Garry Ayre (born October 12, 1953 in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

) is a retired soccer player. He played 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 b ...

, the Major Indoor Soccer League and for the Canadian national team.

Career

He was with amateur side New Westminster Blues in 1976. In 1977 Garry turned professional with the

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 ...

played 23 games in that first season and 15 in 1978 before being transferred to 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 Independ ...

. With the Whitecaps, Ayre was used in a special midfield role to shadow the opposition's key offensive player. With the Cosmos, Ayre played in

Soccer Bowl '78 Soccer Bowl '78 was the North American Soccer League's championship final for the 1978 season. It was the fourth NASL championship under the Soccer Bowl name. The match was played at Giants Stadium in the New York City suburb of East Rutherfor ...

as a substitute as well as a tour of Europe in the fall of 1978, where the team played against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Later they toured

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and played against the Argentina U-23 team which included the young

Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

. In 1979, he moved on to the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

where he played 18 games the following season. He was with the national team for World Cup qualifying play in 1976 and 1977, but a serious knee injury kept him off the 1980 roster. In 1973 Ayre won a Gold Medal playing for the British Columbia Under 23 team at the

Canada Summer Games The Canada Games (french: Jeux du Canada) is a multi-sport event held every two years, alternating between the Canada Winter Games and the Canada Summer Games. They represent the highest level of national competition for Canadian athletes. Two ...

, and in 1975 at the

Western Canada Summer Games The Western Canada Summer Games (WCSG) were established in 1975 as a multi-sport event to provide development opportunities for amateur athletes and to help them advance their skills in a competitive, but friendly environment. Athletes range in ...

. In 1979, he signed with the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

of the Major Indoor Soccer League and played 25 games indoors during the 1979–80 season. In 1981, he returned to the indoor game with

Baltimore Blast The Baltimore Blast is an American professional indoor soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with t ...

but only played ten games before a knee injury ended his career.

International

A member of Canada's 1976 Olympic team, at the Olympic Games in Montreal, Ayre played against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. He was also a member of Canada's national team at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1975.

Personal

Garry's son Keegan Ayre is currently a professional soccer player.

Coaching career

On 10 February 2009, the

Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club Coquitlam Metro-Ford Soccer Club (''CMFSC''), formerly known as ''FC Xtreme'' and ''Tri-Cities Xtreme'', are a Canadian men's and women's soccer club soccer team, founded in the city of Coquitlam, British Columbia in 2003. The team is a member of ...

announced that their new U-21 men's team will be coached by Ayre.Tri-City News
Soccer Xtreme reveal new coaches
10 February 2009

References

External links

* /

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 2019, the Canada Soccer Hal ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayre, Garry 1953 births Living people Baltimore Blast (1980–1992) players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canada Soccer Hall of Fame inductees Canadian men's soccer players Olympic soccer players for Canada Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football defenders Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players Soccer players from Vancouver Pan American Games competitors for Canada Footballers at the 1975 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Coquitlam Portland Timbers (1975–1982) players Vancouver Whitecaps (1974–1984) players Wichita Wings (MISL) players