Jim Blundell

James Blundell... married to wife Linda (they had children Janet, Bruce and Robert)... he worked as a firefighter for over 30 years (starting in 1963)...

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

with Vancouver Firefighters FC, a Canada Soccer Football Championship winner (Challenge Trophy in 1965)... a five-time Pacific Coast League winner (1958, 1961-62, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1965-66) and one-time Pacific Coast International Championship winner for the J.F. Kennedy Trophy (1966)... a six-time all-star selection in an eight-year span from 1959 to 1966... over the course of his career, he scored 111 goals in the Pacific Coast Soccer League (he was the ninth player to reach the 100-goal milestone on 5 March 1967)... he led the Pacific Coast League in scoring twice and was the league’s second-highest scorer in the 1960s with 92 goals scored... he was Firefighters FC’s top goalscorer across their Pacific Coast League history (92 goals scored from 1961-62 to 1968-69), notably the team’s top goalscorer in five successive seasons from 1962-63 to 1966-67...

once noted that “has a deceptive shot and distributes ball well”... as noted in a 1957 program, “a protégé of local soccer... a youngster with a great future”... as noted in a 1959 all-star program, “considered by experts to be one of the brightest prospects to break into senior company in recent years”... wrote Jeff Cross in 1962, he was “an artisan centre forward with a quiet, studious style”... as noted in a 1964 all-star program, “a dangerous forward with a good and accurate shot”...

said Jim Blundell in 2019, “when I was a kid, I used to go down to the park and wait to play and if the referee canceled the game because of rain I would go home and cry. I don’t know how old I was, maybe six or eight, I don’t know, but I just really liked to play the game. Nothing big or fancy, I never thought I would be a goalscorer or win anything, I just liked to play the game”... said Jim Blundell in 2019, “somebody once asked me, ‘how do you score all those goals’ and I explained it’s really simple, you just have to do two things: first of all you have to shoot and second off you have to hit the right square. For most of the shots that went in for me, I didn’t know where the ball was going and if I didn’t know where the heck they were going how is the goalie going to know. Very seldom you get to pick your spots because you have to have a lot of room to pick your spots. Whenever I would get near the 18-yard line, I would just crack the thing towards the white square”...

said Jim Blundell in 2019, “I was only a kid when I started in the Pacific Coast League and (manager) Don Petrie brought us both up (myself and co-rookie Roy Nosella) and played us in gently”... said Jim Blundell in 2019, “I went and played for the Firefighters because I was going to get a job out of it. They were after me to play for them because they said they were going to get me on the fire department, so that’s what I did”...

said Robert Allen in 2018, “Jim Blundell was fantastic scorer and he had a hell of a shot”... said Gary Stevens in 2018, “Jimmy Blundell knew how to get into position, he had a really good shot and he distributed the ball well. He read the game well and he was a very smart player”... also said Len Brown in 2018, “Jim Blundell was a solid player that could handle the ball, but he could shoot and he was a goalscorer. If he got inside that area, inside 25 yards, he could let a pretty serious shot go”...

said Neil Ellett in 2018, “once Jim Blundell got inside the box, you had to pay close attention because he could put it away. He wasn’t a speedster or one to rock a shot from a long way out, but get him inside the box and he could do damage for you”... said Metro Gerela in 2018, “Jimmy Blundell was very quiet, but he knew where the goal was and boy he could put the ball in the back of the net”... said Glen Johnson in 2018, “Jim Blundell had a big shot and really good skill”... said Roy Nosella in 2018, “Jim Blundell was a good player and over the years he really blossomed”...

said Jim Blundell in 2019, “a lot of the folks that would come to Callister Park were old guys, smoking cigars and pipes and everything.... they were all the old faithful guys from the Old Country that would show up to the games... Callister Park was designed like an English stadium, with the boards come right to the field about five or ten feet away from the field and the fans could sit down that low, so it made it like the fans were part of the game”... also said Jim Blundell in 2019, “Callister Park was a good old place but it was always dirt (in the 1960s). Today I get a kick out of seeing these guys in the English Premier League sliding on their knees over to the crowd when they scored. We never did any show off stuff like that because you didn’t dare go sliding at Callister Park because it was all solid sand”...

said Jim Blundell in 2019, “the Firefighters-Columbus rivalry was pretty good. We always beat them until one day they beat us (on 27 November 1966). We went off the park and into the stands, but then someone said ‘you have to come back out and see this.’ We said ‘what for’, but they said ‘just come out and have a look at this.’ Well, there were Columbus fans, they had a Firemen’s coffin with the colours on it (yellow and black), they had big hoods over their heads and they were wandering around the stands crying. It was really hilarious... those were the Italians. After that they said ‘we’re better than you firemen, you’re not that good,’ They just took it on. If you know the Italians, they love their soccer”...