Garry Ayre

Garry Ayre... soccer family (son Keegan)... both of his parents were born in Hull, ENG... grew up participating in soccer, baseball, basketball and track and field... he was eight years old when he started playing soccer at Grandview Legion 179 (house league team Highriggers)... growing up, favourites included Pelé, Johan Cruyff, George Best, Bobby Moore, Franz Beckenbauer... worked for Canadian Kenworth Trucks Ltd in Vancouver before moving to Toronto in 1974 to join Canada Soccer’s national team “in being”... worked for adidas Canada in Toronto...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as a player... honoured by the Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia...

represented Canada at the Montréal 1976 Olympic Games... represented Canada in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 1976 and 1977... represented Canada at the Pan American Games in 1975... career 34 international appearances across five years from 1973 to 1977 with Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team, including 16 international "A" appearances... when he left international football in 1977, he ranked tied for third all-time with 34 international appearances...

with New York Cosmos, a North American Soccer League Championship winner (Soccer Bowl in 1978)... with British Columbia, a Canada Games gold medal winner in 1973...

in 1976, he made news when he “was fired from his job tending a blast furnace and refused unemployment insurance benefits because he insists on playing soccer for Canada’s Olympic team” (Vancouver’s General Metal Industries Ltd, where Ayre made $6 per hour, was “too small to allow Mr. Ayre’s leaves of absence to participate in the Games”)... in 1976, he worked as a “laundry worker” in New Westminster when he selected to play for Canada at the Olympic Games...

once noted historian Colin Jose, Garry was “often used in a special midfield role... to overshadow the opposition’s key player”... said Eddie Firmani in 1979, Ayre was “very strong and an aggressive player”... wrote the Portland Timbers in 1981, “a very physical defender who also has the ability to play in midfield; an experienced player who is very difficult to move off the ball”...