ASL at 100 is a joint history project between Soccer Almanac and Protagonist Soccer. Dan Creel (a contributor on both platforms) will look back over the history of the American Soccer League, month by month, as the centennial of the league is celebrated in 2021. Please check out the Protagonist Podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and most other platforms for the audio version of this article, released on the same day as this publishes.

In the early part of the 20th century, while there were some paid players and professional clubs, amateurism was practiced by the vast majority of clubs in US soccer.This dynamic changed in part due to the industrialism which played a major role during World War One. As wartime industries grew to help the war effort those companies created athletic associations to promote athletics as a positive form of recreation, to keep their workers happy and foster a sense of camaraderie, and provide the companies branding opportunities. These companies backed sponsored teams in a variety of sports including track & field, baseball, basketball, bowling, and gridiron football.

Not being content with simply providing sporting opportunities, many companies, and the industrialists heading them, began aggregating the best players for their sponsored clubs in order to beat the competition. The companies would offer much higher wages to players for technically a job at the company itself but really for those players to play for the company sponsored teams.

In soccer, this meant that arguably the best two clubs in the US at the beginning of the 1920s were Pennsylvania’s Bethlehem Steel Football Club and the Robins Dry Dock & Repair Club of Brooklyn. Both clubs were fully professional, backed by corporations and were members of the New Jersey-based National Association Football League.

The NAFL

The NAFL was one of the best soccer leagues in the US during the first two decades of the 20th century. The league was made up of a combination of fully amateur, fully professional and semi-pro clubs. But, by 1921, the top clubs like Bethlehem Steel and Robins Dry Dock were frustrated with the lack of competition and the often incompetence of how the league and the New Jersey State Football Association, which sanctioned the league, were run. For example, it was a regular occurrence for small, less popular teams to boost home attendance by purposefully failing to field the required 11 players on match day and officially forfeiting a league match. The home team would then trot out a local all-star club in a friendly against the more popular visiting league club. The core of the inaugural ASL season would be made up of organizations connected to the NAFL

The guiding light behind the creation of the ASL was Thomas Cahill. Cahill is considered the most important organizer of early 20th century US soccer. He grew up in St. Louis and founded the Shamrocks which won a number of St Louis Football League titles at the turn of the century. He later moved to Newark, New Jersey and, in 1911, established the American Amateur Football Association which, after reorganizing as the U.S. Football Association, was sanctioned by FIFA in 1913 as the national governing body for soccer. Cahill served as the USFA’s secretary from 1913 until he was deposed after a power struggle in 1921. Cahill then went around the country drumming up support for a true national professional soccer league. His hopes were to form competitions in the east and midwest that would play in a national championship each season. While the midwestern league would be put on hold, Cahill was successful in forming the eastern one for the 1921-22 season.

The Formation of the ASL

The American Soccer League was formed Saturday, May 7th at the Hotel Astoria in New York City. Clubs present from the NAFL were Bethlehem Steel F.C., New York F.C., Erie A.A. from Kearny, New Jersey, and Robins Dry Dock F.C. As they were subsidiaries of a larger corporation, Robins Dry Dock would be combined with the Tebo Yacht Basin F.C. under the name of the Todd Shipyards F.C. which would join the ASL. Also in attendance were two clubs from the Southern New England Football League: Massachusetts’ Fall River Rovers and the J. & P. Coats F.C. from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Rounding out the eight attendees were two new teams: Celtic F.C. from Jersey City and the Philadelphia F.C.

In order to assure a presence for the league in Philadelphia, W. Luther Lewis, directing manager of Bethlehem Steel F.C., agreed to organize and manage a team in that city. The hope was that once the Philadelphia team was organized and on its way to success, Bethlehem’s backing would withdraw and the club turned over for exclusive management by Philadelphia owners. To get the new club up and running Bethlehem Steel would likely agree to release a number of its reserve players to sign contracts with the Philadelphia club.

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Two weeks later the teams reconvened and Luther Lewis was elected as league president. Each team also paid the required $500 to become members. At this meeting, the Erie A.A. club was replaced by New Jersey’s Harrison S.C. The Harrison club was newly organized and mainly comprised of officials connected with the Erie A.A. club and, more importantly, had an option on the Harrison Field for the upcoming soccer season.

The Fall River Rovers were also replaced as a member by the Fall River United A.A.. The Rovers were one of the best US soccer teams at the turn of the 20th Century winning a number of league titles along with the 1917 National Challenge Cup (now called the US Open Cup). The Fall River United A.A. was formed in early 1921 in hopes of securing the city’s Bedford Street Athletic grounds in order to stage various sports during the year. The organizers also visited with Cahill and discussed his project of organizing a national soccer league. In July, Fall River United organized a soccer team to play an All-Scotland team touring the US sponsored by Third Lanark. Having secured the Bedford Street Athletic grounds and formed a team, Fall River United joined the ASL while the Rovers, without a true home grounds and a league, saw an uncertain fate.

A bigger shakeup occurred at the end-of-July ASL league meeting. While Harrison S.C. was officially awarded a franchise, Bethlehem Steel F.C. dropped out. Although they were one of the best teams in the nation, Bethlehem had always struggled with attendance at their home matches. At that league meeting Bethlehem sought to change a rule allowing the home team to keep all the gate receipts to one where clubs would split gate receipts: 65% to the home side and 35% to the visitors. The vote needed a 2/3s majority but failed. Given the vote, Luther Lewis announced that Bethlehem would forfeit its ASL franchise and also disband. Near the end of August, the league voted to add the Falco A.A. of Holyoke, Massachusetts, sponsored by the Farr Alpaca Company, as an ASL member to fill the vacancy caused by the withdrawal of Bethlehem Steel. The league also unanimously voted that the $500 guarantee and $50 entrance fee paid by Bethlehem Steel be returned to the club minus $50 expenses incurred.

September 1921

The clubs

The ASL began September of 1921 with their contingent of eight teams firmed up - the Falco Athletic Association Football Club of Holyoke, Massachusetts; the Fall River United Athletic Association Football Club of Fall River, Massachusetts; the Harrison Soccer Club and Athletic Association of Harrison, New Jersey; the J. & P. Coats Athletic Association Football Club of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; the Celtic Football Club of Jersey City, New Jersey; the New York Football Club of the Bronx; the Philadelphia Football Club; and Todd Shipyards Football Club of Brooklyn.

Map of American Soccer League clubs in 1921.

The First weekend

On September 4th the initial schedule of eight dates, starting September 17th & 18th, through the first round of the National Challenge Cup was drawn at a meeting of the ASL’s executive committee. The first two games of the inaugural 1921-22 season kicked off at 3pm on Saturday, September 17, 1921.

As reported by the Fall River Globe, on a rainy afternoon, Fall River United hosted Falco F.C. before 600 fans at the Bedford Street Athletic Grounds. Fall River United’s roster was dotted with players formerly with the Fall River Rovers plus other players from Fall River’s City League.

“While the hosts had most of the best play, they had trouble converting due to the weather making the ball soggy and hard to control.”

Scoreless in the first half, Falco jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the second-half kickoff when center forward E. Logan received a pass from his left and barrelled downfield to score single-handedly. Just 10 minutes later, Falco held a two-goal lead. Smith, at outside right, passed to J. Brown at inside right. Brown made a low shot and John “Chick” Albion, the Fall River keeper, couldn’t stop the slippery ball. 15 minutes later, Fall River United pulled one back after Falco’s right back Burnett cleared the ball. Fall River’s inside right Paddy Butler got the ball and, on the counter attack, dribbled from center and scored from 25 yards out. Fall River continued to push on offense and inside left Hugh Weir scored from a scrum tying the match two to two. Fall River tried to break the tie, making Falco’s keeper, Billy Gray, stop a number of shots. But with 10 minutes remaining, the home team eased up their play and grew careless. With just 5 minutes left in the match, inside left J. Downie scored for Falco off a header to give them a 3 to 2 edge. Fall River United landed a corner kick with a minute remaining but Falco managed to clear the ball and the referee blew his whistle to end the game giving Falco the one-goal victory.

Also on Saturday, J&P Coats hosted Philadelphia at Coats Field in Pawtucket. Philly’s squad was made up almost entirely of players formerly with the great Bethlehem Steel club and the quality continued with the Phillies. Like the other match, this game was scoreless through the first half, with the Coats’ keeper, Tommy Whalen, fighting off numerous scoring chances by the Phillies. Led by the great inside left, Bob Millar, the Coats’ offense was no pushover, but, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia defense was firing on all cylinders and snuffed out the threadmen’s chances.

Dougie Campbell, a former Bethlehem Steel captain who played the previous season in the NAFL for Bayonne’s Babcock & Wilcox club, put Philadelphia on the board first with a goal in the 57th minute. Philadelphia’s outside left, Tommy Fleming, drove the ball towards the Coats’ goal. J&P’s left full back, Charles Lappin, cleared the ball but it was intercepted by Campbell. Philly’s inside left scored on a low shot to the corner of the goal. Almost immediately after, the Phillies got the ball back and outside right, Fred Morley, dribbled down the right wing, passed to Campbell who scored his second. And, soon again, Philadelphia’s center halfback, William Porter, sent a long forward pass to Campbell who completed the hat-trick and a 3-0 win for the Phillies before the roughly 1,500 in attendance.

Given that both Saturday games were scheduled to begin at 3pm, both games were scoreless in the first half, and that Falco’s goal was scored immediately after that match’s second half kickoff, it is likely that Logan’s first score for Falco F.C. is the first ever goal in American Soccer League history. It would be Logan’s only reported goal in the ASL as he would play the rest of the season at the fullback position. Falco’s second goal by Brown 10 minutes later and Campbell’s goal for Philadelphia 12 minutes into the second half of last game are likely the second and third goals in league history but it is hard to know which one may have come first.

The remaining four ASL teams played their first games on the next afternoon, Sunday, September 18. Celtic F.C. of Jersey City traveled to Todd Field at Lorraine and Columbia Streets in South Brooklyn to face Todd Shipyards, the amalgamation of the Robins Dry Dock and Tebo Yacht Basin clubs. Because of this Todd Shipyards was something of a super club with Robins having won the National Challenge Cup and the American Football Association Cup the prior year and Tebo Yacht Basin winning the New York State Football League and Southern New York State Football Association Cup the previous season.

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On the other hand, the Jersey City Celtics were a newly organized team with little competitive play under their belts. And it showed. As reported by the New York Tribune, Todd built up a 4-0 lead in the first half. After a save by Thomson, the Celtic keeper, center forward Frank McKenna scored the first goal for Todd after only 5 minutes of play. Inside right Jack McGuire soon scored from 18 yards out, McKenna scored his second, and, just before halftime, right halfback James Campbell scored from 30 yards out. In the second half, McGuire scored another, inside left Robert Hosie got on the board, and McKenna completed his hat trick to make it 7-0 and a clean sheet for keeper Pete Renzulli to the delight of the 1500 in attendance.

The other Sunday match was a much closer affair. New York F.C. hosted Harrison S.C. at New York Oval located at 150th and River Streets in the Bronx. The home side went up two to nothing in the first half on goals by outside right Tommy Duggan and inside right Archie Stark. Along with his older brother Tommy, Archie had moved from Scotland to Hudson County, New Jersey when they were both teenagers. The brothers quickly made names for themselves in the north Jersey soccer hotbed concentrated around East Newark, Harrison and Kearny. Archie signed his first pro contract at 14 with the Scottish-Americans of the National Association Football League and quickly became one of the top forwards in the league. Tommy, a defender, joined the Scots a couple of years later and the brothers would play together for most of their time in the NAFL ending up at their home-town Erie A.A. for the final two years of the league. When the ASL replaced the NAFL as the top eastern league, the Stark brothers jumped to the New York F.C.

Although down 2 to nothing, the Harrison club was not done and, as reported by the New York Times, rallied in the second half and tied the score off a brace by inside right John Heminsley. That score held through to the final whistle earning both teams a 2-2 draw.

The Second Weekend

The next Saturday, Fall River United traveled to Holyoke to face the Falcos. As reported by the Fall River Globe, the 800 in attendance went home disappointed as the home side was blanked 2-0. Fall River’s manager, Connie Lynch, inserted himself into the lineup at center forward. It would be his first game as a player since breaking his leg playing for Fall River Rovers the previous year. Although still not 100%, the move paid off as Lynch scored the first goal of the match at the 28 minute mark. Fall River scored one more and Chick Albion got a clean sheet giving the visitors a 2-0 win.

That same day, Philadelphia F.C. opened their home schedule hosting J. & P. Coats at the Northeast High School grounds at 29th and Clearfield Streets. The first half ended with both teams at 2 goals. Coats got a brace from Bob Millar. The 31-year-old Millar began his professional career for St. Mirren in the Scottish Football League before moving to the States and joining Philadelphia-area Disston Athletic Association for the 1912-13 season. The next season he played for Brooklyn F.C. of the NAFL. Millar helped the club, nicknamed the “all-stars” due to a lineup loaded with top players, to a NAFL championship and he provided the assist on the game winning goal against Brooklyn Celtic F.C. in the first ever National Challenge Cup final on May 16, 1914. Millar joined Bethlehem Steel F.C. the following season and won a second National Challenge Cup that year. He would win another NAFL & National Challenge Cup double with Bethlehem during the 1918-19 season and had spent the season prior to the inaugural ASL season with Erie A.A. before jumping to J&P Coats. Playing center forward, Millar scored the Coats’ first goal in the first two minutes of play hitting a long, low drive that beat Findlay Kerr, the Phillies keeper.

While the Coats stuck around in the first half, the Philadelphia lineup was much too strong and scored four unanswered to win the match 6-2. As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the 1500 in attendance saw continued excellent play from the home side including a brace from their great center forward, Harold Brittan.

On Sunday, September 25th, Celtic F.C. hoped to bounce back from the prior week’s drubbing when they visited New York F.C. at New York Oval. As reported by the New York Tribune, the Jerseyites came out strong going up 1-0 early. But the 3000 fans in attendance saw New York get on track and win easily by a 6-2 score. The other Sunday match saw Harrison S.C. visiting Todd Shipyards in front of 3000 at Todd Field. As reported by The Brooklyn Standard Union Harrison got on the board first but Todd took the game 3-2.

End of September

At the end of September, with two wins each, Philadelphia and Todd Shipyards were tied after the first two weekends of play. New York sat third followed by Fall River United, Falco and Harrison. J & P Coats and the Jersey City Celtics sat at the bottom winless after their two games.

Looking Forward

In the next ASL at 100 article, October brings the first full month of league games. The teams begin National Challenge Cup play. And storm clouds appear on the horizon for one club.

Please check out the monthly flashcast of this history, available on the Protagonist Podcast feed.

- Dan Creel