Martin Flack
He was known as a "hard man" (his nickname was "The Terminator") and tough tackler in possession of a cultured left foot and a fierce shot in regular demand as a penalty and free-kick taker. He scored 10 goals for Whiteparish in the 1995-96 season, which is the best return for a defender in the Salisbury and District League. He was voted Whiteparish's player of the year four times (1990,92,96 and 97) during his time at the club.
Flack was often cautioned and sent-off by referees. His first red-card was in a match versus Alderbury in the Charity A Cup in the 1989-90 season. It was an infamous encounter which included an on-pitch brawl between the opposing players. The following season Flack first sustained the knee injury that would eventually end his career. Indeed, Flack recovered from the injury remarkably quickly and returned in the second half of the 1991-92 season and was made captain of the side, when still only 23. But, despite his presence, the team finished bottom of the First Division and missed out on the first season of the Premier League. The 1992-93 season was an eventful one for Flack, mainly for the wrong reasons. He was sent off three times and picked up a string of bookings which saw him miss significant periods of the season and he was subsequently stripped of the captaincy of Whiteparish by manager Graham Dear. One notable challenge for which he was sent off was on a Wilton midfielder. Despite this, he earned a Division One runners-up medal as Whiteparish reached the Premier League.
After retiring as a footballer, Flack took up fishing and golf and soon turned professional, but was forced to give this career up due to his knee injury. He does, however, still fish recreationally. In 2001 he made a brief return to football, but played only four matches. He went on to run his own landscaping business, which has now turned into one of the biggest of its kind in the south of England.
Paul Cooper
Paul Cooper belongs to an elite group of players who have skippered the Lions. Cooper realised a lifelong dream as he became the fifth Parish captain to lift the Division 2 title following the lions' record ninth triumph at the end of the 1992/93 campaign. Cooper himself had missed the final stages of the campaign, having suffered ankle ligament damage just 11 minutes into the visit of West Tytherley to the Memorial Ground on 17 March 1993. The same injury kept the Lions’ skipper out for most of the 1994/95 season but even when unable to influence matters directly on the pitch, you can be sure his presence is felt in the dressing room. Nobody wants Whiteparish to win more than Paul Cooper. The defender, who has made more than 500 appearances in a Parish shirt, was handed the armband during the 1992/93 season following Jimmy Goodland’s departure. Being one of United’s most consistent and committed performers since establishing himself in the side in 1989/90 at the expense of Billy Barnes, Cooper was a natural choice. He enters every game refusing to contemplate defeat, and the fans love him for it. His heart-on-his-sleeve approach doesn't endear him to everyone, however - notably the football authorities. His badge-clenching, fist-pumping celebration following David Reads last-minute winner against Nomansland at The memorial Ground in January 1995 saw him charged with improper conduct by the FA and fined £5000. “Are you meant to smile sweetly and jog back to the halfway line?” he said. "People want footballers to be whiter than white. Do they want a game of robots?" Vocal and single-minded, the Lions skipper had all the attributes and characteristics of a great leader of men; Paul gave his all in every game, demanding the same from his team-mates. No excuses. He ritired in 1999, after retiring as a footballer, you can now find Cooper in The Parish Lantern in Whiteparish which he runs with his wife.
Keith Gibbs
Pound for pound, the £825,000 Graham Dear paid The 5 Bells for this craggy, uncompromising centre-half two weeks short of his 23rd birthday in December 1983, was one of the best deals Whiteparish have ever done. Gibbs’s central defensive partnership with Jimmy Goodland– the pair were affectionately dubbed ‘Dolly and Daisy’ – was the bedrock on which three Championship-winning sides were built (1993, 1994 and 1996). It was arguably Gibbs’s two critical late, late goals – a pair of towering headers – against Porton that tipped the 1992/93 Premiership title race in Whiteparish’s favour and really got the ball rolling for Parish’s dominance of the modern game. Gibbs’s was a steady climb to the football summit. A product of the famous Salisbury Boys Club that gave the game talents like brother Stuart Gibbs, Giles Alford and more recently Daniel Burchmore, he represented Salisbury schoolboys, but was rejected at 16 by his boyhood idols, as well as Romsey, Laverstock, Bemerton Heath and Downton ¬because he was perceived to be too small. He subsequently got a job at a Southampton shipyard as a trainee carpenter but a week before he was due to start was offered an apprenticeship with Wilton Club.
After making his league debut for Wilton at the start of the 1979-80 season while still just 17, he went on to make more than 200 league appearances for the Wiltshire club before 5 Bells paid £135,000 for his services in August 1982. At the 5 Bells, Gibbs won a League Cup winner’s medal in 1983 and the Second Division Championship medal the following year. Remarkably, for all his subsequent honours at The Memorial Ground, Bruce was never selected for a full England cap, though he did lead the side at B level. He finally left the Reds on a free transfer for The Winchester Gate in the 1996 close season after nine years, 414 appearances and a prolific 51 goals. Assisted by his accuracy from the penalty spot he had remarkably finished as the club’s joint top scorer in 1990/91 with 19 goals in all competitions.
David 'Jacko' Read
In a 12-year playing career with The Lions, he played a record 554 games, scoring 47 goals. It is unlikely his deeds will ever be matched. Although highly coveted by clubs across the country, the young Read, son of the great West Grimstead Centre Back Malcolm Read, turned professional with the Lions in October 1981, winning the Charity A Cup in 1984, 1985 and 1986. His league debut came on 26 October 1981 against Nomansland at The Memorial Ground and the youngster made an immediate impact, scoring twice despite carrying an injury. “Mr Feltham asked me if I was ok,” recalled Sir Jack. “I actually had a sprained ankle, but I wasn’t going to admit to it and I crossed my fingers and said ‘yes’.” Despite his dramatic bow, Read didn’t command a relatively regular place until the latter stages of the 1984/85 season, notching 10 goals as the Feltham Babes won a first title. Competition for a first-team spot was intense, but a hat-trick against Alderbury in January 1988 certainly helped his cause, and Feltham found it harder and harder to leave out the powerful young Midfielder. A permanent switch to a deep-lying forward role brought the best from him, and he was vital as The Parish won the league championships in 1995 and 1997. Sir Jack continued to entertain as part of the famed Dear-Cooper-Read triumvirate before he retired in 2001. He briefly played for Koh Samui in Thailand in 2002. In June 2004 Read became a director of Whiteparish Football Club, a position he still holds today. Already awarded the OBE and CBE, he became Sir David 'Jack' Read in June 2005. A respected ambassador for his club, English football and the game across the world football, he is a figurehead: a link with the club’s past, present and future.
Jimmy Goodland
Goodland led the Parish team and its defence for the best part of a decade; a period during which Whiteparish's defence was considered by many observers to be one of the best back fours in the history of the Salisbury and District League, consisting of Goodland, Martin Flack, Stuart Coles, and David Read. He is also one of the few players who spent his entire career at one club, Whiteparish, for whom he played 532 games, scoring 16 goals. His #21 jersey was retired by the club, a rarity for English football.
John Metcalfe
He started playing in goal for Whiteparish when their main goalkeeper couldn't come anymore. Metcalfe won a first-team place four matches into the English season, and proceeded to set a Wiltshire record by going 855 minutes without conceding a goal. Metcalfe was given a special award by the The Salisbury and District League for the new record, and he was also awarded the Golden Gloves at the end of the 1989-90 season for keeping a record 25 clean sheets. Whiteparish retained the Charity A title in 1991-92, with Metcalfe playing in all but two games in the Cup competition. The team conceded only 15 goals in the entire League season, also a record.
