A stumbling start for U.S. pro soccer
The first professional soccer league ever formed outside the British Isles opened play in several United States cities on Oct. 6, 1894. It closed 17 days later. If it accomplished anything, it was to...
View ArticleState-by-state soccer debuts
When and where was the first soccer game played in your state? Here are the answers to those questions — partial answers in many cases — for more than 40 different states. Of course, a few of these...
View ArticleThe American Football Association
The name is simple, clear and direct. It would make an excellent title for an organization governing the sport of soccer in the United States. However, it has already been taken, well over a century...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who were and weren’t the Oneidas?
Not too many years ago, references to the Oneida Football Club of Boston usually described it as the first soccer team in the United States. Even those of us who were skeptics about this idea were...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A shirt sponsor in 1887?
Shirt advertising is a relatively recent development in big-time professional soccer. The first European first-division team to wear shirt advertising was Eintracht Braunschweig of West Germany in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A false start
Soccer got going pretty quickly in American colleges after the standardization of the rules in England in 1863, but that turned out to be something of a false start. The very first steps took place...
View ArticleClik here to view.
U.S.-Canada in Kearny
Clark Field in East Newark, N.J., or at least the place that used to be Clark Field, doesn’t have a very athletic look about it today. Most of the block is a parking lot. At one end, there are some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The oldest American team
Who is the oldest still-operating soccer club in the United States? I used to be sure that I knew the answer to that question. I thought it was the Kearny Scots, the earliest mention of whom that I’ve...
View ArticleClik here to view.
School days
Among the unexpected things to be found in the Spalding soccer guides from the early part of the 20th century is a high school soccer league. That’s right. A public high school soccer league in the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Some early all-stars
Choosing an all-star team can involve some very difficult judgements. It’s tough enough when you’re picking among people who played a week ago or a month ago. When it’s people who played a century or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Fall River?
A few places might lay claim to the title of the first soccer capital of the United States. St. Louis has sometimes been referred to by that name. An argument might be made on behalf of the West...
View Article
