Peter McParland

Last updated

Peter McParland
Peter McParland Villa Park 16-3-2013.jpeg
McParland in 2013
Personal information
Full name Peter James McParland
Date of birth (1934-04-25) 25 April 1934 (age 90)
Place of birth Newry, Northern Ireland
Position(s) Outside left
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1951–1952 Dundalk 14 (2)
1952–1962 Aston Villa 293 (98)
1962–1963 Wolverhampton Wanderers 21 (10)
1963–1964 Plymouth Argyle 38 (15)
1964–1965 Worcester City (11)
1965 Toronto Inter-Roma
1965 Peterborough United 0 (0)
1965–1967 Worcester City (7)
1967–1968 Atlanta Chiefs 54 (14)
1968–1971 Glentoran 7 (3)
Total427(160)
International career
1954–1962 Northern Ireland 34 (10)
Managerial career
1968–1971 Glentoran
1980 Hong Kong
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Peter James McParland MBE (born 25 April 1934) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as an outside left.

Contents

Club career

Dundalk

McParland was born in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. He was spotted playing for Dundalk in the League of Ireland by Aston Villa manager George Martin. Martin signed McParland for a fee of £3,880. [ citation needed ]

Aston Villa

McParland holds a unique place in English football history as the first player in the game to score in and win both English major domestic knockout Finals. One of the finest headers and strikers of the ball of the past fifty years, he is regarded as one of the greatest players to represent both Aston Villa and Northern Ireland.

During his time with Aston Villa, McParland got influenced by Jimmy Hogan, [1] later won the FA Cup in 1957, scoring twice in the final against Manchester United but also becoming involved in a controversial incident in which he shoulder-charged (at the time a legitimate form of challenge) the Manchester United keeper after only 6 minutes which left United's goalkeeper, Ray Wood, unconscious with a broken cheekbone. McParland's two-goal haul is remembered fondly as an example of his all-round abilities as a player showcasing his diving header and volleying techniques.

He is the last surviving player from the 1957 FA Cup Final after the death of Bobby Charlton in October 2023

McParland also won the Second Division title in 1960 and the League Cup in 1961 while with Aston Villa. He was on the scoresheet for the second leg of the 1961 League Cup final, when Villa overturned a 2–0 deficit against Rotherham United to win the second leg 3–0 at Villa Park and become the winners of the first Football League Cup.

Wolverhampton Wanderers and Plymouth Argyle

Following Aston Villa, McParland joined local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers for a brief spell in 1962. Although he was only there for one season, he did manage to score 10 goals in 21 games. The following season McParland moved on to Plymouth Argyle, his final English league club (although he later turned out for Worcester City in the Southern League), before hanging up his boots. In 1965, McParland was recruited to play for Toronto Inter-Roma FC of the Eastern Canadian Professional Soccer League. [2] He scored many memorable goals, especially one against the Hamilton Steelers to give his side the victory.

McParland played for the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League in 1967 and 1968. [3] He ended his career as player-manager of Glentoran. [4]

International career

McParland represented Northern Ireland 34 times and scored twice in his debut against Wales in 1953–54 season.

McParland also starred for Northern Ireland in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in which he scored five goals and helped his team to the quarter-finals. France defeated Northern Ireland 4–0 in their quarter-final.

McParland holds the record for being the highest-scoring Northern Irish player in World Cup finals history.

In April 2015, the feature-length documentary Spirit of '58 was screened as part of the Belfast Film Festival. It featured Peter McParland prominently alongside the other surviving players at the time (Billy Bingham, Billy Simpson, Jimmy McIlroy and Harry Gregg) as it told the story of Northern Ireland's journey throughout the 1950s under the managership of Peter Doherty, culminating in the 1958 World Cup. Following the death of Billy Bingham in June 2022, McParland is the last surviving member of the Northern Ireland squad from that World Cup campaign. McParland is one of the last surviving members of the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Career statistics

International

Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McParland goal.
List of international goals scored by Peter McParland
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
131 March 1954 Wrexham, WalesFlag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 2–0 1954 British Home Championship
2
311 June 1958 Halmstad, SwedenFlag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 1–3 1958 FIFA World Cup
415 June 1958 Malmö, SwedenFlag of Germany.svg  West Germany 2–21958 FIFA World Cup
5
617 June 1958Malmö, SwedenFlag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia 2–11958 FIFA World Cup
7
822 April 1959 Wrexham, WalesFlag of Wales (1959-present).svg  Wales 4–1 1959 British Home Championship
9
109 November 1960 Glasgow, ScotlandFlag of Scotland.svg  Scotland 2–5 1961 British Home Championship

Honours

Aston Villa

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Whelan</span> Irish footballer (1935–1958)

William Augustine Whelan, known as Billy Whelan or Liam Whelan, was an Irish footballer who played as an inside-forward. He died at the age of 22, as one of eight Manchester United players who were killed in the Munich air disaster.

James McIlroy was a Northern Ireland international footballer, who played for Glentoran, Burnley, Stoke City and Oldham Athletic. He was regarded as one of Burnley's greatest players, having played 497 matches and scoring 131 goals. McIlroy also managed Oldham Athletic and Bolton Wanderers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackie Blanchflower</span> Northern Irish footballer

John Blanchflower was a footballer from Northern Ireland. He graduated from Manchester United's youth system and played for the club on 117 occasions, winning one league title, before his career was cut short due to injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster. He was also capped 12 times at senior level by Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Wood</span> English footballer and manager

Raymond Ernest Wood was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Representing Manchester United, he played in the 1956 and 1957 Football League championship-winning teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Hateley</span> English footballer

Anthony Hateley was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He scored 249 goals from 499 appearances in the Football League, and played First Division football for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool and Coventry City. In the lower divisions, he scored 109 goals from 188 league matches in two spells with Notts County, and also played for Birmingham City and Oldham Athletic. He was the father of England international footballer Mark Hateley and grandfather of footballer Tom Hateley.

Michael Trebilcock is an English retired professional footballer. He played primarily as a winger and is most famous for scoring twice in the 1966 FA Cup Final for Everton, becoming the first black player to score in an FA Cup Final. Trebilcock is described as a "black mixed heritage player" by sociologist Mark Christian, who notes that the label of first black Everton player is often wrongly given to Cliff Marshall, "due to [Trebilcock's] ambiguous black mixed heritage". Players of mixed heritage are now widely regarded as 'Black' e.g. Walter Tull and Trebilcock was acknowledged as Everton's first Black player by authors Bill Hern and David Gleave in their book Football's Black Pioneers - The Stories of the First Black Players to Represent the 92 League Clubs.

Andrew Lorimar Lochhead was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a forward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alf McMichael</span> Northern Irish footballer (1927-2006)

Alfred McMichael was a footballer who played as a left back.

Robert Carmichael Mitchell, nicknamed "Bobby Dazzler", was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside left.

Stanley Lynn was an English professional footballer who played as a right back. He made nearly 450 appearances in the Football League for Accrington Stanley, Aston Villa and Birmingham City. Nicknamed "Stan the Wham", he was renowned for his powerful right-footed shots which came from his "Booming Boots".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Sims</span> English footballer (1931–2018)

David Nigel Sims was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa and Peterborough United in the 1950s and 1960s.

David Wedderburn Gibson is a Scottish former footballer, who played for Livingston United, Hibernian, Leicester City, Aston Villa, Exeter City and the Scotland national team.

Peter Aldis was an English professional footballer who played at full-back and appeared in 294 games for Aston Villa in league and cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Saward</span> Irish footballer and manager (1928–2002)

Patrick Saward was an Irish professional footballer in the English football League and for the Republic of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jackie Sewell</span> English footballer (1927-2016)

John "Jackie" Sewell was an England International footballer. He played as a forward for several teams including Sheffield Wednesday, Notts County and Aston Villa. When he was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday from Notts County, for £34,500, he was the most expensive signing in English football. When Sewell captained the newly independent nation of Zambia in October 1964, he became one of the few footballers who have played for two different countries. He was the last living footballer who played in the Match of the Century on 25 November 1953.

James Robert Dugdale was an English professional footballer best known for his career with Aston Villa, with whom he won a FA Cup winner's medal in 1957, 2nd Division Championship 1960, Inaugural League Cup Winner 1961. His playing position was Centre-Half.

Henry "Harry" Burrows is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Aston Villa, Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick McGrath (footballer)</span> Irish footballer

Michael McGrath is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a left half.

Bill Myerscough was an English professional footballer who played in the Football League for six clubs. He was in the Aston Villa side that won the 1957 FA Cup Final.

Leslie Joseph Smith was an English footballer who represented both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa.

References

  1. ↑ "How total football inventor was lost to Hungary". The Guardian . 22 November 2003. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  2. ↑ "Crosswords". The Province. Vancouver. 26 April 1965. p. 15. Retrieved 22 August 2020– via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "NASL". Nasljerseys.com. 25 April 1934. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Peter McParland". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Vernon, Leslie; Rollin, Jack (1977). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78. London: Brickfield Publications Ltd. p. 490. ISBN   0354 09018 6.
  6. ↑ Vernon, Leslie; Rollin, Jack (1977). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78. London: Brickfield Publications Ltd. p. 505. ISBN   0354 09018 6.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.