John Parke (6 August 1937 – 27 August 2011) was a

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 for Linfield, Hibernian, Sunderland,

Vancouver Royal Canadians The Vancouver Royals were a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1967 as the Vancouver Royal Canadians, they were a charter member of the United Soccer Association (USA), and when the USA a ...

, KV Mechelen and the Northern Ireland national football team as a full back.

Club career

He started his professional footballing career in his native Northern Ireland with

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

before joining their rivals Linfield in 1954. Having been a key player in the club's 'Seven Trophy' season of 1961/62, he moved to Scotland with Hibernian in 1963 where he made 23 appearances, scoring no goals. Parke moved to Sunderland in November 1964 and made his debut on 21 November, against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in a 3–0 defeat at Bramall Lane. He went on to make 85 league appearances for the club. He joined Belgian club KV Mechelen before retiring in 1968.

International career

He won his first cap for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

on 12 November 1963 in a 2–1 win against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. He went on to make a further 13 caps for his country, making it a total of 14 caps, with 0 goals.

Death

Parke died of Alzheimer's disease in 2011, aged 74.Notice of death in ''The Belfast Telegraph''
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parke, John 1937 births Northern Ireland men's international footballers Association footballers from County Down Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers from Northern Ireland NIFL Premiership players Cliftonville F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players K.V. Mechelen players Belgian Pro League players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in the United Kingdom Deaths from dementia in Northern Ireland 2011 deaths Vancouver Royals players United Soccer Association players Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Men's association football defenders Sportspeople from Bangor, County Down