Ollie Heald

Ollie Heald

Personal information
Full name	Oliver Richard Heald [1]
Date of birth	(1975-03-13) 13 March 1975 (age 49) [1]
Place of birth	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada [1]
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) [2]
Position(s)	Midfielder / Forward
Youth career
1992–1993	Norvan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1995	Port Vale	0	(0)
1995–1996	Scarborough	9	(1)
1996–1998	Vancouver 86ers
1999	Seattle Sounders
2000	Vancouver 86ers
2001–2004	Vancouver Whitecaps
International career
1990–1991	Canada U16	2	(0)
1994–1996	Canada U23	14	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Oliver Richard Heald (born 13 March 1975) is a Canadian former professional soccer player.

He signed with English club Port Vale in September 1993 but never made a first-team appearance before moving on to Scarborough in May 1995. The next year, he returned to his hometown club, the Vancouver 86ers. He spent the next eight years in the A-League with the club, other than a brief spell with the Seattle Sounders in 1999. His only success with the club was when they topped the Western Conference table in 2000.

Career

England

Heald joined Port Vale, initially on trial, in September 1993, before he was offered a contract by manager John Rudge. ^[1] He had first enquired about joining an English club after going on vacation to visits relatives there the previous year. ^[3] The "Valiants" won promotion out of the Second Division in 1993–94 and competed in the First Division in 1994–95, though Heald never made a league appearance at Vale Park. ^[1] He left on a free transfer to Ray McHale's Scarborough in the Third Division in May 1995. He only started three games for the "Seadogs" in 1995–96, but made eleven substitute appearances, scoring twice in all competitions.

Canada

Heald returned to his hometown in Canada to play for the Vancouver 86ers, who were competing in the A-League. The club failed to reach the playoffs in 1996, but reached the Conference final in 1997, where they were beaten by the Milwaukee Rampage following a penalty shoot-out. They reached the quarter-finals in 1998, where they lost to the San Diego Flash. He spent the 1999 season with the Seattle Sounders, who lost out to the San Diego Flash at the semi-final stage; Heald was sent off in the game. He returned to Vancouver, who would lose to the Minnesota Thunder in the semi-finals in 2000. Now called the Whitecaps, they won the Western Conference in 2001, but lost to the Hershey Wildcats in the playoff semi-finals. In 2002, they reached the Conference final but lost to the Milwaukee Rampage after extra time. The next year, they lost to the Seattle Sounders in the division final following a penalty shoot-out; Heald successfully converted his penalty but Jeff Clarke's miss proved to be fatal. The 2004 season was the last of the A-League's existence, and the Whitecaps lost again to the Seattle Sounders in the Conference final.

Career statistics

Source: ^{[4] [5]}

Club	Season	Division	League		FA Cup		Other		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Port Vale	1993–94	Second Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Scarborough	1995–96	Third Division	9	1	1	0	4	1	14	2

Honours

Vancouver Whitecaps

• A-League Western Conference: 2000

References

1. Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 132. ISBN   0-9529152-0-0.
2. Rollin, Jack (1995). Rothmans football yearbook, 1995-96. Headline. ISBN   978-0-7472-7823-8 . Retrieved 27 November 2022.
3. "Oliver makes a Valiants bid". Staffordshire Sentinel. 18 September 1993. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
4. Ollie Heald at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
5. Ollie Heald at Soccerbase