Pete Altham: Fylde’s deaf rugby player

Meet Pete Altham, a deaf PE teacher who is not letting his condition stop him from playing the sport he loves at Fylde Rugby Club. 

Diagnosed with deafness aged 18-months-old, Altham wears hearing aids to help but his condition has never stopped him from playing the game he loves – rugby union. 

You may be wondering then just how does he manage to do it? 

“I just play what’s in front of me,” Altham said. 

“It’s all about the visual aspects of the game and that’s why I always say to the players to look at what is in front of you and play with your eyes open.” 

Altham, who is a PE teacher at Myerscough College, has never seen it as a negative though. Instead he believes it is more of an advantage. 

His prop position means he is involved in scrums – a way of restarting play that involves players packing closely together with their heads down and attempting to gain possession of the ball all on the instructions of the referee – something Pete cannot hear. 

The 33-year-old said: “I get the people behind me in the scrum to hold my shorts and then slap my leg when it’s time to go.  

“Ten years ago I struggled because the rules were different but I benefit more with the news rules and still carry out the roles that a prop forward needs to do.”

Born in Skipton, his dad John was a farmer and moved the family to France when Altham was only one for work.   

It was there they realised an issue with his hearing.  

“We were in the countryside so I was pretty much free to roam anywhere and that’s just what I did,” Altham said. 

“My dad would be calling me, trying to shout me to come back but he never got a response so he said to mum something wasn’t right. 

“We came back to England for tests and it was there we found out I had been profoundly deaf since birth.” 

Altham and his family returned to Yorkshire which is where at an early age he first picked up a rugby ball. 

Surrounded by the sport through his dad’s links as a player with Skipton, Altham began his career aged four with nearby club Northallerton – as he took his first step in not letting deafness define him.

Altham had already made his mind up about which code he was going to play as well. 

“It’s always been union for me,” Pete said with a wide smile when asked if he ever considered playing rugby league. 

“My first memory of rugby was when I went to watch Newcastle Falcons in the 1990’s and New Zealand loose forward Pat Lam was running riot all over the pitch. 

“I was only 14 when Johnny Wilkinson slotted that drop goal over to win England the Rugby World Cup and I thought I want do something like that.” 

After moving through the junior ranks, Altham started his senior career at Wharfedale – North Yorkshire – where his two brothers George and Joe currently play. 

Mum, Amanda, was not particularly keen on the trio playing at first, however, those worries were soon erased. 

Eldest Pete, alongside youngest brother George – who is also deaf – have both gone on to represent their country on the international stage having ran out for the England deaf side. 

Soon Altham swapped the white rose of Yorkshire for a Lancashire red rose to play for Fylde where he joined on an initial loan before making the move permanent. 

It was here where he met his wife Saoirse, who he now has two children with, and rubbed shoulders with a member of the 2003 World Cup winning squad. 

Winger Jason Robinson, who scored a try in the 20-17 World Cup triumph over Australia, played alongside Pete at Fylde when he joined for a season in 2010 as a 36-year-old. 

Robinson, who also played for Sale Sharks in union and Wigan Warriors in rugby league, helped Fylde gain promotion back to the National League One before he retired from the sport at the end of the campaign following knee surgery. 

 “It was just unbelievable,” Altham said when he found out Robinson had joined. 

“I was 21-year-old at the time and this guy played at the highest level in both codes of rugby and won almost everything there was to win – then he went to sharing a changing room with me. 

He just treated you like a normal person and was really down to earth, and he’s from Yorkshire which made it even better,” Altham said with a grin.

 Despite not playing with his hearing aids in, Altham has represented the England deaf team and both Lancashire and Yorkshire at county level. 

He’s played at the home of English rugby union Twickenham, and returned to Fylde at the start of the season after spending time at neighbours Preston Grasshoppers where he helped the club gain promotion back to the National League Division Two North. 

Fylde captain Ben Gregory, who plays alongside Altham in the front row, says he still can’t get his head around how his teammate does it. 

He said: “It amazes me. 

“Luckily for us Pete is really good at lip reading, so during the game you are able to pull him to one side and give him the message you want and he takes it on well and reacts. 

“If you are trying to communicate with him as the ball is live it’s just a case of getting his attention, which isn’t difficult as he is great at being aware of who’s around him and always looking for messages.” 

Unfortunately Altham’s season is finished after undergoing an operation on his left pectoral, however, he still has his teacher duties to fulfil while he waits to return to playing. 

Written by Elliot Burrow

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