Peter Aldis (11 April 1927 – 17 November 2008) was an English professional

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 ...

who played at full-back and appeared in 294 games for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in league and cup.

Football career

He worked for local chocolate firm

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest c ...

before joining Aston Villa from local side Hay Green in November 1948. He turned professional the following January. He scored his only goal of his Aston Villa career in November 1952 against

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 ...

, a header from 35 yards, with a world record until 4 October 2009. He was an integral member of Villa's 1957

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 ...

-winning team. Aldis left Villa in 1960 to join Hinckley Athletic. He moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia in February 1964 to play in the

Victorian State League The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

with Slavia-Port Melbourne, winning the

Dockerty Cup The Dockerty Cup is an annual association football single-elimination tournament, knock-out competition open to all Victorian clubs across the Australian soccer league system, Victorian football league system. The tournament is named after the fo ...

in his first season with the club. He transferred to Ringwood-Wilhelmina in 1966, where he won the Argus Medal for the best player in the State League, then moved to U.S.C. Lions the following season. In 1968 he was appointed player-manager of

Alvechurch Alvechurch ( ) is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Bromsgrove (district), Bromsgrove district in northeastern Worcestershire, England, in the valley of the River Arrow, Worcestershire, River Arrow. The Lickey H ...

Later life and death

In 1990, in his 60s, Aldis finished the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

, raising money for St Richard's Hospital, Chichester. In his later years, Aldis suffered from dementia, which his wife Grace attributed to heading leather balls during his football career. Aldis died on 17 November 2008.

Honours

Aston Villa *

: 1956–57 Slavia-Port Melbourne *

: 1964, 1965 Individual *Argus Medal: 1966

References

External links

Aston Villa Official WebsiteBBC website
1927 births 2008 deaths English men's footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English Football League players Hinckley Athletic F.C. players Alvechurch F.C. players Alvechurch F.C. managers Men's association football defenders English football managers 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-defender-1920s-stub