Emmett Diarnuid O'Connor (born September 13, 1992, in

Ajax, Ontario Ajax (; 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population: 126,666) is a waterfront town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Southern Ontario, Canada, located in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area. The town is named for , a Royal N ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

professional

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 ...

player who last played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

Playing career

Before and during high school, O'Connor played six seasons for the Ajax Admirals, an amateur U21 team affiliated with the

Ontario Soccer Association Ontario Soccer is a Canadian soccer organization. Established in 1901, Ontario Soccer is one of the oldest sports organizations in Canada. Ontario Soccer is composed of over 350,000 players, as well as coaches, referees, and administrators. Si ...

. During his time at Archbishop Denis O'Connor Catholic High School, O'Connor earned various honors with the school team including being named team captain and Male Soccer Player of the Year as a sophomore and junior, and winning four consecutive Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletics (LOSSA) championships between 2006 and 2009. After high school, O'Connor played

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

for the

St. Bonaventure Bonnies The St. Bonaventure Bonnies (formerly the St. Bonaventure Brown Indians from 1927 to 1992) are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs of St. Bonaventure University, based in St. Bonaventure, New York between the two towns of Allegany an ...

St. Bonaventure University St. Bonaventure University is a private university, private Franciscan university in St. Bonaventure, New York. It has 2,760 undergraduate and graduate students. The Order of Friars Minor, Franciscans established the university in 1858. In ath ...

between 2010 and 2013. In total, O'Connor scored 17 goals and recorded a team-record 24 assists in 57 matches. After college, O'Connor played one season with Scarborough City Celtic of

Ontario Soccer League The Ontario Soccer League (OSL) is a competitive amateur soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The OSL is affiliated with and governed by the Ontario Soccer Association Ontario Soccer is a Canadian soccer organization. Established in 1901, Ontario ...

, the fifth tier of the

Canadian soccer league system The Canadian soccer league system, also called the Canadian soccer pyramid, is a term used in soccer to describe the structure of the league system in Canada. The governing body of soccer in the country is the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), ...

. Following his final season with the Bonnies, O'Connor was invited for a trial with

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

, the third tier of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

, by manager John Gregory. The trial was arrange by former

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

player and manager

Kevin Keen Kevin Ian Keen (born 25 February 1967) is an English football coach and former player. Keen is currently the coach of West Ham United under-18 team. Keen began his career with Wycombe Wanderers before joining West Ham United in 1983. He spent ...

who was the father of one of O'Connor's teammates at St. Bonaventure. After a successful trial which included preseason appearances against

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

Billingshurst and Oakwood and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

of the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, he was offered a one-year contract to join the club on July 24, 2014. About O'Connor's early performances with the club, John Gregory said, "He was recommended to us, has come in and worked hard...He is the sort of kid that just wants to be a player, works hard at everything he does and gives everything at all times." O'Connor made his league debut on August 16, 2014, as an 86th-minute substitute for Gwion Edwards against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. He made his first competitive start for Crawley Town on September 2, 2014, in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

match against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

after making four previous substitute appearances. He earned his first league start four days later against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. On 24 March 2015, O'Connor was loaned to

Lewes F.C. Lewes Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Lewes, East Sussex, England. Established in 1885, they were founder members of the East Sussex League in 1896 and the Sussex County League in 1920, before moving up to the Athen ...

for the remainder of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

season so that he could play competitive soccer. In total, he appeared in two league matches and scored a goal for Lewes before returning to Crawley Town. In June 2015, it was announced that O'Connor had been released by Crawley Town.

International career

In 2005, O'Connor played for a Canadian team at the Under-12 level as part of the squad that competed at the

Danone Nations Cup The Danone Nations Cup is a football tournament for children between the ages of 10 and 15. It is organized since 2000 on the initiative of Danone.

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In the tournament, Canada finished 20th out of 32 teams and held both the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

to 1–1 draws in addition to a 0–1 defeat to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Personal

O'Connor also holds an Irish passport.

Statistics

References

External links

Crawley Town profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:OConnor, Emmett 1992 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Crawley Town F.C. players Soccer players from Ajax, Ontario English Football League players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England