Peter Ward 1989, 1991

Peter Ward was born July 27th, 1955 in Derby, England. He was an apprentice engine fitter at the Rolls-Royce plant in Derby, England. While there he played for non-league side Burton Albion. He was transferred to Brighton & Hove Albion in 1975 for a fee of £4000. The move also saw Burton manager Ken Guttridge move to the Albion as Assistant Manager. Initially Peter played in the Reserves.

His first game with the first team came on March 27, 1976 against Hereford United. He scored in the first minute in a game that ended 1-1.
In the 1976-77 season, he scored 36 goals, beating the club record and winning him the golden boot.
The following season Brighton were promoted to the old Division 1. Ward put in a transfer request; however, differences were resolved and he still wore the Brighton shirt for the first game in the top flight which saw Brighton lose 4-0 to Arsenal.
In November of that year Brighton accepted a £400,000 offer from Nottingham Forest, but Forest manager Brian Clough changed his mind and withdrew it.

Wardy finally did move to Nottingham Forest in October 1980. He made 28 league appearances for Nottingham Forest and scored 7 goals, but things didn't really work out. Ward was sent on loan to American side Seattle Sounders where he scored 18 goals in the 1981-82 season putting him 3rd in the list of top NASL goalscorers that season. He returned to Brighton on loan in October 1982. The loan lasted 4 months, during which time he scored 3 goals, including the only goal in a 1-0 defeat of Manchester United. Nottingham Forest refused to extend the loan deal further.

In 1983, Wardy again returned to the Sounders where he appeared in 30 games and scoring 13 goals. The following year he moved to Canada to play for the Vancouver Whitecaps, playing in 24 games and notching up a total of 16 goals. Then he would turn his hand to indoor soccer with the Cleveland Force, Wichita Wings and the Baltimore Blast in the MISL.

In 1989, Peter joined the Rowdies aged 33, were he appeared in 9 games and scoring 4 goals. He had arrived from the Tacoma Stars of the MISL. He was then troubled with knee problems which needed surgery both in 1989 and 1990. By the time the 1991 season came, Peter was now almost 36 and knew he didn't have much of his career left. But, he did go onto make another 14 appearances and adding another 2 goals to his career tally.

Today, Peter turns out for the Rowdies Reunion matches. In 2002, Peter married his second wife, Jacqueline. He has three daughters Rachael, Rebekah, and Louisa from his first marriage. He is in the process of writing his biography with author Matt Horner. If anyone can help with stories from his footballing days, both in the US or UK, please can you email Matt: matt@seaviewmedia.com - you may even get a mention in his book "No Goal No Glory" which is due for release in 2009. Peter also has an official website: http://www.peterwardsoccer.com/