Jack Pelter

New Zealand

Born in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, Pelter emigrated with his family to New Zealand at the age of eight and entered the New Zealand Football Academy whilst twelve years old. He exhibited a love for football in his school work, writing an essay on his personal hero Roy Keane, whilst also supporting English team Blackburn Rovers. He went on to play in the National Soccer League for Christchurch Technical, Ferrymead Bays and Central United. He was taken back to England at the age of fifteen by New Zealand Knights manager Chris Turner who introduced him to the scouting teams at Bolton Wanderers, Chelsea and Swansea City. After recovering from a serious back injury on his return, Pelter moved to New Zealand Football Championship team Canterbury United in 2005. Due to the semi-professional nature of football in New Zealand, Pelter had to take on other jobs to finance his football regime, with his mother later commenting "After training, he'd go to work in a bar until two in the morning to fund his career, he was running, training and swimming on his own, he used to get up on cold mornings on his own to go running". The winner of Canterbury United's "Defender of the Year" award and runner-up for "Player of the Year" in only his first season with the club, Pelter subsequently attracted the attention of European clubs in 2007 following his international progress. Born in the United Kingdom, he was eligible to play for any EU club without the need for a…

Pelter has represented New Zealand at the Under-17 and Under-20 levels. He made his Under-17 debut, against Tahiti, in 2003. He was part of New Zealand's Under-20 World Cup 2007 squad, of which he was captain. He made his debut against Mexico on 8 July 2007 at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton also scored New Zealand's only goal of the tournament in that match, as they failed to progress beyond the group stages. In 2006, Pelter played for the New Zealand A team in the quadrangular Agribank Cup Tournament in Hanoi, Vietnam. All matches were held at the Mỹ Đình National Stadium, and the team finished third behind hosts Vietnam, Bahrain under 21, and Thailand. New Zealand A were beaten 1–0 by Vietnam in their first game of the tournament on 25 October 2006, they were again beaten 1–0 by Thailand on 27 October. New Zealand A finally gained their first and only win beating Bahrain U21 1–0 on 29 October with Leo Shin scoring the goal.