John Glasby started his football volunteering with Wahroonga Soccer club where his sons Chris, Stephen and Tim played. John was a coach for many Wahroonga teams and was also involved with the development of coaches being Wahroonga’s coaching convenor in the late 1970’s.
John was involved in the revitalisation of the Ku-ring-gai and District Coaches Association in 1978 and the Annual Report of 1979 lists John Glasby as the Ku-ring-gai and District Coaches Association Treasurer. The Ku-ring-gai and District Coaches Association was responsible for the running of coaching courses, coaching demonstrations and the production of a coaching manual called ‘How to Organise Soccer Training for Fun and Learning’. This manual was in great demand, not only in our Association but from other areas of the state. John was mentioned in the 1979 Annual Report for his ‘invaluable assistance in running the ASF Certificate courses and the August school holiday clinic’.
In 1980, John became the President of the Coaching Association, a role he continued to perform until and including 1985. During this time, coaching demonstrations would be held on different aspects of play including, but not limited to, attacking and defensive play, passing and goal keeping. These sessions would attract 50 to 70 coaches. The sessions complemented the more formal demonstrations and courses of the KDSA (Ku-ring-gai and District Soccer Association) coaching program. During this time KDSA Super Skills program and Skills Awards were also introduced for players. It was hoped that running this program would lead to the development of talented and potential representative players within the district.
John became involved with the Representative sides of the KDSA and was the manager of the Under 11 representative team in 1982. In 1983, John was the Assistant Coach and Manager of the Under 12 Representative side. Below is a photograph of John Glasby (back row on the left) as the Manager of the 1982 Under 11 side.
John and son Tim were also involved in North Shore United FC. Tim was a player and John was the trainer in 1989. North Shore United FC was the Senior Representative Club of the KDSA in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. It was formed when Ku-ring-gai SC merged with North Sydney/Artarmon in 1989 to form North Shore United FC.
In 1983, John was made a Life Member of the Association. We thank John for his tireless work in developing coaching at Club and Association level and in turn the development of the players. John passed away in 1996.