Alan Parkes (12 January 1929 – 14 April 2013) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

and in

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for Murton Colliery Welfare and

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

. He was on the books of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

without representing them in League football.

Life and career

Parkes was born in

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, where he attended the Technical Day School. He began his football career with

, but never progressed past the junior teams, despite the view of the pseudonymous "Argus" in the ''

Sunderland Echo The ''Sunderland Echo'' is a daily newspaper serving the City of Sunderland, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Easington (district), East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey, Edward Backhouse, Edward Tem ...

'' that "from what I have seen of him I would prefer him to at least two of the players I have seen leading both the Reserves and the A team in the past 12 months". He moved on to

North Eastern League The North Eastern League was an association football league for teams in the North East of England. The league was founded in 1906 and was initially successful, with teams defecting from the rival Northern Football Alliance to play. Although som ...

club Murton Colliery Welfare, from where he was transferred to First Division club

in September 1949 for a £1,000 fee, "easily a record in the history of the Murton C.W. club". He scored 49 goals in his first season for Charlton's reserve and A teams, and was allowed to join Southern League club

under a "gentleman's agreement" between the two clubs. He made an impressive debut in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

win against Gravesend & Northfleet: "though he did not score himself his astute handling of the Gravesend defence and his distribution of the ball had much to do with the Tonbridge superiority". A few days later – he was on

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

at the time – he was the only

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

player to be selected for the Army XI to play the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. Parkes never appeared for Charlton in a league match, and returned to the north-east of England where he signed for

. On 26 March 1955, at the age of 26, he made his

debut, in a 3–0 defeat away to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

in the

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

. It was his only league appearance. Parkes died in Stockton, County Durham, in 2013 at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkes, Alan 1929 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Hartlepool English footballers Association football forwards Sunderland A.F.C. players Murton A.F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Tonbridge Angels F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players