Reginald Waite played for Brisbane club Returned Soldiers after the war. It is unknown whether he played in Brisbane before his enlistment. Waite had arrived in Australia in early 1913 after emigrating from England, but despite over 60 soccer teams existing in Brisbane in 1914, few club line-ups were printed in the newspapers.
Waite tried to enlist but had been rejected due to defective eyesight and teeth. But in August 1916 he was accepted at the age of 21 and allocated to the 42nd Battalion.
His military record covering his first year is minimal. This came to an end when Waites was shot in the scrotum and left thigh in August 1917 and invalided to England. He would not return to the fighting until April 1918 only to be gassed a month later. This time he did not recover until August. Waite was transferred to the 44th Battalion in October 1918, and then on to the 11th Light Trench Mortar Battery just six days before armistice.
He returned to England and started back to Australia in June 1919. Waite joined the Returned Soldiers soccer club in 1920 and played several games. The Daily Mail of 18 August 1920 stated he had played “capitally” as Returned Soldiers came from behind to beat Brisbane City 4-2.
Waite was not seen playing for the club when it merged with Brisbane City in 1921. This may be explained by the fact the 1922 electoral rolls placed him as living in Ubobo, located in the Boyne Valley region of Queensland. Waite did not marry until 1947, when he tied the knot with Dorothy Kay. He never had any children.
Waite passed away in 1982, seven years after Dorothy.