American soccer writing, history & data.
During the summer of 1920, a proposed fully professional east coast league was seriously floated. J. & P. Coats F.C, Fall River Rovers and Fore River F.C. were all in line to join. With the Rovers on the fence, Fore River and Coats declined the opportunity and the league never came to fruition. Prior to the 1920-21 Southern New England League season, the Sayles Finishing Plant F.C. of Saylesvil...
In the summer of 1919, after a season away, the Southern New England League made tentative plans to operate for the 1919-20 soccer season. Six clubs returned from the 1918-19 season: Fall River Rovers; New Bedford F.C.; New Bedford Celtics; J. & P. Coats F.C.; Fore River F.C.; and Crompton F.C. Two new clubs were added to bring the league up to eight members. The General Electric F.C. from Lynn...
The Southern New England Soccer League expected to enter the 1917-18 season with the same eight clubs from the prior season, but the Howard & Bullough club withdrew and disbanded just before the season began in September. Previously that summer, the U.S.F.A. had ruled that the Southern New England FA could not limit its clubs to only two cup competitions. A faction of the SNEFA pushed to leave the...
All seven clubs from the prior season returned for the 1916-17 Southern New England Soccer League season. The league originally awarded a franchise to a newly organized Providence Grays team. But, when that club was deemed unable to compete, Providence was dropped and the franchise was awarded to Crompton F.C. from Rhode Island. The Crompton club had won the championship of the Rhode Island league...
Along with Taunton City F.C. (which left the league at the late May annual meeting), Pawtucket F.C. dropped out of the Southern New England Soccer League before the 1915-16 season. Those two clubs were replaced by four others: Fall River Rovers; Fore River F.C. of Quincy, Mass.; Howard & Bullough F.C. of Pawtucket, R.I.; and Pan-American F.C. of Fall River. The latter was a reorganized version of ...
In its second season as an organization, the Southern New England Football Association organized the Southern New England League during the summer of 1914. Seven clubs joined the league: J. & P. Coats F.C. from Pawtucket; New Bedford F.C.; Pawtucket F.C.; Taunton City F.C.; the Young Men's Catholic Total Abstinence Society F.C. of New Bedford; Fall River Rovers and Greystone from North Providence....
During the offseason, rumblings began to be heard about the possibility of a new Eastern League to be made up of the best of the Eastern clubs. This included clubs such as Bethlehem Steel, Robins Dry Dock, New York F.C., and Paterson F.C from the NAFL as well as Fall River Rovers and J. & P. Coats from New England. The Eastern League didn't materialize for the 1920-21 season, but the seeds were pl...
Babcock & Wilcox dropped out of the league in the offseason but the league doubled to 10 teams with the addition of five clubs. Disston A.A. returned after a year's hiatus. Bolstered by former Scottish-American & Bethlehem Steel player, Archie Stark, Erie A.A. of Harrison joined and made an immediate impact. Other clubs that joined were Morse Dry Dock from Brooklyn, Federal Ship from Kearny, and N...
In the offseason, Disston, West Hudson and Jersey A.C. all dropped out of the league due to lack of available players because of the war effort. The Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation's soccer club out of Harriman, Penn. joined the league to bring the number of members to six. While Merchant Ship's first team became a member of the NAFL, their B team took part in the Delaware River Shipyard Soccer ...
A new era for the NAFL began with the onset of the Great War. Dublin F.C., Ironsides A.F.C. and Splitdorf F.C. were all out of the league after only one season. But they were replaced by better and much more stable clubs. A newly organized Paterson F.C. joined and the league expanded into Eastern Pennsylvania by adding the great Bethlehem Steel F.C. and Disston A.A. from the Tacony neighborhood o...
During the summer offseason, the U.S.F.A. ruled that all soccer teams in New Jersey, including those in the NAFL, must be affiliated with the New Jersey State Football Association. There was general concern that the NAFL which had been directly affiliated with the U.S.F.A. since its absorption of the A.F.A. may try to fight the ruling. At the beginning of the 1916-17 season, four NAFL clubs, We...
The NAFL was in trouble during the 1915-16 season. Newark, Paterson Rangers, True Blues and Bronx United all were suspended then ultimately dropped due to the inability to meet the financial needs of playing in the league. Two of the strongest amateur teams in New Jersey made the jump to the pro ranks and joined the NAFL. The Alley Boys F.C. of Harrison and Bayonne's Babcock & Wilcox F.C. were for...
During the offseason the league felt 12 teams was too many and formally dropped Wilberforce FC. & St. George F.C. The Newark Caledonians also dropped out right before the season started leaving the league to carry on as a 9-team concern. The Brooklyn Celtics would have been the Caledonians replacement in the NAFL if the Newark club had given their resignation in more time. The Scottish-American...
Prior to the 1913-14 season, both the American Football Association and the American Amateur Football Association filed for sanctioning with FIFA as the country's governing body. With broader support, the AAFA had the upper hand over the AFA which was older but only centered in the US northeast. To strengthen its position, the leaders of the AAFA formally dissolved that organization and replaced i...
The league brought in two extra teams, Caledonians of Newark and a newly-organized Brooklyn Wanderers, to bring the number up to 10. Having trouble finding grounds, the Wanderers merged into Brooklyn F.C. in late December after losing all 6 games they played. The Wanderers were replaced by Newark F.C. who dropped out of the New York State Amateur Association Football League mid-season to return to...
Turmoil and change was the order for the 1911-12 soccer season. Prior to the season, the American Amateur Football Association, a new national organization controlling amateur soccer in the US, was formed. The core of the formation was the New York State Football Association but a number of associations across the country soon affiliated with it. The AAFA was a direct competitor of the American F...
Stability was the name of the game for the 1910-11 season with all eight teams returning. Prior to the season, Wilberforce F.C. formed a stock company, secured some of the best players in the area, and ran independently from the Sons of St. George Lodge....
Clark A.A. withdrew before the 1909-10 season and the league grew to eight clubs with the return of Jersey A.C. and the additions of Wilberforce F.C. and Brooklyn F.C. (aka Brooklyn Field Club). The former was the football team for the Wilberforce Lodge of the Sons of St. George in Paterson, N.J....
Only half of the eight clubs returned from the 1907-08 season. West Hudson and Clark rejoined to make a six-team league. Those two clubs were tied at the end of the schedule and were declared co-champions. Again, results haven't been fully verified....
The league dropped down to eight clubs in its second season with Robert Burns club not returning. But, a week before the season started, West Hudson and Clark A.A. dropped out after the league's refusal to drop the division of gate receipts to the visiting team from 50% down to 25%. Hollywood Inn and Jersey A.C. were admitted to take their place. As with the prior season, full results have not bee...
A new National Association Football League was formed starting with the 1906-07 season. The league would be the home to most of the best New Jersey, as well as New York metro, clubs. While we have final standings, all results of those games have not been verified. Teams were scheduled to play a 22-game series, but the Scots and West Hudson played a final "special match" at the end of the season t...
I've stripped down the database and started rebuilding it from scratch. There are currently two main areas: clubs and leagues. Clubs Clubs are "containers" for an organization's teams. Teams are individual, well, teams that played for a club. A club can field different teams at the same time. For example, the Chattanooga FC club has both women's and men's teams. A club can also field the sa...
I've been interested in the history of US soccer for as long as I can remember. When I built the original Soccer Almanac website as a place to compile soccer stats for the major US pro leagues, there were very little resources for that info. But, with the explosion of data analytics, that work is now better done by leagues and their media partners. And, while stats are an important part of the gam...
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