Whelan, Willie Gibson, Jimmie Connor, Archie Goodall, Joe Burnison, Tommy Black, Bob Rea, John Mansfield, Isaac Doherty and Robbie Clarke