William Parry (20 October 1914 – 22 December 1964) 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 ...

who played as a left half-back. He played in the Football League for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, and spent many years in non-league football either side of the Second World War.

Life and career

Parry was born in

Denaby Main Denaby Main is a village situated between Mexborough and Conisbrough in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. The village falls within the Doncaster MBC ward of Conisbrough and Denaby. It was built by the Denaby Ma ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, in 1914. He was on the books of

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

club

Mexborough Athletic Mexborough Athletic F.C. was an English association football club based in Mexborough, Doncaster, South Yorkshire. History The club was formed as Mexborough Town in 1903, and was the second team to take the Mexborough name, the first having be ...

in the 1933–34 season, and in the next, he was a member of the team that lost only once at home from November 1934 to the end of the campaign. He was retained for 1935–36, but Mexborough finished bottom of the Midland League and withdrew from it. Parry became one of several former Mexborough players to sign for nearby Denaby United. He enjoyed what the '' South Yorkshire Times'' described as an "outstanding" season, and then moved on to another Midland League club, Frickley Colliery, who could reportedly outbid even Third Division teams because they could offer paid work at the colliery in addition to football wages. His stay was short: on 28 October 1937, Parry signed for First Division club

. He made his debut in a 1–1 draw with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

on 26 December 1938, and made five more league appearances and two 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 ...

in what remained of that season. Transfer-listed because Leeds had "so many excellent half-backs", Parry was a target for Third Division

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, but in June 1939, he left the Football League and signed for Southern League club

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...

. His career was soon interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

: he remained with Chelmsford until the end of the season, playing regularly as they won the Eastern Section of the 1939–40 Southern League and drew the play-off with Lovell's Athletic, winners of the Western Section. Parry married Hilda Boosey in May 1940. After his club closed down for the duration, he kept up his football by guesting for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

, making 32 appearances for each club. He also played for the team of Christy and Norris, manufacturers of

pulveriser A pulverizer or grinder is a mechanical device for the grinding of many different types of materials. For example, a pulverizer mill is used to pulverize coal for combustion in the steam-generating furnaces of coal power plants. Types of coal p ...

s and similar machinery, for which he was employed in war work. By then playing as a full back, Parry captained the team and missed only one match as Chelmsford won the League–

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

" in the first post-war edition of the Southern League. He took his first-team appearance totals to 101, and was retained for the 1948–49 season, during which he was awarded a benefit. After attending a Football Association coaching course, he began coaching Chelmsford's reserve side. In 1949, he joined Halstead Town as player-coach, making 75 appearances over the course of two seasons. He returned to Chelmsford City as reserve team trainer in 1951, and took over the same role with the first team. It was while working as trainer that he made a solitary appearance in a 7–1 loss away to Merthyr Tydfil on 31 January 1953, making up the numbers when player Fred Newby missed the train to Wales for the game. He retired due to ill-health in 1962, and died in 1964 in hospital in Chelmsford at the age of 50.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Bill 1914 births 1964 deaths People from Conisbrough English footballers Association football wing halves Mexborough Athletic F.C. players Denaby United F.C. players Frickley Athletic F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Halstead Town F.C. players Midland Football League players English Football League players Southern Football League players Southend United F.C. wartime guest players Clapton Orient F.C. wartime guest players Association football coaches Chelmsford City F.C. non-playing staff