Jimmy Coates
It is with regret that we announce the passing of our 1960 FA Amateur Cup Final captain.
We are sad to report that Jimmy Coates, life member at Kingstonian FC and captain of our FA Amateur Cup Final team of 1960, passed away on 26th April.
Jimmy made his Kingstonian debut on 7th March 1953 and went on to make 210 appearances, scoring 114 goals (and sits eighth in the all-time K's goalscoring list).
He was capped three times for the England Amateur team in 1956, against Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, scoring twice against the Irish. In the same year, he was selected for the Great Britain squad for the Melbourne Olympic Games and in friendlies after the games he scored a hat-trick against Malaya and another goal against Burma. A Royal Navy man for most of his life, he also played for the Royal Navy, the Combined Services and, after he was stationed there in 1961, he also played for Singapore.
He went back to Kingstonian after his Singapore posting and made his final K's appearance on 26th April 1965. He played some matches after his Kingstonian days for Falmouth Town and was also involved with Portsmouth Royal Navy. Before his K's career he played for the likes of Falmouth, Bognor Regis Town, Hampton and Queen's Park.
A physical instructor at the Royal Navy, one of his tasks was to get Portsmouth's field gun crew as fit as possible for the arduous Royal Tournament.
When he retired from the Navy, he went into Recreation Management, running sports centres in Newark, Guildford, St Austell and then Woking.
Sadly he was diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2008. Everyone at Kingstonian FC would like to express their condolences to Jimmy's family and friends.
