Tony Evangelista

Antonio Evangelista... speaks English, Italian, Spanish, French... he was 13 years old when his family moved from Italy to Canada... he was 23 years old when he started refereeing... attended Canada Soccer’s 1978 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Football Development Seminar in Victoria, BC (referees)...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as a referee... recipient of the Ray Morgan Memorial Award in 1982... recipient of Canada Soccer’s Aubrey Sanford Meritorious Service Award in 1992...

wrote Tony Evangelista, “soccer is a truly beautiful sport and I would really like to see more young people participate through officiating. it’s not always an easy activity, but worthwhile things rarely are”... wrote Evangelista in 1988, “I have a reputation of being tough with my colleagues. I demand professionalism from them and that their performance be at the highest level. Maybe I am overly demanding, but it applies to yourself, too”... wrote Evangelista in 1988, “you have got to be totally detached from crowd reaction, regardless of their noise. Your concentration must be so tense that you focus only on the job at hand, because if you lose concentration, even for a split second, then that’s when you are sure to make mistakes”... wrote Tony Evangelista in 1999, “what the game has given me, I will never be able to repay”... said Dr. Fred Stambrook in 1992, Evangelista “has contributed significantly to the promotion of our sport”...

wrote Evangelista in 1988, “one of my most memorable matches was the first match played between Honduras and El Salvador after the famous so-called soccer war. The match was to begin at 4pm, so I went to the stadium six hours beforehand to check the field... and the stadium was already over half filled! That was quite a sight”...