Soccer in Manitoba has been blessed with dedicated volunteers like the late Sam Davidson.

In the post war era, some refer to Carruther’s Park as the finest soccer park in Canada, and much of the credit belonged to Davidson. “He ran Carruther’s Park like the late Johnny Petersen ran Osborne Stadium,” said Al Rouse, a local soccer stalwart in his playing days. “He was a kind-hearted man,” continued Rouse. “Remember, I was only a kid in those days (Davidson was managing director in the 1920’s) and he used to let three of four of us kids into Carruther’s Park for free, about 20 minutes after the games had started.”

Davidson held almost every soccer post imaginable. At the provincial level, he reorganized the Manitoba Referee’s Association in 1933 and was secretary of the MRA until the outbreak of World War I. He managed Winnipeg Ulster FC in 1912, was secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg and District Football League and treasurer of the Manitoba Football Association the next year, before becoming secretary of the MFA in 1914. In 1919 he was secretary treasurer of the MFA and later president of the Winnipeg and District League.

On the national and international scene, he was a council member of the Dominion Football Association in 1921. In 1922, he was named honourary secretary-treasurer of the DFA. Between 1924-39, he organized nine tours of Canada and the USA by British football teams. Between 1924-27, he arranged tours of Australia and New Zealand and was a one-man selection committee for the Canadian Team. During 1925-39, he was appointed a full-time official. In 1948, he was elected a life member of the DFA. In 1949, he was in charge of a tour of Canada and arranged tours by six British teams. That same year, Sam Davidson was elected to the Foreign Relation’s Board (chairman for four years) before becoming treasurer of the FRB in 1950.