Dick Howard (right) with the Soccer is a Kick in the Grass team of Joe Sirianni, Andrew Battisti and Michael Lewiis
With Dick Howard stepping down from his role as Canadian correspondent on the Soccer is a Kick in the Grass radio show, we thought it would be proper to look at the first interview he did with FrontRowSoccer.com editor Michael Lewis at the 1986 World Cup after he was named technical director of the Canadian Soccer Association.
This story is used with permission from Soccer America
By Michael Lewis
MEXICO CITY – The most significant soccer game Dick Howard saw during his stay at the one-month World Cup might not have been Argentina-West Germany or France-Brazi.
It may have been the one he saw while a cab took him back to the Glaria Plaza Hotel one night. A group of Mexican youths were playing soccer – at midnight.
“That’s what we don’t have,” Howard said.
As new technical director of the Canadian Soccer Association, that’s soemthing Howard would love to have. But he realize it’s a delicate balance.
“We’re overcoaching up to 12[years of age] and undercoaching after 12 in some respects, Howard said. “Let them play.”
Howard’s new responsibilities inlcude the development of coahces, medical apsects of the sport, referee and player development and work with national team goalkeepers. Howard tended goal for the Rochester Lancers, Toronto Metros and the Detroit Cougars of the defunct North American Soccer League in the sixties and seventies.
Working with the coaches appears to be his biggest priority.
“In North America, sports are coach dominated,” Howard said. “You have a playbook with specific taks. If you give [Diego] Maradona a playbook, he doesn’t know what to do with it.”
[In one of the most dominating performances in World Cup history, Maradona had just led Argentina to the world championship in Mexico].
“One of the long-term goals is an awareness to coaches of the need to the game. I want to go across the country and see the situations across the provinces. I hopefully will be a catalyst development coaches and players. In England, there has been a rift between FA and non-FA coaches.
“If we can offer a program that turns coaches on, it will result in better players. In my mind, there is unlimited potential in Canada and in the States. There is no reason why we can’t be one of the top 20.”
Howard noted that Canada has been the only country to appear in each of the four major international soccer competitions – the Los Angeles Olympics, the Under-16 and U-19 world championships, and this year’s World Cup.
“Now that we got there, we have to stay there,” he said.
Howard has no delusions of grandeur of changing the philosophy of Canada’s national team.
“I have no illusions of Dick Howard coming in and changing the face of soccer,” he said. “We have an outstanding full-time staff to work with… I want to keep the quality my predecessor, Bill Thompson, produced.
“Even with working with the the media, we have all the components. We are getting writers who know what they’re writing about and have a feel for the game.”
But Howard indicated the CAS is open to suggestion and change.
“Traditionally, we have followed the English Football Association in lines of football development,” he said. “When you look at the World Cup, there are all kinds of styles. You have to develop a style that is best for your own. We never will develop the nature of the Brazilians – the liveliness – because we don’t have that body type.
“We have to develop players with flair. You can’t get consumed with tactics for getting the result, which the West Germans found out.”
Howard’s attendance at the World Cup was three-fold:
To look at the various playing styles of the 24 teams, compile and analyze game staticis and file an occasional report for MTV in Toronto (no relation to the music cable station in the United States).
“You can get carried away with analysses, but soccer is a simple game,” Howard said.
Howard hasbeen able to view the World Cup from several levels, though he never played in one. He played on Canada’s World Cup team that failed to qualify in 1974, and was on the national coaching staff as an assistant to Barry Calrke several years ago before accepting his new role.
“It’s a marvelous starting point for a new job – the World Cup,” he said.
This story is used with permission from Soccer America
