Colin Calvert (Veterans) - Inducted 2023

Colin Calvert was born in Grimsby, England and grew up in Leeds as an avid Leeds United fan. He left England with his wife Anne and sons Andrew and Nick and arrived in New York in 1967 with their destination being Chantilly, Virginia in 1969.

Colin of course was devoted to the game of soccer. Where he lived in Chantilly there was a little league baseball club called Battlefield and they begged Colin to start a soccer program for them. It was a matter of time, before Colin started and ran their soccer program.

Around 1971 he started the Chantilly Soccer Club which later became the Chantilly Youth Soccer Association (CYA). He also started the “Adult Sunday Kick-Around Games”. These games were started to help dads - who had never played soccer or even seen a soccer game – better understand the game they had volunteered to coach. The “Adult Kick-Around Games” grew into the “Northern Virginia Coaches Soccer League”. Thanks to Colin’s leadership and dedication the league grew and was able to be divided into over 30 and under 30 age divisions. In the late 1990’s at RFK Stadium Colin Calvert was honored with a farewell tribute when he stepped down from running the Northern Virginia Coaches Soccer League.

Colin a Certified USSF Referee was well known as a superior referee. He officiated Collegiate games, Virginia HS games, NCSL and WAGS games. In the days of the Washington Diplomats, Colin was assigned to Diplomat games as a Backup Referee now known as a “4th Official”.

In 1977, Colin along with Don Hood were primarily responsible for establishing a Referee Program in Virginia. This was at the time when there were only 49 referees in the state and controlled by the Metropolitan Washington Soccer Referee Association (MWSRA). Colin Calvert was a contributing builder to soccer in Virginia and DC before and after the Virginia Metropolitan Youth Soccer Association (VMYSA) was established in 1975.