By Chris Lewis | June 10, 2021
The Mount Pearl Soccer Association has a new lifetime member – Newfoundland soccer standout Herb Jenkins.
Jenkins’s passion for soccer dates back more than six decades. The Mount Pearl resident was introduced to the sport playing pickup games on the streets with his friends, before graduating to all star status with the Guards soccer organization in the 1960s, playing on both junior and senior teams and even serving as captain with some gold medal winning squads in the Provincial Junior Soccer Tournaments of 1964 and 1968.
After his playing days were over, Jenkins carved a second career in soccer as a coach and official. He taught referee clinics in Mount Pearl throughout the 1970s and went on to become the first person in Newfoundland to be named a national referee after taking a refereeing course in England, taught by World Cup soccer officials.
While he started his soccer playing career in St. John’s, Jenkins later became synonymous with the development of the sport in Mount Pearl.
“I took teams from Mount Pearl across Canada, playing in different provinces, brought them over to England and Wales … I’ve been everywhere, man,” Jenkins said, jokingly referring to the Hank Snow classic country song.
Jenkins’ U-12 and U-16 Mount Pearl teams won provincial and Atlantic championships. He also managed the Newfoundland team that played in the 1981 Canada Games, held in Ontario.
“I just really love the sport. Just absolutely love it,” Jenkins said.
Although Jenkins has been inducted into Halls of Fame in the past, he said the event held on June 3rd to induct him into the Mount Pearl Soccer Association as a life member was one of the most humbling events of his life.
“I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it,” Jenkins said, adding how impressed and honoured he was by the recognition.
