Peter James McParland (25 April 1934 – 4 May 2025) was a Northern Irish

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 ...

who played as an

outside left 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 was the last surviving member of the

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

team which won the 1957 FA Cup, in which game he scored twice. McParland won 34 caps for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, scoring 10 international goals including the winner that sent the team into the World Cup quarter-finals in 1958. He is Northern Ireland's leading scorer at a World Cup tournament. His international captain and English Hall of Fame member

Danny Blanchflower Robert Dennis Blanchflower (10 February 1926 – 9 December 1993) was a Northern Ireland footballer, football manager and journalist who played for and captained Tottenham Hotspur, including during their double-winning season of 1960–61. H ...

considered McParland "the finest ever inside forward in British football".Steven Beacom
'The Newry-born striker who stole the limelight from Brazil legend Pele at World Cup finals in Sweden'
''Belfast Telegraph'', 5 May 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025

Club career

Dundalk

McParland was born in

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. He was spotted playing for

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

in the League of Ireland by

manager

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

Aston Villa

A fine header and striker of the ball, McParland holds a unique place in English football history as the first player to score in and win both English major domestic knockout finals. During his time with Aston Villa, McParland was influenced by

Jimmy Hogan James Hogan (16 October 1882 – 30 January 1974) was an English football player and coach. He enjoyed some success as a footballer, reaching an FA Cup semi-final with Fulham in 1907–08, but his primary legacy is as a pioneer of the game ...

. He later won the FA Cup in 1957, scoring twice in the final against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

but also becoming involved in an incident in which he shoulder-charged (at the time a legitimate form of challenge) the Manchester United goalkeeper, Ray Wood, after only six minutes which left Wood unconscious and with a broken cheekbone. McParland scored both goals in his team's 2–1 victory. McParland also won the Second Division title in 1960 and the League Cup in 1961 with Aston Villa. He was on the scoresheet for the second leg of the 1961 League Cup Final, when the home team overturned a 2–0 deficit against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

to win the second leg 3–0 at

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

and became the winners of the first

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. McParland became the last surviving player from the 1957 FA Cup Final after the death of

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...

in October 2023.

Wolverhampton Wanderers and Plymouth Argyle

Following

, McParland joined local rivals

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 ...

for a brief spell in 1962. Although he was only there for one season, he did manage to score 10 goals in 21 games. The following season McParland moved on to Plymouth Argyle, his final English league club (although he later turned out for Worcester City in the Southern League), before hanging up his boots. In 1965, McParland was recruited to play for Toronto Inter-Roma FC of the Eastern Canadian Professional Soccer League. He scored many memorable goals, especially one against the Hamilton Steelers to give his side the victory. McParland played for the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1967), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League ...

of 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 ...

in 1967 and 1968. He ended his career as player-manager of

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

International career

McParland scored twice in his debut against Wales in 1953–54 season and played very well for Northern Ireland in the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

in which he scored five goals and helped his team to the quarter-final against France. In April 2015, the feature-length documentary Spirit of '58 was screened as part of the Belfast Film Festival. It featured Peter McParland prominently alongside the other surviving players at the time (

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, for whom he played between 1948 and 1950. Making a move to England, ...

, Billy Simpson,

Jimmy McIlroy James McIlroy (25 October 1931 – 20 August 2018) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, who played for Glentoran, Burnley, Stoke City and Oldham Athletic. He was regarded as one of Burnley's greatest players, having played 497 mat ...

and Harry Gregg) as it told the story of Northern Ireland's journey throughout the 1950s under the managership of Peter Doherty, culminating in the 1958 World Cup. Following the death of Billy Bingham in June 2022, McParland was the last surviving member of the Northern Ireland team that played during the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

McParland died on 4 May 2025, at the age of 91.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each McParland goal.''

Honours

Aston Villa *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 1956–57 *

: 1960–61

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McParland, Peter 1934 births 2025 deaths Aston Villa F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players League of Ireland players 1958 FIFA World Cup players Members of the Order of the British Empire Northern Ireland men's international footballers Expatriate men's association footballers from Northern Ireland National Professional Soccer League (1967) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Atlanta Chiefs players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Association footballers from Newry Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Toronto Roma players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Glentoran F.C. managers AEL Limassol managers Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League players English Football League players English Football League representative players Expatriate association football managers from Northern Ireland Expatriate football managers in Hong Kong Hong Kong national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Cyprus Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Canada Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in the United States Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Hong Kong Glentoran F.C. players NIFL Premiership players NIFL Premiership managers Men's association football player-managers