PICTURE BY Darren Jones shows Parry in yellow.

2021 HAS been a very special year for this man in particular as it’s has seen him pass the 300-goals mark for his senior career.

Over the years, Sion Parry has become one of the most clinical forwards around – particularly during his time with Llanystumdwy – who he returned to in the summer.

Now player-manager of the club, Parry has once again been in sensational form helping them up to 6th in the North Wales Coast West Division One table.

The 25-year-old is the tier five top scorer with a ridiculous 29 goals to his name in just 18 matches so far. In all competitions, he’s scored 32 times for Stumdwy during 21/22 to date.

He’s also shown his unselfishness and creativity by providing 12 league assists for his team-mates – which is again the highest number in the league.

He’s truly torn teams apart on his own at times and went on a run of scoring 5 hat-tricks in as many matches between August and September.

As mentioned before though, the most important one Parry scored on a personal level will have been the opener in a 10-2 win over Llangoed. That free-kick marked the 300th goal of his career to date.

Over the years, despite still only being 25 years old, Parry has become a Stumdwy legend.

His senior career began when he made his debut for the club on his 16th birthday. In that season, he scored seven goals and followed that up with 18 more in 2013/14 to earn himself the club’s top scorer and the Gwynedd League’s joint-top scorer prizes.

However, it was the 2014/15 campaign which was a truly memorable one for both Stumdwy and Parry. That year, he hit a crazy 56 goals in all competitions (again earning the club and league top scorer prizes, as well as the Player of the Season accolade for Stumdwy) as his side won the Safeflue Shield (5-1 v Y Felinheli).

A brief spell at Porthmadog/Reserves was followed by a return to Llanystumdwy in 2015/16, where he scored a further 31 goals, finishing as the club and the Gwynedd League’s top scorer as they won the NWCFA Intermediate Cup for the first time in its history with a 3-0 win over Llandudno Albion in the final, Parry scored all three goals that night.

2016/17 saw Parry try his hand at higher league football again with Penrhyndeudraeth, but a month or so into the season, he returned to Llanystumdwy once again. That turned out to be a wise decision for the player as he went on to hit another 38 goals for the club come the end of that campaign, winning the club and Gwynedd League’s top scorer prizes for a fourth time.

The 2017/18 campaign was Parry’s most prolific for date as he scored an incredible 60 goals for Llanystumdwy to finish as the club’s top scorer and division top scorer for a fifth time and also earned himself the GL Player of the Season award for the first time.

He departed Dwyfor Park in 2018/19, having scored a very impressive 210 goals in 170 appearances for Llanystumdwy over the years – making him one of the club’s greatest ever players.

2018/19 saw Parry take on a new challenge – in the Welsh Alliance Reserves League with a truly formidable Porthmadog Reserves side. Having been a coach alongside Sion Eifion Jones with the club’s under 18’s and 19’s side previously, Parry pulled on the boots to play for Jones’ Reserves (as well as Port’s first team in tier two) at Y Traeth that season.

With the second string, Parry scored 49 goals as they went the whole season unbeaten and won the league and Lock Stock Challenge Cup double. He also scored twice for the first team.

The 2019/20 season saw Parry start out at Port’s first team, before moving on to Gwynedd League champions Bangor 1876. In a campaign cut short by the Coronavirus, he scored nine goals for the club – despite only joining in January 2020.

Fast forward back to this season and he is once again proving why he is one of the best around and one of the most consistent too. Will he go on to be the first-ever league top scorer in North Wales Coast West Division One?