Vastly experienced goalscoring midfielder with over 300 National League appearances behind him, who joined the Pitmen in June 2024

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Peterborough-born Sparkes came through the ranks of Histon in the late 00s, making his first team debut for the Stutes in their maiden season in the Blue Square Premier in the 2009-2010 seasons after stepping up from the U19 side. He made fourteen appearances that season and followed this up with over twenty the following season, despite Histon's relegation back to Blue Square North at the end of the 2010-2011 campaign

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The 2011-2012 season was a real struggle for the Stutes as they finished sixteenth in a competitive Blue Square North, although Sparkes stood out as an ever-present with over forty starts and ten goals from the left side of midfield. This earned him a move to Blue Square Bet Premier side Braintree Town, where he was to go on and make over 150 appearances in the next four seasons as he established himself as a top non-league midfielder for the Iron

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Having averaged nearly forty starts a year for the last four seasons for Braintree, league rivals Torquay United snapped up Sparkes on a free transfer in the summer of 2016 at the expiry of his contract. He was to once again enjoy a consistent and prolific season at step one for the Gulls, making thirty-six starts at Plainmoor and scoring six times as they struggled to a seventeenth-placed finish

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After only a year at Torquay, Sparkes returned to the South-East with a move to league rivals Dagenham & Redbridge in July 2017, making twenty-five starts for the Daggers as they finished in a slightly disappointing mid-table position at the end of the 2017-2018 season

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Another National League side in the form of Barnet came calling for the midfielder in 2018, with Sparkes moving to the Hive to play alongside future Hednesford team-mate Elliott Johnson down the left for the Bees for the next two years as they struggled to move out of the mid-table mire of previous seasons

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In August 2020, National League strugglers Maidenhead United signed Sparkes on a free transfer, with the creative midfield man helping the Magpies to a more competitive showing of thirteenth in his first year there after years of flirting with relegation at York Road

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2021-2022 saw a seventeenth-place finish, followed a year later by a narrow escape from relegation with a twentieth-placed finish. Sparkes left Maidenhead at the end of his deal in May 2023 and had a short spell as an unattached player before rejoining National League South side Braintree in September 2023

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However, his second spell at Cressing Road proved to be significantly shorter than his previous one, making only one further start fo the Iron before leaving in November 2023 and remaining unattached for the rest of the 2023-2024 campaign

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In June 2024, new Hednesford manager Steve King moved to snap up the midfielder as part of his Hednesford revolution, adding know-how to his squad with the signing of the experienced Sparkes as he convinced him to take two steps down the football pyramid to join the Pitmen