Five minutes with….Peter Smith

Kells won the National Conference Division One title to win promotion back to the Premier Division.

Peter Smith had moved upstairs ahead of COVID but came back to coach the side again so I caught up with him this week for a quick chat.

Just to start Peter, can you tell us about your own playing career – how you started and when you finished playing?

I first started playing rugby league when I was 15 at Kells but football was always my game having trials at Fulham, Leeds, Preston and Rotherham but no contract came my way.

That’s when I I decided to play rugby league as well.

It meant I played about four games at the weekend – school rugby union on a Saturday morning then football with Haig Social men’s team in the afternoon, Calder Lions men’s football team on a Sunday morning then Kells under-19’s in the afternoon.

I got the chance to turn professional in 1994 with Whitehaven and played there for five years.

I snapped my cruciate ligament playing for Whitehaven against Swinton in May 1998 and then never had the op to fix it so decided to retire then.

You moved into coaching. Was there anyone in particular who got you into it and where did you start?

I more or less got into coaching helping out Kevin Tamati and Joe Stewart at Whitehaven and things progressed from there.

When Paul Cullen came in I was taking Kells as well on a Saturday with the proviso that it wouldn’t affect my commitments with Whitehaven.

You’ve worked under different coaches at Whitehaven. Can you just say about each one and the different qualities they brought?

All of the coaches that I have been under have brought different qualities to the game and I have learned from them all

Tamati was a good coach who played with what he had at Whitehaven player-wise.

Paul Cullen brought a lot of professional stuff to the rec and was a very good man manager while Steve McCormack was a very good technical coach and all the players respected him for his hard work and time he put in.

Dave Rotherham was very good with the video work for the players .

Paul Crarey was, and is a very good coach and played a different kind of rugby but very organised with it as well on the field.

Peter Roe was another coach who coached like he played and tough with it.

Since taking over at Kells you did a great job in leading them right through to the Premier Division before moving upstairs. Was there any particular reason for that?

Yes I took Kells through the divisions and we played a couple of seasons in the Premier Division as well but then I decided to stand down and let someone else come in to move the club on.

You came back this season and led Kells to the Division One title. That must have been very satisfying and what was the secret or recipe for success this time?

It was very satisfying to get promoted as champions after covid had hit the world, but we have some good youngsters coming through.

It meant that for the games when the lads were away on holidays or festivals our teams strength didn’t really change.

It means it will make us stronger as a squad, along with some solid hard work with a different outlook.

What shape are Kells going to be in for the Premier Division return and how are the fixed in general through the youth setups?

Our youth set-up is quite strong so we need all the players and coaches to buy into what we need to do to be successful ,and as I have mentioned before some of our youngsters have given some of our experienced players a kick start.

In general terms what do you think is the state of rugby league in Cumbria – both CARL clubs and Conference League clubs?

Rugby league in Cumbria isn’t as strong as it used to be but with the NCL clubs and especially in the premier league every game is a battle so you have to be on your game.

The return of a Cumbria team last Friday was well received. How do you think a county team can go forward?

The county team has always shown that it is strong up here professionally and years ago they won the county championship a couple of years running but were excluded when the war of the roses was brought in which was a big snub to the Cumbrians.

But the game up here should be pushed on a lot more by RFL because some of my former coaches at Whitehaven know how passionate the people of Cumbria are regarding their rugby league.

The hot chestnut Peter. Is there any way that Haven and Town should get together and is merger now the right option?

Some of the former directors at Whitehaven were dead against the idea as were some of the directors at Town but the game as a whole needs to move on and a Super League club in Cumbria would be brilliant but whether or not the clubs merge is out of my hands.