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James Kenneth "Ken" Parr

23rd August 1928 - 9th January 2000

Lancashire Telegraph

1st August 1996

Fifty years in soccer

Football fanatic Ken Parr has been involved with the game for as long as he cares to remember. At the age of eight he was collecting the corner flags at Bloomfield Road and putting them in the groundsman's hut for the princely wage of one meat pie. Now, after 50 years in soccer, the Football Association has presented Ken with a medal for his service to the game. In 1946, Ken began refereeing in the Blackpool and District League at the age of just 18 and remembers with fondness the teams and players of the time.

Ken, of Kenwyn Avenue, Blackpool, said: "It was the golden age of local football. Teams like Blackpool Rangers and St Annes Athletic dominated the local leagues - they were great years." He became the youngest linesman in the Football League at the age of 27 and began senior refereeing seven seasons later in 1962, taking charge of Manchester United against Liverpool in his first season. However, in 1966 a back complaint forced him to retire early. Just four years later, he was on a new panel which assessed the performance of referees in the Football League. He was a director of Blackpool Football Club for a period in the 1970s and joined the Lancashire Football Association in 1984, where he is now the chairman of discipline.

Ken said: "It was always my ambition to referee the cup final, but unfortunately my injury forced me to retire and I never did. I've enjoyed my time in football and I'll continue at the county FA for as long as I can." President of Lancashire FA, Derek Lewin, presented Ken with the award and said he thoroughly deserved the honour. Mr Lewin added: "Ken is one of the true devotees of the game and has made an enormous contribution over the years. He knows everything there is to know about the rules of football and still makes a very important contribution."


Lancashire Telegraph

14th January 2000

Football icon dies aged 71

Ken Parr, who died on January 9 after a lengthy illness, was one of the Fylde Coast's football icons. As well as his family he will be mourned by countless sportsmen at every level of football. Among those privileged to call him a friend were Sir Stanley Matthews, the late Stan Mortenson, Jock Dodds and Tony Green, all from Ken's link with Blackpool Football Club. And enduring friendships with the likes of the late Secretary of the Football League, Alan Hardaker, former F.A. Chief Executive Graham Kelly, and former England coach Terry Venables testify to Ken Parr's lengthy involvement on football's national scene during a lifetime of service to the game he loved so much.
After ten years as a successful Football League official he was forced to retire prematurely from refereeing in 1964 because of a back injury. But he continued to make major contributions to the game on the administrative side and in 1996 received the F.A. Order of Merit for fifty years service to football.

Born in Blackpool in August 1928, the first match he refereed was between Loco and Thomas Motors at Collingwood Avenue was when he was just eighteen. At the age of 26 he became the youngest Football League linesman and within three years was a fully qualified league referee. Eight years later Ken took charge of his first Division One game, Aston Villa versus Ipswich and subsequently achieved his ambition of officiating at grounds young boys dream of - Anfield, Goodison Park and Maine Road. In his career Ken enjoyed many highlights but a few always stood out for him. In 1964 he was invited to tour the West Indies with Chelsea and Wolves. But the match he regarded as the pinnacle of his career was in 1965, the year after his enforced retirement from refereeing. Ken was on the line for his friend Stanley Matthew's testimonial game. Played at Stoke City's Victoria Ground a Matthews Select XI took on a Rest of the World team which included such legends as Lev Yashin, Ferenc Puskas, and Alfredo Di Stefano.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's Ken was a Referee Assessor for The Football League and from 1973 to 1976 served as a Director of Blackpool Football Club, the only team he ever supported. In 1994 he was appointed club historian and archivist, a position for which he was eminently suited having a family link with the Tangerines which went back to 1877. Ken Parr made his mark at every level. In 1959 he helped re-form the West Lancashire League and served on its management committee for ten years. In 1984 he was elected to the Council of the Lancashire Football Association.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to have known him, Ken Parr was a warm-hearted, generous man. His observations, whether about a Blackpool game that had just ended, a match that had taken place thirty years earlier, or about some of the characters he had come across in his fifty year journey through football history, were always insightful and usually laced with a liberal sprinkling of the gentle humour that was never far from the surface. We shall miss him.