McParland’s passion for football was a conflicted one. As a pupil at the Christian Brothers St Joseph’s school in Newry, County Down, which is in Northern Ireland close to the border with the Republic, McParland played Gaelic football, which remains a potent symbol of Irish identity.
The school would not countenance any association with what it called soccer. And this was why McParland, who was captain of the school’s Gaelic football team, found himself barred on one occasion from the Ulster schools final. ‘You were playing soccer yesterday,’ a Christian Brother told him, ‘so you’re not playing in the Gaelic final on Saturday.’
McParland liked the Gaelic form of football – ‘It’s a catch-and-kick game, which I enjoyed,’ he says. ‘It’s rough and tumble’ – but he preferred soccer. This was the game he played with his mates as soon as he left the school premises. When a summer league started these friends formed a team called Shamrock United.
It was playing for Shamrock that McParland, aged 16, was spotted and in 1950 joined Dundalk, who competed in the League of Ireland in the Republic. He soon established himself as a goal-scorer.
In 1952, a trip with his summer league side to Birmingham included a visit to Villa Park. The highlight for McParland was a summons to play in a practice match with Villa’s first-team players. These players then advised George Martin, Villa’s manager, to ‘sign the wee number ten who gave us so much trouble’.
McParland’s transfer to Villa had marked similarities with Neill’s move a few years later. As with Neill, McParland’s amateur status was rescinded immediately before the signing so that money could change hands. ‘At two minutes to three I signed professional for Dundalk and at two minutes past three I signed for the Villa,’ McParland says.
Protracted negotiations over the transfer fee involved the owner of Dundalk and the chairman of Aston Villa, Noel Mansell, with McParland’s father also having a say. ‘I know that Dundalk were looking for Ł5,000 for me,’ McParland says. ‘In the end it was agreed that the fee would be Ł3,800 and I would get Ł1,400 out of it.
‘It was normal thing then with fellas who were transferred from Ireland to England to get a cut.’
According to McParland, his father ‘then got a bit greedy’. After settling things with Dundalk, he went to George Martin and said: ‘Now, what’s the signing-on fee?’ And Martin said: ‘There’s nothing other than the ten-pound signing-on fee when you sign for Villa.’
‘So that was me signed for life – for a tenner,’ McParland says. ‘As things stood, Villa could decide what to do with me from then on.’
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