 Waiters in December 1964 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anthony Keith Waiters | ||
| Date of birth | (1937-02-01)1 February 1937 | ||
| Place of birth | Southport, England | ||
| Date of death | 5 November 2020(2020-11-05) (aged 83) | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1957–1958 | Bishop Auckland | ||
| 1958–1959 | Macclesfield Town | 11 | (0) |
| 1959–1967 | Blackpool | 257 | (0) |
| 1970–1972 | Burnley | 38 | (0) |
| Total | 306 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1964 | England | 5 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1972–1977 | Plymouth Argyle | ||
| 1977–1979 | Vancouver Whitecaps | ||
| 1981–1986 | Canada | ||
| 1990–1991 | Canada | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Anthony Keith Waiters (1 February 1937 – 5 November 2020) was an English footballer who played as agoalkeeper. He is better known for his coaching career inCanada. He managed theVancouver Whitecaps to anNASL championship, and was in charge of theCanada national team, when they qualified for the1986 World Cup, which is their first appearance in the tournament.[1][2]
Waiters began his career as an amateur withNorthern League clubBishop Auckland, moving toMacclesfield Town in 1958. He was capped as anEngland Amateur in May 1959 while at Loughborough College. He played centre-half in schoolboy football and took up goalkeeping when serving in the RAF.[3]
The same year, he was spotted byBlackpool managerRon Suart and signed to replace the agingGeorge Farm. Turning professional, he appeared over 250 times for Blackpool. He won five England caps in 1964, asAlf Ramsey sought a backup forGordon Banks with the1966 World Cup imminent. Although selected in Ramsey's initial squad of 40, ultimately, however, Waiters was not chosen for the final 22. Waiters retired in 1967, as Blackpool were relegated from theFirst Division. Taking up coaching, he worked forthe Football Association as a Regional Coach, and for Liverpool's youth development program before moving toBurnley. In 1970, an injury to Burnley's goalkeeperPeter Mellor led to Waiters' coming out of retirement. After making another 40 appearances, he finally retired in 1972.
Waiters began coaching with the England national youth side and led them to a European Championship held in Italy (1973). He took over atPlymouth Argyle and led them to the Third Division championship and promotion in 1975. He took over the Whitecaps midway through the1977 season and in1979 led them to an upset of theNew York Cosmos en route to victory inSoccer Bowl '79, the NASL championship. He was promoted to general manager in 1980 and remained in this role until 1982.[4][5]
At the helm of Canada, Waiters saw the side reach the quarterfinals of the1984 Olympics. In 1985, his team won theCONCACAF Championship, qualifying them to the next year's World Cup.[6] At the1986 World Cup, Canada heldFrance scoreless until late in a 1–0 loss. The team went on to lose their two remaining games and go scoreless for the finals.[7] Waiters managed the team again briefly in 1990.
Waiters wrote books on soccer skills and coaching. He was inducted into theCanadian Soccer Hall of Fame as a builder in 2001, and into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
Waiters created his company -World of Soccer - in the 1980s, producing a complete series of coaching books, soccer equipment, such as WOS markers, as well as his infamous Ace Coaching cards. Since 2000 he took World of Soccer to a new level, developing Total Player Development, which in turn was the base forByte Size Coaching, a simple yet comprehensive website for soccer parents, coaches and volunteers. Byte Size Coaching is now used by over 350 clubs ranging from Canada, America, UK, Australia and Singapore. Byte Size Coaching was created to help community clubs and soccer associations reach all their coaches.
Waiters continued to coach children and young adults, helping them pursue their soccer goals and moulding players for the future. He was appointed the first Director of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's (NSCAA) Goalkeeping Institute, stepping down in 2006. He remained a National Staff Coach of the NSCAA and U.S. Soccer.
Waiters died at age 83 on November 5, 2020, in North Vancouver, BC, of complications from pneumonia. It was several days before the word of his death became public so in some outlets the date of his death was erroneously reported as being November 10.[8]
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