[a] He was on the books of Midland League club Mexborough Athletic in the 1933–34 season,[5] and in the next, he was a member of the team that lost only once at home from November 1934 to the end of the campaign.
[4] His career was soon interrupted by World War II: he remained with Chelmsford until the end of the season, playing regularly as they won the Eastern Section of the 1939–40 Southern League and drew the play-off with Lovell's Athletic, winners of the Western Section.
[14] He also played for the team of Christy and Norris, manufacturers of pulverisers and similar machinery, for which he was employed in war work.
[15][16][17] By then playing as a full back, Parry captained the team and missed only one match as Chelmsford won the League–League Cup "double" in the first post-war edition of the Southern League.
It was while working as trainer that he made a solitary appearance in a 7–1 loss away to Merthyr Tydfil on 31 January 1953, making up the numbers when player Fred Newby missed the train to Wales for the game.