John Peebles was an early Socceroo and captain of the Queensland soccer team on either side of the war. He later became a coach at club and state level, a club administrator, a national selector and president of the Queensland Soccer Football Association.
He enlisted in October 1915 and was followed within months by two brothers. Elder brother James was a teammate at Bulimba Rangers and former Queensland captain who was killed in action in 1917. Younger brother Joseph played for Toowong and Thistles and would hold senior positions in successive state associations.
Untangling the trio’s pre-war soccer careers is hampered by the newspapers commonly using the name “J. Peebles” in squad lists. It can be deduced that John Peebles took over the Queensland captaincy from his brother James in time for the 1914 home series against New South Wales. He led Queensland to a 3-2 win, playing alongside future Socceroo captain Alec Gibb. Peebles missed the drawn second game, with Gibb taking over as captain, a precursor to the pair trading the role during the 1920s. He was not selected for the 1915 Queensland side but by the end of the year was focussed on the war.
Peebles was assigned to the 3rd Sanitary Section, a specialist unit of tradesmen who were sent to military camps to review and build improvements to hygiene infrastructure. The unit’s creation had been necessitated by the high level of illness among the troops. They also acted as emergency stretcher bearers. He left Sydney after training in May 1916, and reached France in November. While Peebles’ scant military record suggests he survived the war without any physical injury or illness of note, a later profile in the Daily Standard on 12 August 1929 suggested he was seriously incapacitated by the time he returned to Australia in 1919. Laurie Peebles, his wife, was a nurse and credited with guiding him through a lengthy recovery. It is unknown whether the incapacitation was mental or physical, but he recovered to resume playing and would have a lengthy career working as an officer for the Brisbane City Council.
Peebles returned to the Queensland side for the 1920 home series against NSW under captain William McBride. He regained the captaincy for the away series in August the same year. Alec Gibb was captain for the 1921 tour of NSW, but an injury meant Peebles led the team in the final game. It was a role he kept for the home and away series between the states in 1922 with Gibb away on national duty in New Zealand.
Peebles was not selected for Queensland in 1923 but instead received international recognition. On 16 June he started for Australia against New Zealand in Sydney, under the captaincy of Gibb. In April 1914, Peebles captained Queensland for the final time against a Navy team but would not be selected for games against Canada and NSW.
Peebles played for Thistle in the 1920s briefly alongside his brother Joseph, and for a time was club president. He later moved to Pineapple Rovers as captain.
In 1925 he was appointed to the Queensland Football Association and became a selector for the Brisbane representative team, a role he held for several years. He returned to Thistle by the end of the decade to take up a role on the committee. In 1936 Peebles beat Gibb in a vote to be the Queensland representative on the Australian selection committee, a position held until the end of the year. He would return to the role in 1940, replacing Gibb. It was a role he still held when South Africa toured in 1947.
On 2 March 1938, The Telegraph reported Peebles had become secretary of the newly formed Queensland Soccer Football Association, having previously been a member of the Queensland Soccer Council and the Brisbane District Football Association. This was a case of mistaken identity with his brother Joseph, who had held these positions. This was confirmed a day later in the same paper, when Peebles said he had no intention of returning to soccer administration having stepped down from his role as selector in 1936. Peebles instead turned to coaching.
In 1938 he became the coach of Shafston United and continued in the role when the club merged with others to form Eastern Suburbs in 1939. The same year he was appointed as Queensland coach against Palestine and again against China in 1941. He also coached an Army select side in 1943 against Ipswich. Peebles was finally elected to the Queensland Soccer Football Association as acting chairman in December 1944, alongside his brother Joseph chosen as secretary-treasurer. He was appointed president of the association in December 1945.
At the same meeting Joseph retired as secretary-treasurer and was made a life member of the association. Peebles tendered his resignation as president of the association in July 1947 citing ill-health but was asked to stay on until the end of the season. He was still in the role when he died in November 1947, aged 58.
A Johnny Peebles Memorial Cup was later inaugurated in 1949, though it is not recorded for which competition this was awarded.