Alexander Hershaw Parker (2 August 1935 – 7 January 2010) was a Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and manager. Parker played for
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, amongst others. Parker was named in Falkirk's ''Team of the Millennium'' and Everton's Hall of Fame.
Playing career
Falkirk
Parker, a fullback, began his career with Kello Rovers, turning semi-professional when he joined
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
in 1952. The highlight of Parker's time with the ''Bairns'' was their
1957
1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
in a replayed final.
Everton
Parker moved to
Merseyside
Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...
in June"Alex Parker: Scottish international full-back revered at Falkirk and Everton" ''The Independent'' 23 January 2010 /ref> 1958 when Everton paid £18,000 in a double signing of Parker and Eddie O'Hara both from Falkirk."Bairns mourn passing of another 1957 Falkirk cup hero" ''The Falkirk Herald'' 16 October 2016 /ref> Parker's ''Toffees'' debut was delayed by his requirement to fulfil National Service in
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
. He eventually became a stalwart in the side which won the 1962–63league championship, finishing six points ahead of runners-up
Tottenham
Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...
.
After this triumph, however, hamstring injuries started to trouble Parker, and he left
Goodison Park
Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...
in 1965.
Southport
He joined
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
for £2,000. He stayed 3 years with the ''Sandgrounders''.
Ballymena United
Parker next moved to Northern Ireland to become player-manager of
Ballymena United
Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...
.
Drumcondra
He signed for
Drumcondra F.C.
Drumcondra Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin.
Once one of the most successful clubs in Ireland in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, with a strong rivalry with Shamrock Rovers since the 1920s, they fell ...
in December 1969 and made his
League of Ireland
The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...
debut at
Tolka Park
Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium fo ...
on 4 January 1970 in a 3–1 defeat to Dundalk. He left for after only three months to return to the UK.
International
Parker gained his first
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
for
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
against
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
in 1955 while playing for Falkirk. He was selected in the squad for the
1958 FIFA World Cup
The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country.
Brazil be ...
, making one appearance against
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. This also transpired to be his final national team cap, which some regarded as "perverse"; former teammate Alex Young stated that Parker was still the best player in his position in Britain.Passing of Parker marks loss of Falkirk's finest from golden era ''
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'', 9 January 2010. Parker also represented the
Scottish League XI
The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...
.
Southport manager
Parker returned to Souhtport where he was given a coaching role. Two months later he was promoted to manager but this appointment lasted only a single season.
After football
After his retirement from the footballing world, Parker became a
publican
In antiquity, publicans (Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'' (singular); Latin ''publicanus'' (singular); ''publicani'' (plural)) were public contractors, in whose official capacity they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the ...
in
Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...
. He then lived in Gretna, Dumfriesshire.
Parker died of a heart attack on 7 January 2010.
FA Charity Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...
:
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...
; Southport
*
Fourth Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
British Home Championship
The British Home Championship
* sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp
* gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta
* cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...
Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year
The Rex Kingsley Footballer of the Year was an award given annually to the Scottish footballer who was adjudged to have been the best of that year (calendar year and not season) in Scottish football between 1951–1964. The award was handed out by ...
: 1957
*
Falkirk FC
Falkirk Football Club is a Scottish professional association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1876 and competes in Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football, as a member of the Scottish Profe ...
Hall of Fame
*
Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame
Gwladys Street's Hall of Fame celebrates the men who have contributed to the history of English association football, football club Everton F.C., Everton. Everton's ground, Goodison Park, is on Gwladys Street in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpoo ...
*
Falkirk FC
Falkirk Football Club is a Scottish professional association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1876 and competes in Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football, as a member of the Scottish Profe ...