Robert Norris Parker (27 March 1891 – 1950) was a Scottish professional

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 lea ...

whose position was

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He played professionally in Scotland with

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

and Morton and in England with Everton and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

during a career interrupted by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in which he was seriously injured. He later served as manager of

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of th ...

in Scotland and

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in Ireland.

Playing career

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Parker started his career with

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

team

Ashfield Ashfield may refer to: People * Ashfield (surname) Places Australia * Ashfield, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Municipality of Ashfield, a former local government area in Sydney ** Electoral district of Ashfield, a former electoral di ...

, followed by three seasons at

, during which he had a scoring record of a goal every game but was always a backup to the equally prolific Willie Reid; Rangers won the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

title in each of those years, but it is unclear if Parker was awarded any medals, having only featured in 2, 3 and 9 of the fixtures respectively. With the situation unchanged at the beginning of a fourth campaign, he moved to England to play for Everton in 1913 for a fee of £1,500. He finished as the top goalscorer for the ''Toffees'' in the 1913–14 and 1914–15 seasons, the latter of which he was the top goalscorer overall in the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

while Everton was crowned

champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

. The

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

then interrupted Parker's career and ultimately robbed him of cementing a place amongst Everton's greats as he returned home from the conflict with a bullet lodged in his back. The injury made him a shadow of his former self, and he was later sold to

Coaching career

In retirement, he worked as manager of Irish club

, where he coached them to the Clean Sweep in 1927–28, winning the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

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, and Leinster Senior Cup.

Personal life

Parker was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

in the

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Ma ...

and Labour Corps during the First World War.

Honours

Everton *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1914–15 Bohemian *

: 1927–28 *

League of Ireland Shield The League of Ireland Shield is a defunct Irish football tournament which was introduced when the League of Ireland started in 1921 and ran uninterrupted until 1972. It was played before the league season began and was seen as the third most imp ...

: 1927–28 * Leinster Senior Cup: 1927–28

References

External links

Bobby Parker's Story

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

, 2008
Player history
Everton FC {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Bobby 1891 births 1950 deaths Date of death missing Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Glasgow Ashfield F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Everton F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players British Army personnel of World War I Royal Scots Fusiliers soldiers Bohemian F.C. managers English Football League players First Division/Premier League top scorers Scottish football managers Scottish Football League players Scotland men's junior international footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players League of Ireland managers Fraserburgh F.C. players Highland Football League players Expatriate association football managers in the Republic of Ireland Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Men's association football forwards Royal Pioneer Corps soldiers Greenock Morton F.C. players Military personnel from Glasgow 20th-century Scottish sportsmen