Anthony Keith Waiters (1 February 1937 – 5 November 2020) was an English footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is better known for his coaching career in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. He managed 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, ...

to an NASL championship, and was in charge of the Canada national team, when they qualified for the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

, which is their first appearance in the tournament.

Playing career

Waiters began his career as an amateur with Northern League club

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

, moving to Macclesfield Town in 1958. He was capped as an England Amateur in May 1959 while at Loughborough College. He played centre-half in schoolboy football and took up goalkeeping when serving in the RAF. The same year, he was spotted by

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

manager

Ron Suart Ronald Suart (18 November 1920 – 25 March 2015) was an English football player and manager. His only honour was winning the Division Three North championship as manager of Scunthorpe & Lindsey United in 1957–58. Playing days Born in Barr ...

and signed to replace the aging

George Farm George Neil Farm (13 July 1924 – 18 July 2004) was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper and manager. Born in Slateford, a suburb of Edinburgh, Farm represented his country on ten occasions, the last three of which occurred after a g ...

. Turning professional, he appeared over 250 times for Blackpool. He won five England caps in 1964, as

Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. As a player, he represented England national football team, the England national ...

sought a backup for Gordon Banks with the 1966 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 the First Division. Taking up coaching, he worked for

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

as a Regional Coach, and for Liverpool's youth development program before moving to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. In 1970, an injury to Burnley's goalkeeper Peter Mellor led to Waiters' coming out of retirement. After making another 40 appearances, he finally retired in 1972.

Managerial career

Waiters began coaching with the England national youth side and led them to a European Championship held in Italy (1973). He took over at Plymouth Argyle and led them to the Third Division championship and promotion in 1975. He took over the Whitecaps midway through the 1977 season and in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

led them to an upset of the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

en route to victory in

Soccer Bowl '79 Soccer Bowl '79 was the championship final of the 1979 North American Soccer League season, 1979 NASL season. The National Conference champion Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–84), Vancouver Whitecaps played the American Conference champion Tampa Bay ...

, the NASL championship. He was promoted to general manager in 1980 and remained in this role until 1982. At the helm of Canada, Waiters saw the side reach the quarterfinals of the 1984 Olympics. In 1985, his team won the CONCACAF Championship, qualifying them to the next year's World Cup. At the

, Canada held

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

scoreless until late in a 1–0 loss. The team went on to lose their two remaining games and go scoreless for the finals. Waiters managed the team again briefly in 1990.

Coaching and advisory roles

Waiters wrote books on soccer skills and coaching. He was inducted into the Canadian 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 fo
Byte 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.

Death

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.

Honours

As Manager

Canada * CONCACAF Championship:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

North American Nations Cup The North American Nations Cup was an association football competition organized by NAFU as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from North America. The tournament was held in 1990 and 1991. Canada, United States and Mexi ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

; 3rd place,

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Individual

* Aubrey Sanford Meritorious Service Award: 1996

References

External links

Waiters' official website
* * * /

Canada Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2024, the Canada Soccer Ha ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waiters, Tony 1937 births 2020 deaths Canada men's national soccer team managers England men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English men's footballers Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada Blackpool F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) head coaches Burnley F.C. players English football managers Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) coaches Plymouth Argyle F.C. managers English Football League managers Footballers from Southport 1986 FIFA World Cup managers Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees English Football League players English Football League representative players Bishop Auckland F.C. players English football coaches Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) general managers