Robert Hazeldine...
with Vancouver Columbus FC, a Canada Soccer Football Championship winner (Challenge Trophy in 1969)... a two-time Pacific Coast League winner (1968-69, 1969-70) and one-time Pacific Coast International Championship winner for the J.F. Kennedy Trophy (1967)... a six-time all-star selection in a nine-year span from 1964 to 1972...
suffered a broken leg in a 1964 all-star match against Liverpool (he missed the first half of the next season before returning to action in June 1965)...
as noted in a 1965 all-star program, “plays a creditable game at fullback, halfback or forward; one of the most durable players in the Pacific Coast League”... as noted in a 1967 all-star program, “critics claim he’s worth his weight in goal and often does the work of two players on defence”... wrote Jeff Cross in 1967 after Hazeldine scored a winning goal, he was “a halfback noted more for his jarring tackles than for goal-scoring ability”... wrote Jeff Cross in 1967, “Bob Hazeldine has to be classed as the best all-around player in the game today”... wrote Jef Cross in 1967, Bob was “the strongest-tackling player in the Pacific Coast League”... said Pietro Mainardi in 1970, “Bob’s a fierce competitor”... wrote Roy Jukich in 1970, “for years, Bob Hazeldine was a major factor behind the success of the Columbus soccer team”...
said Gene Vazzoler in 2018, “Bob Hazeldine was the toughest of the toughest defenders in the league”... said Sam Lenarduzzi in 2018, “Bob Hazeldine would run through a brick wall. He took me under his wing and took good care of me and taught me a lot about tackling, even though he was more aggressive than I was in my time. He was one of the characters: a loud-spoken fellow, always having fun, but once you got on the field you didn’t want to face him... I was quite happy that he was on our team. To be quite honest, it got interesting sometimes in training because he didn’t change the way he played in training compared to the way he played in games”...
said Bruce Twalmey in 2018, “Bob Hazeldine was a beast, he was an animal. We were playing at Callister Park which at the time was sand-based and he would slide tackle on the sand-based seal. He was just as tough as nails”... said Chris Bennett in 2018, “Bob Hazeldine was a take-your-legs type player. He would go through your heart and lungs in a tackle”... said Jim Blundell in 2018, “Bob Hazeldine was a tough and he could be mean. I went to high school with him, but boy he could be tough. He would be about the toughest guy I ever played against in the Pacific Coast League”...
