Jerome Watson (born September 28, 1974) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

who spent time in the

Western Soccer Alliance The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. ...

and the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

. Watson grew up in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, and attended

La Jolla High School La Jolla High School (LJHS) is a public high school in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. Opened in 1922, LJHS is the second-oldest campus in San Diego Unified School District. It is accredited by the Western Association of School ...

. He played college soccer at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, where he was named All-Conference four times and Conference MVP once. In 1988, Watson joined the San Diego Nomads of the

Western Soccer League The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

(WSL). That year he led the Nomads in scoring with six goals which also put him in second place on the WSL goals list. The following season, he topped the league's points list with 10 goals and 7 assists. Despite that, he was not selected to the WSL All Star team. He also was never considered for the U.S. Men's National Team in the lead up to the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1990, despite that team's dearth of quality strikers. Before the 1990 season, the WSL and the American Soccer League merged to form the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). However, at the end of the 1990 season, the Nomads withdrew from the APSL and Watson moved to the

Colorado Foxes The Colorado Foxes were a professional men's soccer club originally based in Commerce City, Colorado, that played in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and USL A-League. Founded in 1990, the club moved to San Diego, California in ...

(APSL). He remained with the Foxes through the end of the 1996 season. The APSL, which had been renamed the A-League, merged with the USISL between the 1996 and 1997 seasons. With the merger, Watson moved to the

California Jaguars California Jaguars were an American soccer team that played in Salinas, California, at the Salinas Sports Complex. They joined the USISL in 1995 as the Monterey Bay Jaguars, but changed the name a year later. They played in the A-League in 19 ...

for a single season with the team. In 1998, he made his last move as a professional player when he joined the

San Diego Flash The San Diego Flash were an amateur men's soccer team based in San Diego, California. Founded in 2010 as a phoenix club of the former San Diego Flash, it entered the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) in 2011, and most recently played in ...

. The Flash were the old Colorado Foxes and this was their first season in its new city having moved from Colorado. Watson remained with the Flash through at least the 2001 season, spending some time as an assistant coach with them. In 2003, Watson spent a single season as coach of the

San Diego City College San Diego City College (City College or City) is a public community college in San Diego, California. It is part of San Diego Community College District and the California Community Colleges system. The college is accredited by the Accrediting ...

soccer team. He continues to play rec league soccer with the San Diego Nomads senior team in the San Diego County Soccer League.Vyuz San Diego
/ref> He currently is the assistant coach for San Diego United of the NPSL and also coaches their Under 23 team and was the head coach for the San Diego Flash, and coach for the San Diego Nomads.

References

External links

1989 San Diego Nomads roster
1960 births Living people American men's soccer players American soccer coaches American Professional Soccer League players California Jaguars players Colorado Foxes players San Diego Flash players Nomads Soccer Club players USL First Division players Western Soccer Alliance players University of California, Davis alumni Men's association football forwards 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-footy-forward-1960s-stub