Bert Peters

Albert Otto "Snowy" Peters (8 August 1908 – 13 June 1944) was an Australian rules footballer who played with North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]

Bert Peters
Personal information
Full name Albert Otto Peters
Nickname(s) Snowy
Date of birth (1908-08-08)8 August 1908
Place of birth St Arnaud, Victoria
Date of death 13 June 1944(1944-06-13) (aged 35)
Place of death Bay of Biscay, off German submarine U-270
Height 177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 77 kg (170 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1930–1931 North Melbourne 17 (3)
1932-1936 Tooradin
1937 Dromana
1938-1940 Sorrento 46
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1931.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

He was nicknamed "Snow" or "Snowy", for his very fair hair.

Family

The son of Carl Erich Theodore Otto Peters (1872-1950),[2][3] and Harriet Cordelia Peters (1874-1970), née Bond, Albert Otto Peters was born at St Arnaud, Victoria on 8 August 1908.[4]

He married Ruby Anzac Kernot (1916-) in September 1939.[5]

Football career

He was one of seven North Melbourne players to make their league debut in the opening round of the 1930 VFL season.[6] By the end of the year he had played 12 games and he added another five in the 1931 season, which would be his last.[7] In each of his 17 appearances for North Melbourne, Peters finished on the losing team. This included a 168-point loss to Richmond at Punt Road Oval.[8] The 199 points conceded by North Melbourne in that game remained a league record until 1969.[9]

Peters spent the rest of his football career in the Mornington Peninsula. He captain-coached Mornington Peninsula Football League club Sorrento from 1938 to 1940 and led them to the finals in each of those years, including the 1940 grand final against victors Somerville-Baxter, contrary to folklore.[10][11][12] Before coming to Sorrento, Peters played for Dromana District in 1937,.[13] Prior clubs were Tooradin and Wonthaggi.

Military service

Peters was working as a teacher in Red Hill South, Victoria when he enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Force in 1941.[14][15] He came to England in June 1943 for operational training.[16] His first posting was to the No. 455 Squadron RAAF and then the No. 53 Squadron RAF, which were based in Cornwall.[16]

Death

On 13 June 1944, Peters was a navigator on board the No. 53 Squadron's B-24 Liberator BZ818/C which had been sent to the Bay of Biscay to perform an anti-submarine patrol.[16] The plane was shot down by German submarine U-270, with all crew members killed.[16][17][18]

His body was never recovered. He is commemorated at the Air Forces Memorial, at Runnymede.[19]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. ISBN 9781920910785.
  2. Private Eric Peters, The Australian Boer War Memorial, Anzac Parade Canberra.
  3. Deaths: Peters, The Age, (Thursday, 12 October 1950), p.2.
  4. Nominal Roll.
  5. Tooradin: Wedding Bells, The Dandenong Journal, (Wednesday, 27 September 1939), p.9.
  6. "Geelong v North Melbourne - Sat, 3-May-1930". AFL Tables. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  7. "Bert Peters - Games Played". AFL Tables. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  8. "Richmond v North Melbourne - Sat, 9-May-1931". AFL Tables. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  9. "AFL Tables - Game Records - Progression of Highest Score". AFL Tables. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  10. "Football". Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1939 - 1949). Frankston, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 12 April 1940. p. 6. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  11. "Sorrento's Great Effort". Frankston and Somerville Standard (Vic. : 1921 - 1939). Vic.: National Library of Australia. 9 September 1938. p. 6. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  12. "Somerville's Effortless Premiership". Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1939 - 1949). Frankston, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 6 September 1940. p. 6. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  13. "Peninsula Football Progress". Frankston and Somerville Standard (Vic. : 1921 - 1939). Vic.: National Library of Australia. 3 June 1938. p. 6. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  14. Service Record.
  15. "Advertising". Standard (Frankston, Vic. : 1939 - 1949). Frankston, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 14 June 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  16. "P09119.002". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  17. "Roll of Honour - Albert Otto Peters". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  18. Tooradin Airman Missing, The Dandenong Journal, (Wednesday, 19 July 1944), p.1.
  19. Flying Officer Albert Otto Peters (408874), Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

References
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