Philip Parkes (born 14 July 1947) is an English former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He was

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

' first-choice keeper for much of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Career

Born in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

, Parkes, nicknamed "Lofty" for his booming kicks upfield, joined Wolves in 1962 straight from school and turned professional two years later. After several years in the reserve league, he made his first-team debut on 19 November 1966, saving a penalty in a 3–2 win over

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. For the following nine seasons, Parkes missed few Wolves games and – over the 1971–72 and

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

seasons – appeared in 127 consecutive league matches, breaking

Noel George Frank Noel George (26 December 1897 – 16 October 1929) was an English association football, footballer in the 1910s and 1920s who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Early career and Army Born in Lichfield, he started p ...

's club record. In 1967, Parkes accompanied Wolves as they went to the United States to perform as

Los Angeles Wolves The Los Angeles Wolves were an American professional Association football, soccer team that played for two seasons. In 1967 they played in the United Soccer Association, finishing as champions, and in 1968 North American Soccer League season, ...

in the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional association football, soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League ( ...

, a professional league that imported teams to represent American cities and which, a year later, would merge with a rival league to form the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. Parkes anchored the team as it proceeded to win the USA title, defeating

Washington Whips The Washington Whips were a soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the United Soccer Association (United Soccer Association, USA). The league was made up of teams imported from foreign leagues. The Washington Whips were the Aberde ...

(represented by

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

) in the final. Parkes would return to the United States two years later, in a similar "guest" role, as Wolves represented

Kansas City Spurs The Kansas City Spurs were an American professional soccer team who played in the North American Soccer League, based in Kansas City, Missouri. They played their home games at Kansas City Municipal Stadium, former home of the Kansas City Chief ...

in the NASL's

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

"mini-season." The keeper won a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

runners-up medal in 1972, after saving two penalties in the semi-final tie with

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

to help the club to the final. However, he missed out on a winners medal in the League Cup, when he broke an ankle in the run-up to the 1974 final,"Proud day tinged for Wolves hero"
''ExpressAndStar.com'', 28 February 2009 (Retrieved: 25 July 2009) after having played in all the previous rounds. He traded the goalkeeper's role with

Gary Pierce Gary L. Pierce (born c. 1952) is a former Arizona Corporation Commissioner and a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives. Political career In the House of Representatives, Mr. Pierce served as the Majority Whip (2005–2006). He ...

over the next two seasons, until Pierce made the spot his own as Wolves won the Second Division championship in 1976–77. Nonetheless, Parkes stayed on the books at Molineux until 1978. With opportunities limited at Wolves, the goalkeeper had returned to North America to play in the North American Soccer League, with the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

in the summers. He served the Canadian club in

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, the latter seeing him win the

Soccer Bowl The Soccer Bowl was the annual championship game of the North American Soccer League (NASL), which ran from 1968 to 1984. The two top teams from the playoffs faced off in the final to determine the winner of the NASL Trophy. From the league's ...

. He was also voted the league's top goalkeeper for 1977 and 1979, after keeping teammate

Bruce Grobbelaar Bruce David Grobbelaar (born 6 October 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English club Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team. Regarded as one of ...

out of the side. He moved on to the

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...

for

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

and part of

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, before joining the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

for the remainder of the 1981 season. Parkes left the NASL to help lead the upstart

Oklahoma City Slickers The Oklahoma City Slickers was the name given to two different American association football, soccer clubs based in Oklahoma City. The first team competed in the second American Soccer League (1933–83), American Soccer League in 1982 and 1983. ...

of the American Soccer League to the league finals in the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

season, but he left the Slickers in the middle of the

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

season to return to the NASL with the

Toronto Blizzard Toronto Blizzard may refer to: *Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984), the original soccer club, a franchise of the North American Soccer League *Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993), the later club and franchise of the Canadian Soccer League *Toronto Azzurri B ...

, making just one appearance before retiring from playing. Parkes also participated in the 1980–81 NASL indoor season, playing half of one match for the Chicago Sting.

References

External links

NASL stats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkes, Phil 1947 births Living people American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Chicago Sting (NASL) players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football goalkeepers Los Angeles Wolves players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Oklahoma City Slickers (ASL) players Footballers from West Bromwich San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players English Football League players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players United Soccer Association players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players