In celebration of Black History Month, we look at the career of Eddie Parris, who back in the 1930s became the first black player to play for the Cherries.
Parris' Early Life
John Edward Parris, known as Eddie, was born in the village of Pwllmeyric in south Wales in 1911.
His father, who had the same name, was born in Barbados in 1874, moving to England and marrying his wife Annie in the first decade of the 20th century.
During World War I, Eddie senior served in the Royal Engineers in Greece as a pioneer, being awarded with a British War Medal and a Victory Medal after his return in 1921.
Eddie junior was a highly-rated forward, making the grade at Chepstow Town before moving to Second Division Bradford Park Avenue as a teenager and earning his debut with the club in 1929.
International ambitions
At the time, Parris was one of only two black players who were regulars in the Football League, alongside Jack Leslie of Plymouth Argyle.
Leslie had been called up by England in 1925 but never joined up with the squad, the player claiming in later years that he had been dropped because of the colour of his skin. It was another 53 years before a black player, Viv Anderson, would become the first to play for England.
A regular at Bradford, Parris himself did make history as the first black player to play for Wales, and just the second to represent a UK nation, in December 1931 when he turned out for his first and only international cap against Northern Ireland in Belfast.
The occasion didn't go to plan, however, Wales falling to a 4-0 away defeat and Parris commented on by one newspaper as being ‘not up to international standard’.
Building his name and moving to Bournemouth
Talented but considered inconsistent, Parris' abilities included his speed, ball control and dribbling, with First Division side Everton reported to be interested in signing him during the early 1930s.
He top scored for Bradford with 13 goals in 1931/32 as they reached the FA Cup fifth round, and he then netted 15 further goals during the following campaign.
Instead of moving to the higher level, serious injury struck and removed Parris from the first team in West Yorkshire and in 1934 he moved south and was signed by Billy Birrell at Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic.
Parris would go on to play in 104 Third Division South matches for the Cherries, netting 23 times in total, scoring his first goals as he struck a brace in a 4-1 Dean Court win over Aldershot Town in October that year.
A highlight of his time in Cherries colours came the following season when he netted back-to-back hat-tricks in the FA Cup.
Firstly, he found the target three times in the 8-1 replay win over Walthamstow Avenue (Parris had also scored his side's goal in the 1-1 draw that set up the replay), before hitting another treble in the 5-2 second round win over Barrow.
Following his two seasons on the south coast, the forward moved to Luton Town - where he also became the Hatters' first black player - and then Northampton Town, before the outbreak of World War II halted his career while he was still in his late twenties.
World War II and later life
War meant Parris relocated to Gloucester, where he found a job in a local aircraft factory, though he continued to play football with the factory team.
Later, he turned out for Southern League clubs Gloucester City, Bath City and Cheltenham Town, playing his final season as a player-coach with Gloucester in 1947.
Parris would stay close to the city, living in Sedbury, and continued to work in the aircraft industry until he died aged 60 in 1971.
In 2008, a county councillor for Chepstow, where Parris had first made his name, made moves to officially recognise his contribution as a pioneer of Welsh football.
