The votes were cast and in the end it was again a landslide.
<b>Paul Dolan</b> became the second member of AFTN's <i>Vancouver Whitecaps All Time Greats</i>, as goalkeeper for the CSL/D2 XI, joining NASL XI keeper Phil Parkes.
Dolan had a ten season career for the Vancouver 86ers between 1988 and 1997, bringing home two CSL Championships and making the most appearances of any goalkeeper in Vancouver's footballing history so far.
Clocking 223 total appearances and 19,913 minutes played, Dolie the Goalie is 10th in Vancouver's list of all time appearances for the Whitecaps and 86ers.
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Dolan grew up in Coquitlam and played his youth football in the city before signing for Edmonton Brickmen for the 1986 Western Soccer Alliance season.
A Canadian youth international on eight occasions, keeping five clean sheets, Dolan helped guide Canada to qualification for the 1985 World Youth Championship. His reward was to soon see action as a starting keeper for the senior national team before he had even established himself as the number one at club level, but his senior appearances cost him the chance to go to Russia for the U20 Cup.
He made his senior national team debut in the 0-0 draw in Cyprus on October 30th 1984, when still only 18, and followed that up by playing in Cairo in the 1-0 loss to Egypt three days later.
Dolan went on to make 51 appearances in a 14 year international career for Canada, making his last appearance in the 3-1 World Cup qualifying loss away to Costa Rica on November 16th 1997. He also played for Canada in the inaugural FIFA Futsal World Cup in the Netherlands in 1989.
The highlight of Dolan's international playing career was to come at an early age, when he headed with Canada to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and started the first group game against France on June 1st.
Although to many it may have felt being thrown in at the deep end, Dolan took it all in his <a href="http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/canada-fifa-world-cup-part-ii" target="_blank">stride</a>.
<i>"One or two days prior to France I found out I was going in. I wasn't as nervous as you might think. I gained experience very quickly during qualifying because the national team became my club team."</i>
Dolan kept a highly talented French side at bay until late on, when Jean-Pierre Papin scored the only goal of the game in the 79th minute in front of 65,500 fans. Tito Lettieri, who was coming off an indoor season and hadn't quite got his outdoor legs back, played the remaining two games and France went on to finish third overall at the tournament.
Dolan had trials with Notts County and Sheffield Wednesday in England after the World Cup, with the Owls offering him a five year contract before the UK's work permit issues got in the way.
Returning to North American, Dolan played the 1987/88 season for Tacoma Stars in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), making 11 appearances for 384 minutes. One his teammates on the side was Preki, although Homer Screws would have been my favourite at the time. What a name!
Back in BC, Dolan signed for the one season old Vancouver 86ers and made his club debut in their first CSL Championship winning season in 1988, making 7 appearances and keeping two clean sheets.
He wasn't the first choice keeper at the time and left the club midseason to join fellow CSL side Hamilton Steelers, where he stayed for a year and a half.
Dolan re-signed for the 86ers in 1990 in a swap deal with fellow keeper Sven Habermann. Vancouver definitely got the better part of that deal and Dolan stayed with the club for the next nine seasons, winning two back to back CSL Championships in his time with Vancouver in 1990 and 1991, finishing his pro career in the city and soon retiring from the playing side.
He recorded 126 wins during his time at the club, a staggering 56.5% record, and as we mentioned earlier, is in the Top Ten in All Time appearances for Whitecaps and 86ers.
His playing career over, he made the smooth transition into goalkeeping coach, sharing his wealth of knowledge with the up and coming Canadian keepers in the men's, women's and youth national team set ups from 2003 to present.
In Dolan's profile in the 86ers 1990 yearbook it states that he <i>"will pursue a career in Broadcast Journalism following his graduation from B.C.I.T. in Burnaby"</i>. A football career may have put that on hold a little but it did come true eventually!
Dolan did play-by-play and colour commentary for TV broadcasts on CBC Sports, Fox SportsWorld, Shaw cable and Team 1040 radio. When the Whitecaps made the move to Major League Soccer in 2011, Dolan joined the intial Team 1410 broadcasting team, as colour commentator to Pete Schaad, before making the switch to Sportsnet's telecasts in 2012.
Away from the football pitch, Dolan is the current Vice President of Marketing and Sales for UMBRO Canada and he started working for the company even before hanging up his boots.
Dolan was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2004 and now takes his deserved place as part of our Vancouver Whitecaps' All Time Greats CSL/D2 Best XI.
Dolan and Parkes will now battle it out with the MLS keeper for a place in the All-Time Greats XI later in the year and for me, will be the favourite to take that spot.
Paul Dolan - a true Vancouver and Canadian footballing legend.
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