Richard James Howard (born 10 June 1943) is an

English-Canadian English Canadians (french: Canadiens anglais or ), or Anglo-Canadians (french: Anglo-Canadiens), refers to either Canadians of English ethnic origin and heritage or to English-speaking or Anglophone Canadians of any ethnic origin; it is us ...

retired professional soccer

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting o ...

. He moved to Canada from England in 1967 and went on to appear for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

internationally. After retiring from playing in 1974, he became an educator, long-time FIFA coaching instructor, coach, author, and a print and broadcast journalist on soccer in Canada and abroad. Howard was inducted into the

Canadian 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 2019, the Canada Soccer Ha ...

in 2002.

Playing career

Howard made one appearance for Chester in the English Football League Fourth Division during 1965–66. During this time, he received a diploma in physical education from the Chester College of Education in 1965. He moved to Canada and played for the Hamilton Primos of the National Soccer League in 1967, making it to the championship finals before losing to Windsor Teutonia. Later that year he played several matches for the Rochester Lancers in the American Soccer League before playing in the inaugural season of the North American Soccer League for the Detroit Cougars in 1968. When the team folded at the end of the season he returned to Rochester who was playing in the American Soccer League at the time. The Lancers joined the NASL in 1970 and he was a member of the team that won the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

that year. Howard graduated from the nearby

State University of New York at Brockport State University of New York Brockport (also known as SUNY Brockport or Brockport State, and previously The College at Brockport) is a public university in Brockport, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). History C ...

with a degree in physical education. He was acquired from the Lancers by the

Toronto Metros Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

in 1971 and played in Toronto through the 1974 season. He was also a member of the Canadian national team during 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification. In 1977, he was named to the Rochester Lancers Team of the Decade.

Post-playing career

From 1972 to 1986 he was Director of Athletics and Head of Physical Education at Crescent School, a private school in Toronto. During this time he served on the coaching staff of Canadian national youth teams and in 1981 was assistant coach of the World Cup team for 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification, as the team came within one goal of qualifying for the 1982 World Cup. Howard was appointed Technical Director of the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ...

from 1986 to 1992 and also served as Canada's first National Goalkeeping Coach. He attained a unique treble in 1986 as the first person in Canadian soccer to have played, managed and coached in the national program. In 1987, he was appointed by FIFA to conduct a coaching course in Kuwait and since that time has conducted more than 100 FIFA courses and projects around the world as the longest-serving FIFA coaching instructor in North America. In addition Howard was a member of the FIFA Technical and Development Committee from 1998 until 2012 and served as Chairman of the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...

Coaching Committee from 2001 until 2012. An author of two books on the game "Shutouts and saves", a goalkeeping manual, and "Soccer - Diving headers, selling a dummy, and everything else about the game" with noted artist Ben Wicks. This in addition to producing numerous coaching manuals and video tapes for the Canadian Soccer Association, CONCACAF and FIFA. He also wrote a weekly soccer column for the Toronto Sun newspaper from 1994 to 1998. Howard has had an extensive career as a soccer media analyst. It all began in the 1980s when Howard and Mike Povey were hired as hosts for the popular series "Road to Wembley" on CFMT-TV. He also hosted and produced "The CSA Report" which featured the Soccer 2000 series as well as the Classic Cup Final series on ESPN Classic Canada. Howard was the in-studio analyst for every World Cup from 1990 until 2010 and worked for CBC Radio Sports in Brazil 2014. He was the on-location or in-studio analyst for EURO Finals from 1996 until 2008. In addition he has been a color commentator for over 200 games on CBC, CTV, ROGERS SPORTSNET, TSN, CFMT/OMNI, and the FOX SOCCER CHANNEL. He currently is the international reporter for the longest running radio show in North America "Soccer is a kick in the grass" on WYSL in Rochester New York and recently completed a five-year soccer project as Director of Soccer at Crescent School from 2009 to 2014. Howard was inducted into the

in 2002 as a builder and the Rochester Lancers Wall of Fame in 2013.

References

External links

* / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
NASL stats

Dick Howard stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Dick 1943 births Living people Alumni of the University of Chester Canadian soccer commentators Canadian columnists Canadian educators Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian soccer coaches Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees Canadian soccer players Canadian sports announcers Canadian sports builders Canadian sportswriters Detroit Cougars (soccer) players English expatriate footballers English footballers English emigrants to Canada Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football goalkeepers Naturalized citizens of Canada American Soccer League (1933–1983) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players People from Bromborough Soccer players from Toronto Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players Canadian sports journalists English Football League players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Chester City F.C. players Canadian National Soccer League players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Hamilton Steelers (ECPSL) players