Trevor Dawkins (born 7 October 1945) is an English retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a defender or

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 ...

. He spent seven seasons in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

, five in South Africa, and seven in the United States, most in indoor leagues. Following his retirement in 1985, he coached for fourteen years in the U.S. indoor leagues. He was the 1986 AISA Coach of the Year, 1991 MISL Coach of the Year and 1996 CISL Coach of the Year.

Playing career

Dawkins was born in

Thorpe Bay Thorpe Bay is an area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. located on the Thames Estuary. Thorpe Bay is situated within the Thorpe ward of Southend-on-Sea. It is around 4 mile ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

and began his professional career with

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

when he was fifteen. In 1964, he entered West Ham's first team. but made only six league appearances before signing for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

of Division Two in October 1967. He made his league debut in January 1968, in a home 1–0 defeat to

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

but it was his only league appearance that season, although he made two as a substitute in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. In 1968–69, when Palace achieved promotion to the top tier for the first time, Dawkins made four appearances scoring once. In each of the subsequent two seasons he made ten appearances, scoring two goals in 1969–70. In September 1971, he moved to Brentford on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

. In 1978, he moved to the United States where he signed with the Sacramento Gold of the American Soccer League. He played at least two seasons in Sacramento, with part of the 1979 season spent as a player-coach.''DAWKINS IS HIRED AS INVADERS' COACH'' Akron Beacon Journal (OH) – Thursday, 11 July 1985 The team withdrew from the league following the 1980 season and Dawkins joined the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League. In 1984, Dawkins signed with the Canton Invaders of the

American Indoor Soccer Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. While he remained with the team the entire year, he never saw first team time.

Coaching career

In 1979, Dawkins became the head coach of the Sacramento Gold for the last four months of the American Soccer League season. On 11 July 1985, Dawkins was hired as the head coach of the Canton Invaders in the

. He took the team to the AISA title and was named AISA Coach of the Year. He took the Invaders to the 1987 championship series which they lost to Louisville. He began the 1987–88 season with Canton, but was fired on 14 March 1988. He was subsequently hired as part of the staff at the Cleveland Force Fitness Facility. In 1989, Dawkins moved to the expansion

Cleveland Crunch The Cleveland Crunch are an American professional indoor soccer club located in Cleveland, Ohio competing in as a charter member of the Major League Indoor Soccer (MLIS). The rebranded Crunch returned to indoor play as a member of the MASL 2 i ...

as an assistant coach. During the 1990–91 season, the team began a slide down the table at mid-season and on 20 December 1990 Dawkins replaced

Kai Haaskivi Kai Haaskivi (born 28 December 1955 in Lahti) is a retired Finnish soccer player. He starred in the North American Soccer League, playing outdoor as well as indoor soccer. He also played for the Finland national football team. He now coaches ...

as head coach. He took the team to the championship series and was named the 1991 MISL Coach of the Year. When the league collapsed following the 1991–92 season, the Force moved to the National Professional Soccer League and replaced Dawkins with

Gary Hindley Gary Hindley (born May 8, 1947) is an American soccer coach. He has coached youth soccer, high school, college and professional teams. He won Coach of the Year honors in 1984 in the United Soccer League, 1991 American Professional Soccer League a ...

. On 15 August 1992, Dawkins was hired as the head coach of the

Buffalo Blizzard The Buffalo Blizzard was a soccer club that existed from 1992 to 2001 in Buffalo, New York. History The team was originally owned by the Knox brothers who owned the Buffalo Sabres at the time, and additionally by the Riches who owned the minor l ...

. After a disappointing 1993–94 season, the Blizzard fired Dawkins on 23 June 1994. On 8 February 1995, the

Houston Hotshots The Houston Hotshots are a professional indoor soccer team in Houston, Texas. They play in the Premier Arena Soccer League (PASL) From 1994 to 1997 and 2000–2001, the Houston Hotshots were a full professional indoor soccer team in Houston ...

of the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) hired Dawkins. In 1996, he added to his achievements when he was named the CISL Coach of the Year. Financial problems led the Hotshots owner to withdraw the team from the CISL in 1998. Dawkins passed on several coaching offers in order to be available when the Hotshots returned in 1999. In 2000, the Hotshots moved to the

World Indoor Soccer League The World Indoor Soccer League (WISL) was a United States-based indoor soccer league that existed from 1998 to 2001 and consisted of nine teams. History After the demise of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, four of its teams decided to crea ...

which replaced the CISL.

References

External links

*
MISL Yearly Award Winners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawkins, Trevor 1945 births Living people People from Southend-on-Sea (district) English footballers Association football defenders English Football League players American Indoor Soccer Association players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players West Ham United F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Germiston Callies F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Durban United F.C. players Durban City F.C. players Highlands Park F.C. players Sacramento Gold (1976–1980) players Cleveland Force (original MISL) players Canton Invaders players English football managers American Indoor Soccer Association coaches Continental Indoor Soccer League coaches Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) coaches National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) coaches World Indoor Soccer League coaches English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer managers in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate soccer players in South Africa