>"In Leeds, I was living the dream. We were spoilt rotten as young lads. We didn't need to spend a penny, we got free meals, free accommodation and free clothes from the likes of Nike and it was absolutely brilliant.
"I'm still in touch with the club and I brought my wife there recently to see it all and she was blown away by it."
It was while he was in hospital that Peter had a visit from a member of the Knights Disabled Basketball Team.
It was a chance conversation which was to have a profound effect on helping him to come to terms with his paralysis and which unexpectedly led to his new career as an actor.
Giving his body a year to heal, he then joined the Belfast club which he is still a member of today.
"It blew me away. I loved it," he says. "Football was my first love and now basketball is my second. It was also a chance to get out again and meet people who have been through what I have been through and it was great to be part of a team sport again."
In 2009, Channel 4 contacted the Knights' club secretary to see if they had anyone suitable to appear in a new mock documentary called Cast Offs - based on six disabled characters washed up on an island.
The description of the character matched Peter to a tee and everyone in the club agreed he should go for the audition.
He got the part, was quickly signed up by a London agent and then went on to appear in Doctors and Hollyoaks.
"What happened to me could happen to anyone.
"I was living the dream and it ended. Now I feel fortunate because I am 100% independent, but as I found out making the documentary, it is not like that for everyone.
"What happened to me tore me apart at the time but my friends and family didn't change toward me. Yes, they knew I was in a wheelchair but I was still Peter. My disability doesn't define me, my personality is bigger than my disability.”
Having a ‘BLAST’
It is small wonder Peter Mitchell has a treasure trove of Milk Cup memories!
The Limavady actor competed at the tournament four times and had a “Blast” representing the event in a California competition back in 1999.
Twice with Leeds United he made the semi-finals of the Premier tournament, playing alongside Chris Kamara in defence.
His journey though started back in the days when local Northern Ireland district teams competed, before the County structure was introduced.
“I was selected for the Derry and District Youth League squad in 1998 and we felt like little superstars heading off to Portrush to stay in a local bed and breakfast,” says the former St. Mary’s High School pupil.
“We had a great time and I still dream about the Milk Cup. It was one of the best things I ever did!”
In that D&D squad with him were future Northern Ireland international striker Rory Patterson, along with midfielders Michael Hegarty and Neil McCafferty.
In 1999 County Londonderry called on full-back Peter’s services in a line up which featured Sammy Morrow, Ryan McIlmoyle and Mark McCrystal.
By the time the new century dawned, Peter was at Elland Road and Leeds United got all the way to the Premier semis before losing out on penalties to eventual winners Manchester City. The following year it was a similar story only this time they were undone in a shoot- out by a splendid Paraguay national team who went on to dismantle Manchester United 6-0 in the final.
“I played left-back and I remember Leeds signing a player called Chris Kamara who was the England first choice for his age in that position. I thought that it wasn’t good for my chances of making a breakthrough but fortunately they switched him to right back and that was a relief!”
Peter still keeps in touch with Chris and several of his ex-Leeds team mates. Some of them attended his wedding to Brenda in 2013.
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The Milk Cup will always hold a special place in his heart: “It was out of this world for me. I have to confess I dream about it all the time and still have to pinch myself thinking about how lucky I was playing in it so often.
“I remember we went to California in 1999 to play in the Blast tournament. I was one of three boys from the County Londonderry squad to be selected and it was fantastic.
“Sammy Clingan and Michael McGovern were on that trip and we played the favourites, an American team called Arsenal, in the final. They were massive favourites but we drew 1-1 and the game went to the long penalty decider!
“That was a first for us because I had to take the first penalty and instead of the ball being placed on the penalty spot, a cone was dropped 40 yards from goal and I had to dribble into the penalty area and take a shot! That was some pressure!”
But there is one dark story in Peter’s Milk Cup odyssey.
“I was due to play for Northern Ireland in 2002. That would have been my fifth year at the Milk Cup. I was selected for the Under-19 squad for the European Championships but broke my ankle at Leeds.
“Then I was due to go on a training camp ahead of the Milk Cup but I decided to go on a holiday with some of the lads and when I came home I was involved in the car accident that ended my playing career.
“If I had gone to the Northern Ireland training camp for the Milk Cup I wouldn’t have been back in Leeds and wouldn’t have been in the accident.” l
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