The SUN
Supergoals, Monday, November 6, 2000

Where are they now?
PETER HUCKER ex QPR, OXFORD, MILLWALL & ALDERSHOT
By ANDY FRASER

PETER HUCKER was not renowned for his generosity during his time between the sticks with QPR.When you are a goalkeeper, showing charity to opposing strikers does not tend to go down well with the host.
But, nowadays, Hucker devotes almost all his time to helping others. During the week he teaches adults with learning difficulties how to read and write at Tower Hamlets College in London.
And on Saturdays you will find him out on his local park in Wanstead, running the soccer school for kids he set up six years ago.
Hucker, 41, said: "When I retired from football I got a job at a school in Putney where there was no sports programme for the special needs kids which seemed a great pity.
"Games lessons for them used to mean extra homework but I got everyone playing wheelchair basketball. We even had them playing rugby in their wheelchairs.
"Then I started working with slow learners at Tower Hamlets. I do one-on-one sessions teaching them to read and write. It's challenging but very rewarding." Hucker's most exciting moment as a keeper came just months after he first broke into the side at Loftus Road. He carried off the Man of the Match award at Wembley as Second Division Rangers lost to Tottenham in the 1982 FA Cup final replay.
Hucker said: "I made my debut at 18 but didn't get in again until I was
22. John Burridge was first-choice keeper but hp had a disagreement with Terry Venables and I came in - 27 games later I was at Wembley.
"We were probably the better team in the replay but Glenn Hoddle sent me the wrong way from the penalty spot and that was it".
Rangers romped to the Division Two title in 1983 and followed it up by finishing sixth in Division One to book a place in Europe.
But Hucker knew his number was up when new boss Jim Smith left him out of the Milk Cup final side in 1986 and signed a keeper by the name of David Seaman.
After spells at Oxford, Millwall and Aldershot, and a brief non-League tour of duty, Hucker called it a day.
He still feels the effects of playing on QPR's notorious plastic pitch which caused a storm in the early 80s.
He said: "It was a huge advantage to the team. We just changed our
game according to the weather. I never got beaten by a dodgy bounce, but my knees bear testament to how flaming hard it was!"
Hucker got the idea of setting up a kids' soccer school after a kickabout with his son James at the local park.
He said: "One day we were messing around with a ball and suddenly there were 14 kids playing with us, I thought 'this has got to be done properly'.
"I found a sports ground and it grew from there. It started with eight boys and four cones but we've got about 300 kids playing now and we're not even scratching the surface".
Hucker has expanded the operation to a second centre in Barking, and it is growing so fast that he has plans to devote himself to it full-time. He recently used his football connections to help organise a charity tournament to raise money for London's first children's hospice.
He said: "I couldn't believe there were no hospices for kids in the capital. It is something you take for granted until you know the other side of the coin. They have raised over £4million now and they need another £1.5m to cover running costs. Who knows, I might even end up working there one day. It's always a bit special when you are helping others to get more from life".