Article by Graham Newsom (originally appeared in marchday programme from 20 January 2026 v Sheerwater).
Bob Parker was born in Greenock, Scotland, on 23rd August 1919. At that time, his father was working in the local shipyard. The family remained in Greenock until 1928 when his father, like too many others during the Great Depression, was made redundant. In search of employment, he relocated his family down to London where they settled in Mitcham, in a flat very close to Figges Marsh.
At the age of 14, Bob joined the South-Eastern Gas Board, where he would earn a living for the next 48 years. This was also where his sporting career began, as he played both football and cricket for the works side, which was named Wandgas (Mitcham).
It wasn’t long before Bob’s goalscoring exploits were spotted by Tooting & Mitcham United, and he signed for the club shortly afterwards.
His first season playing for Tooting was 1941/42. During the war years, the club played a mixture of friendlies and league matches (in the South Eastern Combination League). The club finished third that year, with Bob contributing a remarkable 46 goals.
The following season (1942/43), Tooting achieved a league and cup double; they were South Eastern Combination League Champions, and also added the London Senior Cup – beating Dulwich Hamlet 5-4. Bob scored two goals in the final, as he followed up his prolific first season with another 45 goals.
1943/44 was another successful campaign for both player and club; the league championship was retained, and the
Surrey Senior Cup was added this time to complete another double. Epsom Town were the beaten finalists (3-1) with
Bob scoring all three goals. He was also on the scoresheet in the London Senior Cup final again, but a seasonal hat-trick of trophies proved beyond the team as they were vanquished 4-3 by Walthamstow Avenue.
The next two seasons proved the most prolific of Bob’s career as he recorded an astonishing 56 goals (the club finishing league runners-up to Bromley) in 1944/45, and 54 the following year. That latter season (1945/46) saw the resumption of the Athenian League after the war, and Tooting finished in third place with Sutton United as Champions. The season was notable for the opening game against Leyton, when Bob scored five times in an 8-3 victory.
The next two seasons were sparse in terms of silverware, though Bob was on target in the 1947 Surrey Senior Cup semi-final when old rivals Dulwich edged a 3-2 victory to deny he and the club another final. Even in a slightly more fallow period for the team, Bob was still regularly getting on the scoresheet, adding another 40 goals across the two campaigns.
1948/49 saw the club return to winning ways, lifting the London Senior Cup again with a 3-2 success over Bromley and, yes, Bob was on target once again in that one. They were also finalists in the Surrey Senior Cup against Wimbledon, in a match played in front of a 15,000+ crowd at Selhurst Park, but it was rare blank sheet for Bob as the Dons ran out comfortable winners, by a 5-0 scoreline.
The following campaign saw Tooting become Athenian League Champions again, with Bob contributing 28 goals. He bettered his total by one the following season, but the club couldn’t match his consistency, and finished in mid-table. This was to be the last full season of playing for Bob, though he did come out of retirement to feature in the London Senior Cup final of 1952/53, when Tooting gained revenge over Wimbledon for that earlier thumping, recording a 2-1 triumph; Bob scored both goals, to finish his Tooting & Mitcham career on a high. He never played for the club again, but left a legacy that any player would be proud of; he was a modest yet popular member of the team during the course of his career (other than Wandgas, he didn’t feature for any other clubs at senior level – truly a ‘one-club’ man). He was good in the air, and his turn of speed was very deceptive. As well as all his achievements at league and county cup level – as detailed here – he also featured in the FA Cup 1st round tie at Millwall in November 1948, which we lost by a goal to nil in front of a 20,000+ crowd, and in the same round two years later when we entertained Brighton & Hove Albion at Sandy Lane. He scored one of the goals as we slipped to a narrow 2-3 defeat.
Over the course of his career, Bob obtained almost every honour available, regularly representing the Athenian League team, the London Football Association, and the Surrey County side. He would almost certainly have gained an Amateur International cap had he been living in his native Scotland. In total he scored over 370 goals for the club, a record that is unlikely ever to be beaten.
Bob was also a gifted cricketer, playing for both Mitcham CC and Wandgas (Mitcham) for many seasons. He was top of the Wandgas Sunday XI batting averages every season between 1960 and 1972; in his cricketing career for the two clubs, he recorded over fifty centuries.
The Wandgas (Mitcham) cricket team during this period was made up of a number of ex-Tooting & Mitcham players, including Bob’s brother Alan, Don Rhodes and Laurie Hellard.
In 1948, Bob married Joyce, who was the daughter of Fred and Lily Cole; Fred was another well-known Mitcham sporting player and official, who served as Chairman of the cricket club for over thirty years.
Bob died in October 1981, at the age of 62.
(Additional information by Ian Bullock. With thanks to Bob’s daughter Lisa for the family information, and to Paul Pigott for the historical information, more of which can be found on his excellent website www.tmu-fc.co.uk)