By Will Foster

A Western League match between Leyton and Luton on Monday 9th November 1908 does not, at first, seem particularly noteworthy. However, five minutes before half-time a handball by Leyton’s Ephraim Longworth, who would eventually play 300 times for Liverpool, saw Town awarded a penalty.

The taker was an unlikely source. ‘Platt came out of his goal to score,’ reads the match report. It put Luton two goals ahead and, to this day, remains the only instance of a named goalkeeper scoring for Luton in a competitive game.

Platt was born in Rishton, Lancashire in 1883 and it was with nearby Blackburn that he began his professional career, appearing once in a 1st Division game against West Bromwich before moving on to Liverpool, where he’d replace a former Town goalkeeper, Bill Perkins.

He was a success on Merseyside, becoming first choice for two seasons before heading to Luton in the summer of 1905 after losing his place in the Liverpool side to ex-Sunderland ‘keeper Ned Doig.

It would prove to be quite the coup for Town as Platt quickly established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the Southern League. Good in the air with great positioning and a good organiser, Platt would appear 184 times over the next four seasons and was often noted as a rare bright spot in an otherwise poor Luton side.

An imposing figure for the time, standing at 6’1 and weighing nearly 14 stone, his physicality and temper could sometimes land him in trouble. A lover of animals, he was a pigeon fancier and a breeder of toy Pomeranians, in March 1909 he was charged with assault after an argument over the purchase of, of all things, a ferret, led to a fight on Upper George Street. With some amount of mirth, the Luton recorder labelled him the ‘Pugilistic Goalkeeper’ and decried the incident as ‘Ferrets and Fisticuffs.’

Not long after, and wanting to settle down, Platt moved to Nuneaton and married a widow who was landlady of The White Swan Inn in Nuneaton’s town centre. He would run the pub for many years and was a popular owner, being noted as always jovial and ever ready to consider the welfare of his customers, as well as to entertain them with a song. Fond of flowers, he was rarely seen without one in his coat.

Sadly though Platt spent much of his thirties in poor health, and a mini influenza outbreak in Nuneaton caused him to contract pneumonia and pass away in 1922. He was just 39 years old.

Luton Appearances

1905/1906: 52
1906/1907: 53
1907/1908: 40
1908/1909: 39
Total: 184

Career: Great Harwood (1899), Oswaldtwistle Rovers (1900), Blackburn Rovers (1900), Liverpool (1902), Luton Town (1905), Nuneaton Town (1910)

Below: Peter Platt