Black History Month Players: George Parris

As October is Black History Month in the UK, I will spend this month publishing threads on X (formerly Twitter) on certain players who have been part of a long and distinguished line of Black representation at West Ham United. With this being the second year I have undertaken this exercise, I thought it would be fair to publish a blog post for those who don't have X or find threads on the platform difficult to read. Feel free to read last year's threads, via this link. But today's post and thread on X is on George Parris. 

Born on the 11th of September 1964, Parris grew up in Barking, on the doorstep of West Ham United. He was a prolific footballing talent in his youth, playing district, county and national football for Redbridge, Greater London, and England Under 15s as a schoolboy. Having been invited to train with West Ham at the age of 13, Parris would eventually sign an apprentice contract with the club upon leaving secondary school at 16 in 1981. He would sign professionally in 1982 when he turned 18, but was stuck playing youth & reserve football until 1985.

At the age of 21, Parris finally made his debut for the club against the dominant side of the 1980s, Liverpool, on the final day of the 1984/85 season. But it was the following season, West Ham’s most successful domestic season to date, where Parris would cement his place as a first-team regular. In the 1985/86 season, where West Ham would finish 3rd, pushing Liverpool and Everton all the way to the end of the season for the title, Parris would make the left back position his own after filling in for usual left back Steve Walford, who was injured and made 23 appearances that season. Parris became an integral team member as part of the "Boys of '86" side that won 11 of its final 14 games to push the two Merseyside clubs to the end for a title challenge. But alas, no such joy was achieved & the club would finish 3rd, but Parris is still fondly remembered as one of the “Boys of '86”. The following season, Parris truly established himself as a first-team player, appearing in 48 games in all competitions as the club struggled to replicate the success of the 1985-86 season. But Parris had established himself as a key player, even moving to the midfield when the club signed Scottish left-back Tommy McQueen from Aberdeen in 1987. 

Whilst Parris would eventually earn the left-back position back from McQueen, he found himself dislodged again in this position by Julian Dicks, who would become a club legend in his two stints at the club, although Parris was still an integral member of the team, playing as either a left winger or a right back. Still beloved by fans as a cult hero of the club, this love was evident back then as Parris was named runner-up for Hammer of the Year, the club’s annual award for best player of the season chosen by its fans in 1991. By the time Parris had left West Ham to join Birmingham City in March 1993, missing out on playing for West Ham in the Premier League by a few months, he had represented his boyhood club in 239 appearances, scoring 12 goals. 

After leaving the club, he would go on to play for Birmingham for 2 years, making 39 appearances and scoring a single goal. Whilst playing for Birmingham, West Ham would award Parris a testimonial game in April 1995, a rare accomplishment for a former player, which showed the love that West Ham has for Georgie to this day. Additionally, during his stint with Birmingham, Parris would spend a fair time out on loan with Brentford, Bristol City and Brighton (That's a lot of Bs) before leaving Birmingham to have a brief 4-game excursion in Sweden with IFK Norrköping. Parris would return to England, by playing for one of his former loan clubs in Brighton in 1995, where he'd spend two more seasons, making 56 appearances and scoring 3 goals. Parris would retire in 1997 after a single appearance for Southend, playing non-league football clubs on the South Coast, where Parris continues to live to this day. 

After retiring from playing in 1997, Parris did some management in non-league football with Shoreham as a player-manager as well as managing the Semi-professional side Whitehawk in the 2008/09 season. He has also spent time away from football, working as a gardener and milkman, & also done valuable charity work as a part-time activities organiser at the Ovingdean Hall School for deaf children. In addition to his charity work, he has worked as a sports coach at Sussex Uni & was also interim manager of Brighton's Women's team for a brief period between 2016-17 before being replaced by former England manager Hope Powell. 

But whilst his career post-retirement from football has been filled with many different things, he has also faced adversity too. A crippling gambling addiction almost destroyed his life, but he overcame his addiction with help from his closest friends, family & Gamblers Anonymous. Parris now helps addicts trying to get through the difficult stages of overcoming addiction and is a recovering addict himself, as many recovering addicts will tell you, it is a lifetime commitment to rising above such addiction, with his autobiography, "My Name is George...I am a Compulsive Gambler" published in 2005 which spoke about his gambling addiction, which began in the mid-1990s, discussing Parris' journey and his recovery in detail. 

To this day, George Parris is still fondly remembered as a cult hero at West Ham and is often found attending many events relating to the “boys of 86” and the club in general. He's overcome a lot in his life, but "Georgie" as he's affectionally known by fans is a true West Ham player and fan through and through and will always have a special place in the hearts of supporters for that reason alone. 

Thanks for reading today's post. 

Today's sources include: 

George's own autobiography 'My Name is George...I am a Compulsive Gambler' 

Kirk Blows & Ben Sharratt's  'Claret and Blue Blood: Pumping Life into West Ham United'

And Brian Belton's 'The Black Hammers'