James Howatson Easton (born June 3, 1965) is a Canadian retired

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played professionally in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...

, the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

and for the Canada men's national team.

Club career

Easton was drafted, as a 16-year-old, by 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 ...

of the NASL on December 14, 1981 and had previously trained with

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in England. After training with Tampa Bay's reserve team in 1982 and in Brazil at

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state le ...

with three other young Rowdies' players, Easton finally cracked the line-up with the Rowdies senior squad in 1983, making six appearances that season. Earlier in the year, he also appeared in several matches during Tampa Bay's indoor campaign, that had culminated with them winning the 1983 title. After leaving the Rowdies in 1983, Easton signed with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

of the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

and joined their reserve team squad. In March 1985 he joined club

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games ...

on loan, making two appearances for them in the

. Easton was released by Dundee United at the end of the 1985–86 season, having not made any first team appearances in three years at the club.Gracie, p.48 Easton later played for the New Westminster Q.P.R. squad that was runner-up for the 1987 Canadian national championship. He was selected as a 1987 CSL All-star for the

Vancouver 86ers Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

after scoring seven goals in the 20 match season. Easton was also a part of the 86ers' 46-match unbeaten run ''(36 wins, 9 draws)'' that spanned parts of the 1988 and 1989 seasons and led to the 1989 team being inducted into the

BC Sports Hall of Fame The BC Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in BC Place Stadium, at Gate A, the main entrance to the stadium, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It collects, preserves, studies and interprets materials that relate to British Columbia's spo ...

in 2004. In 77 career matches for the 86ers, he scored 24 goals, good for sixth all-time. He also played for Hamilton Steelers.

International career

In 1982 at age 17, Easton appeared in three matches for the Canadian under 20 squad. Before making his full international debut, he was named in Canada's provisional squad of forty prior to the

1986 FIFA 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 ha ...

, but didn't make the final cut. Between 1987 and 1992 he appeared in seven matches for the national team.

Personal life

Easton holds an M.A. and an M.B.A., and as of 2011 is the Managing Director of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

-based ReThink Management Group, which focuses primarily on sports consulting. His father,

Jim Easton Jim Easton (born 3 September 1940) is a Scottish former professional association footballer and manager. He played for Hibernian and Dundee and was player/manager of Queen of the South. He also played for the Miami Toros in the NASL and als ...

, played for several Scottish sides, including Hibernian and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, before playing one season in the NASL and later managing the original

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

during the Whitecaps' first two seasons. In 2018, Easton was named vice president of soccer operations for the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league compe ...

References

;Sources *

External links

NASL stats
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Easton, Jim, Jr. 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Dumbarton Footballers from West Dunbartonshire American Professional Soccer League players Canada men's international soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Canadian soccer players Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian Premier League North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Scottish emigrants to Canada Soccer players from Vancouver Tampa Bay Rowdies draft picks Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Association football midfielders Dundee United F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. players Scottish Football League players Canadian sports executives and administrators Association football executives Hamilton Steelers (1981–1992) players