Colin Jose has been researching the history of soccer in both Canada and the United States for over 40 years, and is currently the historian at The Soccer Hall of Fame in Vaughan, Ontario and Historian Emeritus at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York. Colin was born in England in the seaport town of Falmouth but moved to Canada 50 years ago.

He is the author of nine books on the history of soccer in North America including two books on the North American Soccer League, NASL: A Complete Record of the North American Soccer League and North American Soccer League Encyclopedia. The others include American Soccer League 1921-1931, The Encyclopedia of American Soccer History (written with Roger Allaway and David Litterer), The United States Tackles the World Cup (with Roger Allaway), The United States and World Cup Soccer Competition, The Story of Soccer in Canada, Keeping Score: The Encyclopedia of Canadian Soccer and On Side: 125 Years of Soccer in Ontario.

Unlike sports such as hockey, football, baseball and basketball, very few records were ever kept of soccer in North America, and hardly any books were ever published. But over the years, working with newspaper microfilm, Colin has reconstructed many of the records of the game that had long been considered to be lost. Over time it is hoped that this website will contain many of those records.

A note on the web site: Michael Smith is Colin's Webmaster. For a number of years Michael sat on the Board of The Soccer Hall of Fame where he worked alongside Colin. He has redesigned the Canadian Soccer History site to accommodate its steady expansion.

Mention should also be made of Laurel Bishop who put in many hours proofreading the text as well as researching the history of the Westminster Royals and Shauna Harrington who built an early version of the site.

About the website Canadian Soccer History (CSH)           Association Football, or as it is usually referred to in Canada today, “Soccer,” has a long and fascinating history.  As very little of that history is generally known, this is an attempt at correcting that omission.  So if you like sports history, in general, and are interested in soccer history, in particular, then you might find that this site will answer many of your questions.  Here you will find a lot of team names and players’ names, as well as the names of those who have administered the game.  For those who are interested in genealogy, you might well be able to trace your ancestors who played the game, or led one of the numerous soccer associations.

For the time being, I have concentrated on the period from 1876, when the game arguably has its beginnings in Canada, to the early 1940s, when World War Two seriously interfered with the progression of the sport.  In those early years, soccer was always known as “Football.”  The Western Football Association, formed in 1880, has nothing to do with the game played today by the Toronto Argonauts or Saskatchewan Roughriders.  The various provincial soccer associations of today were almost always known as “Football Associations.”  The Ontario Football Association, today’s Ontario Soccer Association, was formed in 1901.  The Dominion of Canada Football Association, today’s Canadian Soccer Association, was formed in 1912, and so on.

The research for this project was mostly conducted by consulting a large variety of newspapers on microfilm at McMaster University in Hamilton and at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.  It is a work in progress, and always will be.  This is the personal website of the author and is based on his personal research and is not in any way connected to, or approved by, any soccer organization.