Bruce Bates (born June 13, 1960) is a Canadian soccer player.

Career

A native of the Vancouver area, Bates played amateur soccer locally for Richmond Olympic and briefly spent time as a reserve player for the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

. At age 20, he joined the

Calgary Boomers The Calgary Boomers were a Canadian soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1980–81 Indoor and 1981 outdoor seasons. The team was based in Calgary and played their home games at Stampede Corral during t ...

, on the NASL side. He appeared in ten matches that year, but the Boomers folded after one season. In

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, he joined Calgary teammates

Jürgen Stars Jürgen Stars (born 24 June 1948) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Bundesliga and the North American Soccer League. Career Stars began his professional career in 1967 in his hometown, with 1. FC Phö ...

and Tom Boric on the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

roster. He also played for the Rowdies during their run to the 1983 Indoor Grand Prix title. Before the 1983 outdoor season began, he and Peter Gruber were dealt to Calgary Mustangs of the Canadian Professional Soccer League, where he was later named team captain. The CPSL folded after only one season. In 1985, he played in the semi-pro Pacific Rim Soccer League for the New Westminster

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

along with other NASL alumni, Garry Ayre, Peter Stanley, and Carl Shearer. He and the Rangers won the season title with a 16-4-4 record, but fell, 3–0, to Vancouver Columbus in the PSRL President's Cup finals.

Honours

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

** 1983 Indoor Grand Prix: Champion *Pacific Rim Soccer League **1985: Champion **1985: President's Cup ''finalist''

References

External links

NASL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Bruce 1960 births Living people Canadian Professional Soccer League (original) players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Calgary Boomers players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Men's association football defenders Canadian men's soccer players Soccer people from British Columbia Calgary Mustangs (CPSL) players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen