Pilgrim Pete’s promotion party

Plymouth may be on the move, but their man won’t win the Mascot Race

Typical. You finally put family before football, booking a birthday cruise for your other half, and then your team is promoted while you’re away. Still, Lee Davies did make Plymouth’s post-season party – just. “I docked at Southampton, got home and changed,” the man inside Pilgrim Pete tells FFT the following day, “then went straight to Argyle for the parade around Plymouth.”

Davies has been dragging his patient partner around the country for 21 years now, but Pilgrim Pete always likes to keep things interesting. There was the hot-air balloon stunt for Plymouth’s 2018 World Cup stadium bid, as well as numerous Mascot Race calamities (“Pete’s got a big hat, a big moustache and big boots, so never bet on me”), and he once even abseiled down a stand. That was actually a marine, mind, who had borrowed the costume for Armed Forces Day. Davies may be dedicated, but he’s not daft. “They also did unarmed combat,” he explains. “Four people attacked Pilgrim Pete, and he laid them all out. Everybody was asking me, ‘Were you doing that?’ and I’d reply, ‘Of course I was...’” So, as a veteran club mascot, does the 59-year-old have any advice to pass on? “The costumes are heavy and hot,” says Davies. “It sounds serious, but I’d like to see risk assessments done for mascots.” ‘Try not to abseil’ would be a good start.