From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jay DeMerit
Personal information
Full name	Jay DeMerit
Date of birth	December 4, 1979 (age 27)
Place of birth	Green Bay, WI, United States
Height	5'11"
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Watford
Number	6
Youth clubs
1998-2001 2001-02	University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago Fire Premier
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004-	Watford	77 (7)
National team2
2007-	United States	1 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:40, 28 March 2007 (EST). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 28 March 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Jay DeMerit (born 4 December 1979 in Green Bay, Wisconsin) is an American soccer player, currently playing for Watford in the Premier League. He was a three-sport high school athlete in Wisconsin, where he participated in basketball and track in addition to soccer. He attended Bay Port High School and graduated in 1998.

DeMerit played NCAA soccer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he moved from playing forward to defender. While in college, DeMerit formed part of a defensive backline that helped lead the team into the NCAA playoffs in 2000. Although he played with Chicago Fire Premier, the reserves for the Chicago Fire in the USL Premier Development League, he was not drafted or signed by any Major League Soccer clubs following graduation from college. Taking the advice of a European former teammate, he decided to take advantage of his EU work status (due to his Danish grandfather) and moved to England in 2003 with only $1,800 in an attempt to find a club. He started off playing in the ninth tier of English football, for a Sunday league team (Southall Town FC) earning only £40 a week.

In July 2004, DeMerit joined semi-professional team Northwood, a seventh tier side, to play in some of their preseason matches. Northwood played Watford, then a League Championship side in their second preseason match. During the course of the match, DeMerit impressed then Watford manager Ray Lewington enough to earn a two-week trial. Following the trial, DeMerit signed a one year contract with Watford to play in their 2004-2005 season and has been a regular in the Watford lineup ever since.

During the 2005-2006 season, Watford was expected by many to fight relegation from the Championship to the League One as they had in DeMerit's first season with the club. However, under new coach Adrian Boothroyd, Watford maintained strong form throughout the season and finished 3rd in the Championship table, earning the right to enter the playoffs for the last of three annual promotion spots to the Premier League. On 21 May 2006, in the play-off final against Leeds United, DeMerit headed in the game's first goal and was named Man of the Match as Watford gained promotion to the Premier League by defeating Leeds United 3-0. Soon afterwards, he joined the ranks of sports people/musicians by releasing a single entitled "Soccer Rocks", available in the club shop.

Jay's hard work in the 2005-06 Championship season and his efforts in helping get the club promoted have been rewarded with a contract extension taking him through to the end of the 2008-09 season as a Watford player.

Demerit often fills the role of Watford's vice-captain, behind Gavin Mahon. He captained Watford for the first time on 9 December 2006 in the home game against Reading, and re-donned the armband for the 4-1 demolition of Stockport County In The FA Cup third round tie on January 6, 2007.

Demerit also does a lot of charity work, mainly for Cancer Research UK ^[1].

Jay earned his first cap for the national team on March 28, 2007, starting in a friendly between the US and Guatemala.^[2]

• Jay DeMerit career stats at Soccerbase
• Season-by-season statistics from jaydemerit.tripod.com
• Jay DeMerit articles on Yanks Abroad
• USA Today article on DeMerit prior to Watford's promotion match against Leeds United
• London Calling
• DeMerit Making His Name in the Premiership

Watford F.C. - Current Squad

1 Chamberlain | 2 Chambers | 3 Stewart | 4 Mackay | 5 Carlisle | 6 DeMerit | 7 Francis | 8 Mahon | 9 King | 10 Henderson | 11 Powell | 12 Doyley | 15 Kabba | 16 Lee | 17 Shittu | 18 Bouazza | 20 Bangura | 22 Osborne | 23 Mariappa | 24 Priskin | 25 Williams | 26 Foster | 27 Grant | 29 Smith | 30 Parkes | 31 Rinaldi | 33 Loach | 34 Gill | 35 Campana | 37 Hoskins | 38 Williamson | 41 Cavalli | –– Avinel | Manager: Boothroyd

Persondata
NAME	DeMerit, Jay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional football player
DATE OF BIRTH	December 4, 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH	Green Bay, Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH