Celebrating the football legacy and life of Peter Stone — the Newcastle junior who became a National Soccer League captain, wore the green and gold 15 times, and pulled on the lilywhite of Tottenham Hotspur.
A gifted, two-footed midfielder who could read the whole field, Peter Stone rose from the junior ranks of Kotara South and Adamstown Rosebud to captain St George in the National Soccer League and represent Australia across Asia, Europe and the Pacific.
Peter played his junior football in Newcastle with Kotara South and Adamstown Rosebud, making his first-grade debut for Rosebud at just 15. At 18 he moved to Sydney and joined Western Suburbs, playing in the NSW State League from 1973 and in the inaugural National Soccer League season in 1977.
He joined APIA Leichhardt for the 1979 NSL season, then moved to St George in 1980, where he went on to captain the club.
Peter first wore the green and gold in 1976 under national coach Jimmy Shoulder, in a ‘B’ international against the Italian club Bologna. His full international debut came against Hong Kong, and he went on to represent Australia 15 times before retiring in 1983.
He was part of the Socceroos’ 1977 campaign to qualify for the 1978 FIFA World Cup, facing Kuwait, South Korea, Hong Kong and Iran.
Encouraged by his Western Suburbs coach Mike Lang, Peter tried out for Tottenham Hotspur — and made the cut, heading to London to play for Spurs in 1980 during the Australian off-season.
In 1977 the Socceroos chased a place at the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina through a gruelling final qualifying round against Kuwait, South Korea, Hong Kong and Iran, home and away. Peter was part of that campaign, taking on some of the strongest sides in Asia in front of big, hostile crowds.
His international career took him to Taiwan, Fiji, Kuwait, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Iran, Italy and Greece in 1976, 1977 and 1978 alone.
See the full career
Peter’s consistency and craft in midfield made him Player of the Year in both 1978 and 1979. His 1978 Australian Player of the Year award was presented by Socceroos coach Rudi Gutendorf, and the Australian Soccer Press Association (NSW Division) honoured him again at its Player of the Year Dinner at the Journalists’ Club in Sydney on 29 October 1979.
Two years later he was runner-up for the Rothmans Medal — further recognition from his peers of one of the most reliable midfielders in the country.
If he continues to progress and develop as he has in the last two months, Stone is a must for Australia’s next World Cup bid.
Les Scheinflug, Western Suburbs coach — in Johnny Warren’s column “Peter Stone: Soccer’s Star in the Making”When the 19-year-old impressed the St George players in a match against Wests, Socceroos great Johnny Warren wrote that Peter had “two good feet” and was “competitive, combative and intelligent” — in the same tradition as fellow Adamstown products Ray Baartz and Col Curran.
Les Scheinflug, Wests coach and assistant national coach, had watched him for four years and convinced him to make the move to Sydney.
Read Peter’s storyPeter’s appearance on the television program Captain Socceroo in 1982 — a rare piece of footage from the height of his career.
Few Australian players of his generation made it to one of England’s great clubs. Peter’s Western Suburbs coach Mike Lang was English, and encouraged him to try out for Tottenham Hotspur. In 1980 Peter made the cut and went over to play for Spurs during the Australian off-season.
The Tottenham chapter
Peter never stopped giving. His name lives on at the club where it all began.
Inducted into the Hunter Region Sporting Hall of Fame for football — one of the region’s highest sporting honours.
An annual award in Peter’s name that he was proud to present in person to the club’s young players.
On what would have been his 70th birthday, Adamstown Rosebud unveiled Peter Stone Field and a mural of Peter in his Socceroos kit at Adamstown Oval.
With the family moving from Brisbane to Newcastle in the early 1960s, Peter’s love for soccer began in Newcastle at the age of nine. He played his junior football for Kotara South and Adamstown Rosebud before playing senior football, first for Adamstown Rosebud and then for a number of Sydney-based clubs as a midfielder.
Off the field he was a primary school teacher, a marketing graduate and later a senior executive — and always, in the words of those who knew him, a gentleman on and off the park.
My Story
