PETERALTHAM: PROPFORWARDWARRIOR
Peter was born into a proud farming family. He was diagnosed as profoundly deaf, a condition he shares with one of his two brothers. Peter is a product of Wharfedale’s youth development system, and made his National League debut for his hometown club in 2007-8. He is one of three exceptional rugby playing brothers, with Joe and George who have all been mainstays of the Greens’ front row over many years.
in 30 County Championship appearances for Lancashire, and a handful for his native Yorkshire at U’20s level before he joined Fylde,
and you have a measure of his great contribution to Northern rugby. In all he has racked up 341 appearances in the National Leagues and the North Premier division. Peter (6’ & 120kg) has proved a powerful, hard working, technically skilled and incredibly durable tighthead prop over a long career. He’s also developed excellent coaching skills when working as a community coach with another Fylde/ Hoppers legend, Alan Holmes, at the then Fylde Academy in the 2011-13 period and, subsequently, with seven years experience on Myerscough College’s Rugby programmes. How does Peter’s deafness affect his on-field approach? Fylde’s 1st XV home match reporter and UCLan Sports Journalist student Will Judd interviewed him a few months ago. Peter said: “In terms of general game play, obviously I cannot hear any vocal communications about attack play or lineout calls, referees’ commands at scrums and so on. So I’ve had to develop skills and techniques which have helped me cope with this situation. “So what I do, especially in scrums, is to get my flanker to slap my leg on ‘set’ so that I know when to engage. Away from scrummages I have to see where the spaces are around me or look around continually to make sure that I’m in the right place.” Watching Peter over many years, he’s developed these skills so well that a casual viewer at ‘full on’ National League games would have no idea about his disability. Peter is not only a great team mate in the heat of the battle but also a role model for young and older players on coping with problems and excelling at this most demanding of sports. It’s a delight having him at the Club!
Peter joined Fylde during their 2009-10 campaign and forced his way into the 1st XV squad immediately and made the tighthead prop position his own. He played a major role in the Club’s Championship winning 2010-11 season and proved more than comfortable in National One in the succeeding 2011- 12 and 2012-13 campaigns. He started the 2013-14 season at the Woodlands before switching to Preston Grasshoppers in January 2014. He had made 115 appearances for Fylde before going on to play in more than 170 games in National League (Two) and the North Premier division for ‘Hoppers despite missing the entire 2019- 20 campaign with a serious injury. In the summer of 2022, we were delighted to welcome Peter back to the Club after a seven year absence. Peter lives in Lytham St Annes and is a lecturer in rugby studies at Myerscough College. He’s a very popular figure at the Woodlands and his move back to the Club has been lauded by supporters.
He made his 150th Fylde appearance in October 2024 v Harrogate. Aggregating this together, he’s made 341 National League & North Premier appearances to date plus the representative games over a superb 18 year career. Add
www. fylderugby .co.uk
35
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker