Name Jonty Parkin | Height 1.7 m | |
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Died April 9, 1972, Wakefield, United Kingdom | ||
Jonathan "Jonty" Parkin (5 November 1894 – 9 April 1972) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. He toured Australia three times, twice as captain of Great Britain, earning 17 Test caps. He played at stand-off/five-eighth, or scrum-half/halfback, i.e. mumber 6, or 7, and also captained England for whom he made 12 appearances, as well as 17 for Yorkshire. Parkin gave the Wakefield club 17 years' service, playing 349 times.
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Playing career
Parkin joined Wakefield Trinity (captain) (Heritage № 207) as an 18-year-old in 1913. He was selected to go on the 1920 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia. Parkin was the Landlord of the Griffin Hotel, Bull Ring, Wakefield circa-1921. Jonty Parkin played stand-off/five-eighth in Wakefield Trinity's 0-6 defeat by Hull F.C. in the 1914 Challenge Cup Final during the 1913–14 season at Thrum Hall, Halifax, in front of a crowd of 19,000, played scrum-half/halfback in Wakefield Trinity's 9-8 victory over Batley in the 1924 Yorkshire County Cup Final during the 1924–25 season at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds on Saturday 22 November 1924, and played scrum-half/halfback in the 3-10 defeat by Huddersfield in the 1926 Yorkshire County Cup Final during the 1926–27 season at Headingley Rugby Stadium, Leeds on Wednesday 1 December 1926. Parkin played stand-off/five-eighth in Wakefield Trinity's 3-29 defeat by Australia in the tour match at Belle Vue, Wakefield on Saturday 22 October 1921. Parkin married Frances Akeroyd in 1926 and had six children, Patricia, Nadine, Willie (Bill), Geoff, Neal and Trevor, and 16 grandchildren.
Parkin won caps for England while at Wakefield Trinity in 1921 against Wales, Other Nationalities and Australia, in 1922 against Wales, in 1923 against Wales, in 1924 against Other Nationalities, in 1925 against Wales, in 1926 against Wales and Other Nationalities, in 1927 against Wales, in 1928 against Wales (2 matches) and won caps for Great Britain while at Wakefield Trinity in 1920 against Australia (2 matches) and New Zealand (3 matches), in 1921-22 against Australia (2 matches), in 1924 against Australia (3 matches) and New Zealand, in 1926-27 against New Zealand (2 matches), in 1928 against Australia and New Zealand and in 1929 against Australia (2 matches).
Parkin won cap(s) for Yorkshire while at Wakefield Trinity.
Parkin was unavailable for the first Test of the 1929-30 Ashes series and the game was lost to the touring Australians. He recovered for the second Test and Great Britain ultimately defended the Ashes. Parkin decided he wanted to leave Wakefield Trinity in 1930, at the age of thirty-four, and he was put on the transfer list at £100 (equivalent to £5,702 in 2015). For some reason, Hull Kingston Rovers couldn't, or wouldn't, find the money. So Parkin paid the fee himself to secure his release. The game's by-laws were adjusted shortly afterwards, so that no player could ever do that again.
Parkin appears to have scored no drop-goals (or field-goals as they are currently known in Australasia), but prior to the 1974–75 season all goals, whether; conversions, penalties, or drop-goals, scored 2-points, consequently prior to this date drop-goals were often not explicitly documented, therefore '0' drop-goals may indicate drop-goals not recorded, rather than no drop-goals scored. In addition, prior to the 1949–50 season, the archaic field-goal was also still a valid means of scoring points.
Post-playing
In 1988 Parkin was one of the first group of inductees into the Rugby Football League Hall of Fame.