Background
Parker grew up in Chorley, Lancashire and played football with the boys at school.
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Sheila Parker
Edit ProfileCareer
Parker was announced as an inductee to the English Football Hall of Fame in May 2013. In June 1961, 13-year-old Parker played her first match for Dick, Kerr"s Ladies. When the Women"s Football Association (Word Federation of Advertisers) tasked Eric Worthington with constructing the first official England national team in 1972, he selected Parker as his captain after a series of trials.
Parker, a centre half, retained the captaincy until 1976, when she was left out of the squad for a Home Nations tournament against Wales and Scotland.
She returned to the team in November 1977, scoring the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over Italy at Plough Lane. Team mate Sylvia Gore recalled:
England manager Martin Reagan selected veteran Parker in his squad for the 1984 European Competition for Women"s Football final against Sweden.
After her retirement as a player in 1984, Parker wanted to remain involved in football and trained as a referee under the Lancashire County Football Association.
Achievements
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In November 1972 she captained the England women"s national football team in their first official match, a 3–2 win over Scotland in Greenock. In 1974 Parker helped Fodens, originally a works team from the Edwin Foden, Sons & Company lorry manufacturing plant in Sandbach, shock Southampton in the final of the Women"s FA Cup.
