{"id":322763,"date":"2025-12-18T12:49:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T12:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/322763\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T12:49:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T12:49:13","slug":"every-word-from-an-emotional-willie-peters-as-hull-kr-coach-accepts-honorary-degree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/322763\/","title":{"rendered":"Every word from an emotional Willie Peters as Hull KR coach accepts honorary degree"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willie Peters said he was ‘honoured’ to receive the award.<\/p>\n

17:13, 17 Dec 2025Updated 17:16, 17 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

\"HullHull University chancellor Alan Johnson (centre) alongside Willie Peters, Neil Hudgell and Paul Sewell.<\/p>\n

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters has been awarded a special honorary degree by the University of Hull<\/a> on the same evening the club premiered its new documentary series.<\/p>\n

The University of Hull hosted a celebration to mark Rovers\u2019 historic achievement as treble winners and to recognise the outstanding leadership of Peters.<\/p>\n

The Australian, who was appointed in 2022, delivered an emotional three-minute speech after receiving the honour, describing the award as a privilege.<\/p>\n

Hull KR’s new seven-part documentary series will hit television screens in February 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m honoured to accept this honorary degree from the University of Hull,” he said. “It was an extremely proud moment for my family and I when I opened the letter to find out I had been nominated for the degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it is seen as an individual award; however, there are so many people who support me in the job that I do. Thank you to my family, the staff, the board, and everyone at Hull KR<\/a> who have supported me.<\/p>\n

“However, it is the players who deserve the most recognition as we are here for them, so they can reach their full potential and put in consistent performances week in, week out – which they do.<\/p>\n

“I was nominated for this degree for the category of leadership. Leadership is a key part of the club\u2019s progression, which has been a key ingredient to what we have achieved this year.<\/p>\n

“Leadership is understanding who you are as a person. The best leaders lead through their actions. Their values are easy to identify through their actions every day. Leadership is about bringing the best out of other people, so that they can be the best version of themselves.<\/p>\n

“Our chairman, Paul Sewell, typifies this with whoever he comes across in every walk of life.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve been very fortunate to work with other great leaders at Hull KR, who have all mentored me along the way – Paul Lakin, Neil Hudgell, James McNicol, and the rest of the board, and many other people who have all helped mentor me along the way.<\/p>\n

“When I first joined the club in September 2022, I instantly felt a connection with the East Hull community. East Hull has a lot of similarities to Maroubra, which is where I come from in Sydney. This is why I felt at home every day.<\/p>\n

“The Hull people are down to earth, genuine people who don\u2019t get things easy. When you\u2019ve had an upbringing of not having things handed to you, you have to work hard for it. That often brings the best out of you.<\/p>\n

“I live by a saying, \u2018Never forget where you come from,\u2019 and I\u2019m certainly proud of where I\u2019ve come from, and equally proud to be the head coach of Hull Kingston Rovers, and to be a part of this great community.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019d like to finish by sharing an ongoing goal we have at Hull KR, and that\u2019s to give our fans a rugby team that they can be proud of week in, week out.<\/p>\n

“Our community inspires us, and we do our very best to inspire them – it works hand in hand.<\/p>\n

“Thank you again to the University of Hull for this great honour, it\u2019s an absolute privilege to receive this award.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Willie Peters said he was ‘honoured’ to receive the award. 17:13, 17 Dec 2025Updated 17:16, 17 Dec 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[20372,5903,101,56,54,55,42222],"class_list":{"0":"post-322763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-hull-kr","9":"tag-rugby","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom","14":"tag-willie-peters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}