A commemorative plaque hanging in the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame will soon don the name of 麻豆社国产resident Brian Avey.
On Saturday June 5, Avey, now the general manager of the 麻豆社国产Valley Golf and Country Club, will be officially inducted into the very same hall of fame he spent years working on creating.
Ontario Soccer Association president Bill Hoyle said Avey deserves the honour for his years of dedication.
"Believe me of all the people who do these things, he's earned it," said Hoyle. "He's really participated considerably in the growth and development of the game."
Beginning in 1978, Avey spent the next 26 years growing the sport of soccer in Ontario as well as across the country as executive director of the Ontario Soccer Association.
One of his most notable accomplishments was the creation of the hall of fame, which Avey said came out of necessity.
"I realized we weren't very good at archiving our history," he said. "I realized we don't have it and we'd better start because the longer you leave it the harder it is to find archives and artifacts."
Another accomplishment was encouraging growth in diversity. In the late 1970s, Avey said, female soccer players only made up about 15 per cent of the organization's membership but by the time he left, that number had ballooned to 51 per cent.
"That was a big thing for me because I had three daughters who played soccer and I sort of had a better appreciation for gender equity."
He was one of 20 board members who managed the growth of the provincial soccer association to include more than 400,000 players and 60,000 volunteers.
Avey also had a hand in hosting the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championships in Toronto, Montreal, St. John's and Saint John as well as in bringing the organization up to speed technologically with electronic registration.
And he was also one of the founding members of Canada's first indoor soccer field, the Soccer Centre in Vaughn, Ont., which opened in 1997.
The centre came into fruition out of frustration many Ontarians felt over not being able to train year around, like players in more temperate climates could.
"Soccer needed a home and it just seemed silly to have a sport for only five months," said Avey. "We needed a full sized field indoors, like a Sky Dome without seats in order to accommodate you being able to play."
The 130,000 sq. ft. field house was, according to Avey, a way of dealing with the issue.
In addition to the three indoor soccer fields, the Soccer Centre also houses another pet project of Avey's: the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, which opened its doors in 2000.
"This was far and away from what we had expected [of Avey] originally from a new comer coming straight out of university virtually into an organization of this magnitude," said Hoyle.
"He's performed over and above. I couldn't have been the president as long as I was, with out him."
In 2004, Avey and his wife Wendy decided to pack up and move to the coast to be closer to their four children who re-located to British Columbia years earlier.
Avey initially intended to for Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC), but decided he'd rather spend more time at home rather than travelling across the country, so took a position managing the golf, squash and curling programs at the club
"After 26 years of just travelling the country, I thought man if I could do something in sports and stay in my own community that would just be a fresh nice change, so that's why I took this [job]," he said.
Avey said his transition from working in a soccer-related position has been seamless.
"It's been good. Life was hard with soccer. I got a good well-rounded experience, so when it came here dealing with membership and directors and capital improvements and all that good stuff, it was something I was used to," he said.
"It was kind of nice to scale down a bit for a change."
Avey will be inducted into the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame on Saturday June 5 at the Soccer Centre north of Toronto, Ont. with his wife Wendy, and his four children Chrissy, Tamara, Kayla and Fraser by his side.
