01 Jun 2026
21:00 EDT
05 Jun 2026
19:30 EDT
Donald John Mackay Petrie... married his wife Grace on 13 July 1945 (they raised children Don, Robert, and Brenda)... he was 93 years old when he passed away on 6 July 2015 in Surrey, BC... on 30 April 1950, a benefit exhibition match at Callister Park raised $200 in his honour (Vancouver City v New Westerminster Royals)...
posthumously honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame (one of the first 11 non-players honoured as part of The Soccer Hall of Fame’s inaugural Class of 2000)... posthumously honoured by the Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia...
as a manger/coach, he led Vancouver Hale-Co FC to a Canada Soccer Championship title in 1956 and a Pacific Coast League Championship in 1958... served as manager of all-star selections in 1956 and 1957... served as manager of Canada Soccer’s first-ever participation in FIFA World Cup Qualifires in June and July 1957...
as noted in a 1948 all-star program, “the quiet unassuming centre half of Vancouver City. He has improved considerably of recent months and now has clinched his position with that team”...
said Robert Allen in 2018, “Don Petrie was a gentleman, he knew the game and he knew the players well. He let the people do what they had to do”... said Jim Blundell in 2019, “Don Petrie was a very good manager. I always figured he was ahead of the time. He was mentally involved... you had to be a psychiatrist and know the players’ moods and Petrie was very good at that. Petrie always thought a lot about people. He was pretty good at what he did”...
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