Caggie-Handed
As a caggie-handed kid,
I favoured my left foot too
But unlike Villa’s left-winger from Ireland,
Players Tindall, Sleeuwenhoek and Crowe
Were adept with their right…
And so, thus chastened,
Forthwith I hastened
To practise hard
An unnatural technique
In my back yard,
So that I would not be Peter McParland…
Pete Ray
November 2016
I had noticed so many players were right-footed when I watched some Villa games in the 1950s and I truly thought that there was something wrong with me, being a leftie, so I practised and practised kicking a tennis ball with my right foot until I could kick almost as well with it as my favoured left…
This did me good, not only in soccer but also in Rugby Union, for I was able to kick the ball away from either foot, as the ‘full-back’ in my school team, which then involved a lot of fielding punts and punting the ball upfield into touch again and again, due to the rules being different in those days…
Peter McParland netted twice for Villa in the 1957 Cup Final, although he barged the Manchester United ‘keeper so strongly that the goalie had to be replaced by a defender. No substitutes in those days…
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