The Greatest Team That Never Was

This is the story of the greatest American soccer team that never was.

US soccer was in its heyday in 1980. The North American Soccer League, the country’s major league, was in its most stable and prosperous time. And, soccer, in general, had made it in America. Everything looked rosy for the sport that had so long been more promise than reality.

The American Soccer League was no different. The older, smaller sibling of the NASL did not operate at the same level, but the league seemed ready to break out of its semi-pro shell. A few years earlier the ASL finally became a truly national league when it expanded to the west coast. And, in 1980, the league expanded into Arizona, a soccer community that even the NASL had yet to tap.

In late June of 1979, Leonard Lesser, a Phoenix insurance executive and president of Phoenix Professional Sports Inc., which included five unnamed associates, purchased the NASL Memphis Rogues for a reported $1.6 million plus $1 million in debts. The Phoenix investors hinted that, if the sale was approved by the league, the franchise would likely be moved to Phoenix.

A week later, Rogues owner Harry Mangurian, rejected the offer of the Phoenix group to buy the NASL franchise. While Mangurian refused to reveal the issue, a newspaper article at the time revealed that Phoenix Professional Sports had not been able to come up with the necessary cash deposit of $200,000 nor a “proper” profit and loss statement. Lesser, claiming that the Phoenix group had a net worth of about $100 million, disagreed that the sale was off and expected to pay a $650,000 security bond. The sale was never finalized.

Two months later, in September, Lesser’s Phoenix Professional Sports, Inc. acquired an expansion franchise for Phoenix in the ASL. The official announcement was made at the Phoenix Press Club with “retiring” ASL commissioner Bob Cousy and Phoenix mayor Margaret Hance on hand. The announced cost of an ASL franchise at that point was $250,000 and Lesser said that the team’s operating expenses would be over $500,000 for the 1980 season. The team would play at Phoenix College’s Hoy Field where it would need to have an average attendance of six to seven thousand to break even. The average ASL attendance was about 3,800 per game.

It was also announced that Phoenix’s head coach would be Jim Gabriel. He had been the head coach of the Seattle Sounders for the past three years and resigned from the team only six weeks before. Lesser contacted him only a few days after the resignation and Gabriel inked a five-year contract with PPS. Lesser named himself general manager of the nascent team with Gabriel to be assistant GM. Gabriel brought Harry Redknapp, his assistant coach in Seattle, with him to Phoenix as an assistant coach and player.

In December, Jerry Underwood of Phoenix won a name-the-team contest and the team was dubbed the Phoenix Fire. The team officially signed a lease with the state to use Hoy Field for the season. And, Gabriel, with seemingly deep pockets, began signing players.

Roger Verdi was the first player signed to the expansion franchise. Born Rajinder Singh Virdee to Indian Sikh parents, his family moved to England when he was a child and he eventually changed his name due to racism. Playing with youth clubs in England, Verdi, a defender, moved to North America when he was not offered a professional contract by an English club. Verdi played in the NASL from 1972 to 1978 and then moved to the ASL in 1979 helping the Columbus Magic make the league finals. 

Later that month, the team signed three more players. The first two were Terry Hickey, a midfielder from London, and Darrell Oak from North Dakota. The fourth player signed was New Yorker Manny Matos who had won the 1974 NCAA Division II championship with Adelphi University. All three of the signees had previously played for Gabriel in Seattle.

On January 11, 1980, the ASL held its annual college and territorial drafts in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Fire selected eight players in the draft including Henry Valdez, from Mesa High School, as its very first draft pick during the territorial round. Of those players, only the team’s final pick, Jim Anglim, a midfielder from Adelphi University, made the final roster.

At the end of January, the Fire signed two more players. Victor Arbelaez was a Columbian forward who had helped the University of San Francisco win an NCAA soccer championship in 1975. Aarbelaez was also a veteran of the ASL and NASL as well as the Major Indoor Soccer League. His claim to fame in the major league was scoring the only goal for the Las Vegas Quicksilvers in a 1-0 win against the legendary 1977 New York Cosmos team.

But, the bigger story for the Phoenix soccer community may have been the signing of Ray Ochoa of Mesa. Only 19 years old, Ochoa had been an all-state athlete at Mesa Westwood High School and played for the Mesa Stormers of the Arizona senior league.

On February 11, the Fire announced the signing of three veteran players which announced to the rest of the ASL that the expansion team would be a force to be reckoned with for the 1980 season. Scottish striker, Jimmy Rolland, had spent the prior four seasons with the ASL’s Los Angeles Skyhawks. Rolland had helped the Skyhawks to the 1976 ASL championship in their first season and was the team’s leading scorer and league MVP as the team made the ASL final in the 1978 season.

Another big signing was Liverpudlian, John Rowlands. The defender (and sometime forward) had been a journeyman in the English Football League before joining the NASL as a teammate with Jimmy Gabriel with the Seattle Sounders in 1974 and 1975. Rowlands was acquired from the NASL’s San Jose Earthquakes to play for Phoenix.

The other signing from England was Tom Jenkins. The midfielder had been a teammate of Jim Gabriel at Southampton during the late sixties and early seventies then joined Gabriel at the Seattle Sounders later in the decade. While Rollands and Rowlands were still starters when they joined Phoenix, Jenkins had barely played more than a handful of matches for Seattle the prior two seasons. Immediately before joining the Fire, Jenkins had played regularly for the Pittsburgh Spirits of the MISL during the league’s inaugural 1979-80 season.

Along with building a competitive roster, the expansion Fire also made outreach with the Phoenix community. Along with the signing of Ochoa, the Fire’s staff also took part in a celebrity soccer match against local celebrities. The outreach seemed to work as the Fire’s season ticket sales of 900 was second in the league only to the Pennsylvania Stoners’ 1100.

The team hoped to make a big splash in its first real match by hosting the NASL’s Chicago Sting on February 22 at Hoy Field. A week prior, Jim Gabriel had only had a chance to hold two practices for the expansion team but had begun having daily morning practices at Grand Canyon College leading up to their first match.

Four more players, bringing the total to 16, were signed the Tuesday before the match with Chicago. Forward Harry Redknapp was officially signed as a player and assistant coach. Redknapp brought goalie Kieron Baker out of semi-retirement to join the Fire. The pair had been teammates with Bournemouth. Baker had been the regular goalkeeper for most of that time, but was on the roster of Ipswich Town during the 1978-79 season. He never played for the first team and retired at the end of that season due to injuries.

Two more journeyman English leaguers were also signed. Defender Neil Hague, previously with Darlington, had also played with Redknapp at Bournemouth. And, forward Terry Shanahan had previously been with Aldershot.

Rounding out the roster were a trio of Americans. Tim Logush was the most experienced. The forward won the 1971 U.S. National Amateur Cup with Kutis S.C. of St. Louis and won two NCAA soccer championships in 1972 and 1973 with the Saint Louis Billikens. Logush was drafted by the NASL’s Seattle Sounders in 1975 but only saw action in four games. That same year Logush earned a cap with the U.S. Men’s National Team during a 4-0 loss to Poland on June 24. Logush went on to play in the ASL with the New Jersey Americans and Indianapolis Daredevils before joining the Phoenix Fire. Another young Saint Louis University player, Dean Shemeld, signed with the Fire after traveling from Milwaukee for an open tryout. Finally, backup goalie, Tom Lytle, had previously played with the Santa Clara College Dons.

That Friday, with an announced attendance of 9,809, the Phoenix Fire defeated the Chicago Sting in a 2-1 come-from-behind rally. Chicago’s German striker, Arno Steffenhagen, scored unassisted in the fifth minute after intercepting a pass. Neither team scored the rest of the first half as Phoenix put little offensive pressure on the Chicago goal.

Gabriel made tactical adjustments at halftime to play wider to the wings. He moved John Rowlands up from defense to take advantage of the player’s height and gave Terry Shanahan more freedom on the pitch. The changes gave more variety to the Fire’s attack.

With 25 minutes left to play, Steffenhagen was sent off for multiple fouls giving Phoenix the man advantage. In the 72nd minute, Shanahan crossed the ball from the left corner to Rowlands who headed the ball in from 18 yards out. Shanahan won the game in the 87th minute scoring a goal from 10 yards out on a centering pass from Tim Logush.

The Fire’s next match was a preseason game against fellow ASL expansion team, the Golden Gate Gales which were based in the Bay Area. Although the team was riding high after the game against the Chicago Sting, the Fire would be without the services of their starting goalie for two months as Baker had broken a knuckle during the match. But, backup goalie Lytle, handled the situation well and, on March 1, Phoenix defeated the Gales 1-0 at Hoy Field on a goal by Jimmy Rolland.

The Fire’s biggest challenge was yet to come. They were due to face the Mexico National Team on March 11 at Hoy Field. At this point, Mexico’s young superstar forward, Hugo Sánchez, was not only playing for his national team but also with UNAM of the Mexican Primera División and the NASL’s San Diego Sockers in the off-season.

A few days before the match, storm clouds began developing over the Phoenix Fire organization. Lesser stepped down as general manager of the team and the board of directors decided to take a more active role in the team’s management.

The Mexican National Team dominated the Fire 3-0 in front of 3,500 at Hoy Field. Jim Gabriel tasked the young Mesan, Ray Ochoa, to mark Hugo Sanchez. While Ochoa held his own in the first half, Sanchez outclassed the rookie in the second.

Jorge Malo Lopez put the Mexicans on the board in the 20th minute scoring off a rebound on an indirect kick. Sanchez received a pass from Juan Luis Gonzales from the right corner and scored in the 55th minute. And, with less than six minutes to play, Ochoa fouled Sanchez leading to a penalty kick that the superstar converted.

The Phoenix Fire had one more preseason match on March 14 at Hoy Field against the Sacramento Gold, 1979 ASL champions, before their first regular season began on March 22 at home against the Golden Gate Gales. Jim Gabriel had finalized his roster, a mix of experienced English league veterans and young Americans, that he hoped would contend for the 1980 ASL championship.

But off the field, the Fire was in trouble. Papers began reporting that sources inside the organization said the team was in financial crisis and unable to meet certain obligations. The Gold were promised $2,000 plus expenses for two preseason games but the team was unsure if the payment would be made. In addition, the ASL had ruled John Rowlands ineligible because the check used in the transaction to acquire the player could not be cashed by the San Jose Earthquakes. Rowlands could not play against Sacramento.

According to players and front office personnel, Leonard Lesser did not so much as resign but was removed by his fellow investors. The club had a letter of credit for $1.5 million over three years with $500,000 earmarked for losses each season. But, after finding out that Lesser had severely over budgeted the organization, the remaining investors stepped in to jointly operate the team until a new general manager was found.

Sacramento beat the Fire 1-0 on an Anselmo Vicioso goal from 30 yards out. Only 500 were in attendance to see the exhibition. Coach Jim Gabriel subbed himself into the match at the striker position near the end of a match. The move was a personal superstition Gabriel had to play a few exhibition minutes each season.

The ASL governors flew to Phoenix the day after the Sacramento preseason match in hopes of finding a strategy to save the Fire. Their main plan was to severely cut back on player salaries and promotions.

Lesser had inked some players to $35,000 contracts. And, with the average player salary in the ASL at $12,000 to $15,000, officials were uncertain how Lesser expected to pay such high salaries with only 14 home games. In addition, the Fire had spent $50,000 to expand Hoy Field to 15,000 seats from 9,000 even though no ASL team had ever averaged 9,000 fans. Lesser had already committed over $500,000 before the season even began.

Players were found to have not been paid and checks issued by the club bounced. Even though they had not been paid, the players agreed to play the second, newly scheduled preseason match against Sacramento on Sunday, March 16.

The Fire and the Gold drew 1-1 on Civitan Soccer Sunday at Amphitheater High School in Tucson. Arbaelez scored on a header from a Rolland pass in the 9th minute. And Mike Mancini tied it up in the 30th minute after intercepting a Phoenix back pass. But the 3500 in attendance saw a substandard affair caused by the narrow high school football field and, likely, disinterested players.

On March 18, four days before the Phoenix Fire played its first regular season game, the team’s PR director, Joe Daggett, intended to put out a press release about the organization’s status. He was unable to complete the task because a leasing company had taken back the team’s typewriters.

Lesser was still optimistic that the Fire would play its first match, but coach Gabriel and the investor group working to save the franchise were extremely pessimistic. Sources indicated that most of the essential office equipment was gone, the team had missed its payroll for players and staff, and was $100,000 in debt. Financial obligations such as rent and installation of bleacher seats at Hoy Field and travel costs to bring in foreign players had gone unpaid.

Players were unsure of their next move and even how they would get back home. Jim Gabriel planned to borrow money to move his family back to Bellevue, Washington and then sell his house there to start over. He had been contacted by the San Jose Earthquakes for a coaching position but was unable to negotiate while under contract with Phoenix.

“This team could have won the ASL,” he said. 

The next day, at a board of directors meeting for the club, Leonard Lesser resigned as president and member of the board, but retained his stock interest. Lesser then came up with $450 in cash, which Jim Gabriel split among the players at $20 a piece.

Even though the writing was on the wall, the Fire’s management refused to issue a statement concerning the official status of the club. With only a day before the opening game of the ASL season, the league and the Fire’s opponent, the Golden Gate Gales, had to assume the game was still officially on until formally told otherwise.

A group of fans quickly formed the “Friends of Soccer” group that set up a benefit game for the players to be played the same night as the all-but-cancelled league match at Hoy Field. The game would match the Fire players against an Arizona all-star team with profits going to help with players’ living expenses and travel costs back to their homes.

Phoenix College announced the field would not be available for either the Fire or the benefit game unless they were paid the $1708 rental still owed. And, while the Gales were still expected to arrive for their scheduled game, the ASL reported that the Fire had still only registered three of its players. If the Fire were to play the other players illegally, the game would be declared a forfeit and Phoenix would be fined $10,000. Neither the league nor the Gales nor even the Friends of Soccer could do anything until they had official word on the status of the club from the Phoenix Fire.

“We were taken in,” said an ASL owner. “It should never have happened.” - The Sacramento Bee, 21 March 1980

Phoenix Professional Sports released Phoenix College from its game day contract allowing the Friends of Soccer to hold its benefit game at Hoy Field. Phoenix College cut its normal rental fee by $1,000 dollars for the group. The league officially postponed the regular season opener, giving Fire officials until midweek to find new owners or investors.

The Fire players beat the team of Valley amateurs 5-0 in front of 660 paid spectators. After expenses, each player received $21.33. This was all the cash players had received since March 1.

Mel Shimek, one of Phoenix’s co-owners, was still working to get investors. The group had been able to come up with $40,000 but were still hoping to raise another $60,000 via small investors coming in under limited partnerships. Jim Gabriel was willing to stay if things turned around, but had to drive back to Bellevue with his family leaving Harry Redknapp in charge of the club. Redknapp didn’t mince words, placing the blame squarely on Lesser. He stated that Lesser had missed paychecks as early as January 15.

On Thursday, March 28, the Phoenix Fire’s ASL franchise was terminated by the club’s board of directors.

After the experience, Roger Verdi, estimated to have a salary of $35,000, was angry at both the club and the league. He dubbed the ASL “a nickel and dime operation” and vowed never to play for the league again unless they paid him up front.

A few months later, in July, Verdi was again the first player signed by a Phoenix expansion franchise. This time it was the Phoenix Inferno of the MISL. Verdi would play the entire 1980-81 season for the Inferno before retiring and moving into coaching.

Jimmy Gabriel borrowed $5,000 from friends to move his family back to Bellevue. Once there, he put his house up for sale in order to pay off debts accrued due to the debacle in Phoenix. In October, Gabriel would be hired by the San Jose Earthquakes to become their new head coach.

In November, Leonard Lesser was back in the news. In New York, he held a press conference to announce the formation of a 10-team U.S. Soccer League which would use only American-born players and begin in the spring. Later that week, Harvey Greenberg, a Phoenix investment counselor who would be the founder of the league’s Phoenix franchise, stated that he conceived of the venture and Lesser had only been invited because of his acquaintance with the NASL and ASL. Nothing came of the league as prospective members were hesitant to associate themselves with a venture connected to Lesser.

In January of 1981, Lesser was indicted by a Maricopa grand jury with conducting a fraudulent scheme, six counts of securities fraud, three counts of theft, and four counts of falsifying corporate records. County attorneys alleged that Lesser overstated the value of Phoenix Professional Sports in order to obtain investments and siphoned money from corporate accounts for his own unauthorized use. Lesser was also accused of falsifying corporate balance sheets and check registers to prevent investors from uncovering the true state of PPS’s finance and to cover his own thefts. Investors were alleged to have lost $200,000.

During the investigation, Phoenix police discovered that Lesser had also written a fraudulent check for the $200,000 down payment in the attempted purchase of the Memphis Rogues. The check bounced because the investigation found that the bank account never had a balance of over $50.

In August, Lesser was found guilty of defrauding investors but acquitted in 10 other criminal violations. That December he was sentenced to serve one year in Maricopa County jail and seven years probation plus 300 hours of community service after his release. He was allowed to remain free on a $10,000 bond pending his appeal. The verdict was upheld by the Arizona Court of Appeals in June of 1983.

- Dan Creel

IMAGES

OutOfShapeBowl: Feb 16, 1980, Arizona Republic

FireVsChicago: Feb 20, 1980, Arizona Republic

LesserResigns: Mar 9, 1980, Arizona Republic

Mexicans: Mar 11, 1980, Arizona Republic

FireRoster: Mar 14, 1980, Arizona Daily Star

FireExtinguished: Mar 28, 1980, Arizona Republic

VerdiQuote: Mar 29, 1980, Arizona Republic

The Many Versions of the Soccer Wars

Readers may have noticed that a recent lawsuit brought by the USL against the UPSL for breach of trademark brought many soccer commentators to bemoan the return of new “soccer wars”. Why would a beef between leagues result in such an immediate and specific response? The simple answer is that a turf battle between soccer organizations helped doom the Golden Age of U.S. soccer. And, it is not hyperbole to say that the implications of that original “soccer war” continues to resonate until today. Sadly, top-level soccer in the U.S. seems unable to break a regular cycle of internecine wars. In order to give some background, in this article of Kicking Back we present a survey-style history course on American “soccer wars”.

1924-25: An Opening Skirmish

Following the 1923-24 season, the American Soccer League was on the ascendent. The league was stable and pulling in a good deal of fans. The league’s owners decided it was time to grow the eight-team league. They added three new clubs in New England (Boston, New Bedford and Providence) and brought in Fleisher Yarn, a top-notch Philadelphia amateur club.

The added clubs meant more games and the league pushed the schedule from 28 to 44 games. League owners began negotiations with the U.S. Football Association concerning their clubs’ ability to play in the National Challenge Cup (now called the U.S. Open Cup). ASL owners claimed that the additional league games would make it difficult for the clubs to schedule National Challenge Cup games during the season. But, a more practical reason for the disagreement was that the USFA made most of its annual income from the cup by taking a relatively high percentage of the gate receipts. And, after the association took its cut, the pro clubs found it not worth the loss of money when playing in front of smaller audiences when they had to play smaller clubs in the early rounds.

A month before the league season started the ASL voted to withdraw from the NCC. The country’s other major pro league, the four-team St. Louis Soccer League, also voted to withdraw. These moves led to Bethlehem’s local newspaper, The Globe, to announce “Looks Like A Soccer War” in its August 11, 1924 edition.

The leagues hoped to hold a replacement tournament but their different schedules made the idea impractical. Instead, the ASL held a league cup in the spring with the winner, Boston S.C., playing the American Pro Soccer Championship against the winners of the St. Louis league, the Ben Millers. Boston took the three-game series two games to one.

The USFA blinked first and, at their May 1925 annual meeting, they decided to lower their percentage of the NCC gate receipts by over half. This made the competition more palatable for the pro clubs and both pro leagues re-joined the cup in the next year.

1928-29: The Soccer War

Even though a truce was called after the 1924-25 season, the ASL and USFA continued sniping at each other as each regularly threatened to sever relations with the other. In the summer of 1928, the ASL voted Nat Agar as its delegate to the USFA’s annual meeting. Agar was empowered by the league to get the USFA to agree to keep the National Challenge Cup from disrupting the ASL schedule or the league would again withdraw its clubs. Agar, manager-owner of the Brooklyn Wanderers and long-time major domo of New York soccer, was a prime mover in pushing the ASL to flex its muscles. Another such owner was Charles Stoneham who owned baseball’s New York Giants as well as the ASL’s New York Nationals. Stoneham wanted the ASL to become the preeminent U.S. soccer organization. Stoneham’s Nationals won the 1928 NCC. After that victory, he pledged that his club would never play in another USFA tournament, and he called for other major league pro baseball owners to form or acquire ASL clubs to grow the league.

Stoneham’s biggest idea was a push to have the ASL’s champions to be named the champions of the East. In addition, he recommended that a new western league of baseball-owned clubs be created, whose champions would be named champions of the West. Under this plan, the eastern and western ASL champions would meet for the national soccer championship. At this point, the NCC was the preeminent soccer competition in the US and, via that tournament, the two finalists were considered the champions of the east and west with the winner considered the national champions. Stoneham’s proposal would shake up the power structure of U.S. soccer in a major way including greatly weakening the position of the USFA.

Agar came back from the July USFA meeting without a compromise and, in mid-September 1928, two weeks into the ASL season, the league voted to withdraw from the NCC. While the league owners voted to withdraw from the cup, three clubs decided to reject the boycott. Bethlehem Steel F.C., New York Giants S.C. and Newark F.C. ignored the league edict and registered for the tournament. These clubs saw financial benefits from playing in the cup and also rejected the Stoneham plan, in part because the league he wanted to create was a closed franchise model that would cap the number of clubs allowed to take part in his proposed national championship.

On September 27, the ASL suspended the three clubs from the league and fined each $1,000 for entering the NCC. On October 2, the USFA suspended the league. The grandfather of all soccer wars had begun in earnest.

On October 8, the three former-ASL clubs and five other eastern clubs quickly formed a new professional soccer league, the Eastern Soccer League, with the sanction of the USFA. The ASL felt the effects almost immediately. Due to the suspension, the ASL was operating as an “outlaw league” outside the sanctioning of the USFA and FIFA. Any player who played in such a league could also find themselves banned from signing contracts with sanctioned leagues domestic as well as international. As such, many foreign players decided to leave their ASL clubs rather than risk such a ban.

Stoneham’s New York Nationals were the hardest hit. On October 12, ten Nationals players quit the team before a match against the Wanderers due to the USFA’s suspension of the ASL. Most of these were former SC Hakoah Vienna players who joined the league after that club’s 1926 tour of the U.S. The Nationals played an impromptu exhibition with the Wanderers but had to cancel their next two games while they signed new players. In addition, a month later, the club moved from the Polo Grounds to the much smaller Innisfail Park in the Bronx.

While most of the non-ASL clubs were semi-pro outfits, one, the Hakoah All-Stars, was a new club made up primarily of the former ASL Hakoah Vienna players. The first game of the new ESL was held on October 13 between the New York Giants and Bethlehem Steel.

The ESL included several teams from the Southern New York State Football Association. The SNYSFA saw the ESL as an encroachment on its territory and the Association’s president, Dr. G.R. Manning, resigned in protest. Nat Agar ascended to the SNYSFA’s presidency and withdrew the organization from the USFA.

The two pro leagues battled for fans during the fall. On December 23, the clubs from the ASL and the SNYSFA formed the American Soccer Association with the intention to challenge the authority of the USFA. In the spring, following the ASL regular season, the ASA held a cup for all the clubs in the ASL and the SNYSFA. As a counter, the USFA formed a new New York State Football Association and all the ESL teams entered a cup competition of the newly organized NYSFA.

Both pro leagues completed their 1928-29 seasons and moved forward with 1929-30 seasons. The ASL launched relatively early in mid-August in hopes of getting ahead of their rival. But the soccer war and the late-summer recession severely strained the finances of all clubs involved. As the soccer season began, it became glaringly obvious something needed to be done and the parties began formal negotiations.

On October 22, most of the ASL clubs were reinstated by the USFA. While the ESL continued play, the ASL suspended operations as the parties worked toward forming a new league. Two days later, in the middle of these negotiations, the “Black Thursday” stock market crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. “Black Monday” struck on October 29 and the Atlantic Coast Soccer League officially formed in the immediate aftermath. The first games of the merged league were played on November 9.

1932: Everyone for Themselves

The 1931 American Soccer League (the ACSL was reorganized and renamed in the summer of 1930) season was the last one that it could be recognized as a true, stable major professional league. At the end of the ASL spring 1931 season, Nat Agar’s Brooklyn Wanderers’ sat in second place behind the New York Giants. Agar protested the championship results due to the Giants having one more game scheduled than Brooklyn. The protest was disallowed. Agar hosted a friendly at Ebbets Field against Glasgow Celtic for the next weekend. The USFA suspended Agar due to some issue with this game and he was forced to sell his interests in the Wanderers.

Numerous franchise moves and foldings over a short amount ended with most of the old guard of owners out of the league by late 1932. The loss of stable finances and leadership led to a chaotic situation for professional soccer. As touched on in an earlier Kicking Back, the remaining New York contingent of ASL clubs withdrew from the league before the spring season began in an attempt to form a new, but ultimately doomed, competitor to the league.

And there were even more battles during that year. After the tumultuous spring season, the USFA began plans to take control of pro soccer in the U.S. by directly promoting and organizing regional leagues. The governing body relied on the National Challenge Cup for income but the funds received were not enough and it was looking to the pro game for new funding sources. The state associations balked at the notion of the USFA circumventing their jurisdictions with rumblings that clubs could leave the USFA and operate as independents. The ASL responded to the USFA’s plan by electing the still-suspended Nat Agar as their new president.

Rather than embark on another protracted battle, the two sides decided on peace. The USFA reinstated Agar and the ASL agreed to allow its teams to enter the NCC. A few weeks later, Agar settled with the newly-formed National Soccer League by reinstating the New York Americans and entering a second New York club into the ASL.

1933: The End of the Golden Age

While the USFA and the ASL had an agreement, this understanding was not welcome at the state level. ASL secretary Sam Fletcher, former Providence F.C. player and owner, moved to organize a separate New England Division of the ASL. He was unable to field enough New England teams, and the ASL moved forward with only its four-team Metropolitan Division for the spring 1933 season.

During that summer, Fletcher met with strong opposition from the New England state associations who disapproved of the ASL’s move to form a separate pro league that would not allow its clubs to take part in non-USFA cup competitions. With the fall season still not settled and hoping to stave off the ASL’s influence, the state associations attempted to form their own professional league but were not able to come to an agreement. Included reorganized ASL franchises in Boston, Fall River and Pawtucket, Fletcher managed to form a nine-team New England Division in time to start the 1933 fall season.

With the New England Division finally a reality, the USFA and ASL had aggregated control of the professional game on the East Coast. One more step solidified that control. On October 16, 1933 Nat Agar retired as president of the ASL and the organization reorganized. The two divisions, Metropolitan and New England, would operate as separate leagues under the umbrella ASL organization which was controlled by a three-man board. Even though the two divisions were the competitive leagues, it was American Soccer League, Inc. that formally held the affiliation with the USFA and given the sole right of interstate professional competition.

The original Soccer War badly destabilized US soccer governance at the national and league level. In addition, the Great Depression massively impeded the financial capacity of soccer owners. These two factors led to the scope of the American Soccer League eroding through the early 1930s. And, as the reach of the ASL narrowed, any hopes of a national soccer system forming during the mid-20th century also expired in part due to the continuing power struggle and lack of cohesion between the USFA and the state associations.

1966-67: The Silver Age

While the rest of the world embraced the modern game, the lack of direction in the U.S. doomed the sport to decline and obscurity in all but a few pockets of the country. Two major factors changed that. First, the 1960s was a period of change and expansion in the North American major sports league landscape. During the decade the American Football League and American Basketball Association were formed as competitors to the established National Football League and National Basketball Association. Also, the National Hockey League began a rapid period of expansion. Second, within that context, the 1966 FIFA World Cup held in England ratcheted up interest in the game to a new level in large part because the event was broadcast live on color television for the first time.

In the spring before that World Cup, FIFA met in New York City. Three North American groups were represented with an interest in forming a major league. The World Cup, held in July, was a massive success.

That summer one group named themselves the North American Soccer League and planned to begin play in 1968. The other two groups merged to become the National Professional Soccer League. For the most part, the ownership of these new teams were made up primarily of groups who already owned teams in the other major league sports.

In August, the NASL received sanctioning from the U.S. Soccer Football Association. Merger talks occurred over the next month with the NASL planning to have all-star and European teams playing in each city in 1967 and a full league to start in 1968. The NPSL ruled out the merger, moved forward with plans for a 1967 season as a 12-team “outlaw league”, and landed a $1 million television deal with CBS.

Later in 1966, FIFA attempted to mediate a merger between the newly-organized leagues but failed to come to an agreement. In late December, FIFA officially sanctioned the NASL as the only U.S. major soccer league. Football associations in various countries warned that their players would be suspended if they signed with the non-sanctioned NPSL.

Wanting to avoid a failure, in February 1967, FIFA stated that players who signed with the NPSL would not be banned for life. In addition the organization urged the USSFA to immediately sanction the NPSL. While most domestic clubs, FIFA and other European clubs wanted the merger, the major stumbling blocks were the NPSL’s low television contract and the NASL’s exclusive 10-year sanctioning.

Because of a lack of a true professional game in the U.S., both leagues needed to look abroad for players. The NPSL opened their season on April 16 with 10 teams made up of mostly foreign players. A month and a half later, the 12-team United Soccer Association (renamed from the NASL that March) opened their “mini-league” with full imported foreign teams playing under contract to the domestic clubs. Merger talks continued to be held during the season.

The USA ended their “mini-league” on July 14 when the Los Angeles Wolves (represented by the Wolverhampton Wanderers) defeated the Washington Whips (represented by Aberdeen F.C.) 6-5 on an own-goal in sudden death overtime to win the 1967 Final before 17,842 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The NPSL completed their season on September 9 when the Oakland Clippers won the second-leg of the final against the Baltimore Bays 4-1 before 9,037 at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum taking the championship with a 4-2 aggregate.

A merger between the leagues was reported to be announced the day before the NPSL final. But, it never materialized when, the day after the final, the NPSL filed an $18 million trust suit in federal court against the USA, USSFA, FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Football Association alleging a conspiracy to drive it out of existence. The suit alleged the groups blacklisted foreign players who signed with the NPSL and that USSFA officials who approved the sanction were given jobs in the USA. The suit also sought to enjoin the USA from fielding teams until the NPSL was recognized.

Merger talks continued between the leagues while the case moved forward. In mid-November a federal judge ordered organized soccer to show cause why it should not be ordered to end its boycott of the NPSL. With the lawsuit pending, the two leagues formally agreed to a merger on December 7 with the new league taking the USA’s old North American Soccer League moniker. The NPSL dropped its suit soon after.

The battle was a costly one for all involved. It was reported that none of the teams in either league made money. The Baltimore Bays, owned by the Baltimore Orioles, lost $400,000 and the NPSL’s Philadelphia Spartans, owned by the Rooney family, lost $500,000 and folded after the merger. The PIttsburgh Phantoms of the NPSL had the worst of it losing $900,000 and also folded.

The 1968 season was similar to the prior one. The league was popular enough to continue but attendance wasn’t large enough to offset the costs and clubs continued to lose money. The league imploded, dropping from 17 teams to five for the 1969 season. But a more conservative approach allowed it to survive through the early 1970s until renewed interest led to a period of rapid expansion in the latter part of that decade.

2009-11: The Soccer Warz

In August 2009, Nike sold its interest in the United Soccer Leagues to NuRock Soccer Holdings instead of a conglomerate of USL First Division owners. These clubs plus a few others broke away from the USL, formed a new North American Soccer League and applied to the USSF for Division II sanctioning.

The USL issued press releases claiming the breakaway clubs may have been in breach of contract and the league could seek litigation to protect its interest. The USSF found that three of the breakaway NASL teams had binding contracts with the USL for 2010, but that left neither league with the minimum number of teams to be sanctioned for that season. In December the USSF stripped sanctioning from the USL First Division and refused to sanction the NASL for 2010. After weeks of negotiation, the USSF announced it would run an interim Division II league for the 2010 season made up of the 12 NASL and USL clubs.

Following that 2010 season, the NASL formally admitted all the breakaway teams and, with enough members, was given provisional Division II sanctioning in November for the 2011 season. The USL ceded the Division II tier to the NASL and reorganized the remaining USL First and Second Division teams into the Division III USL Pro league for the 2011 season.

2015-18: The End of the Modern Era

A new order had been established but one that none involved appeared happy with. The truce between the parties always seemed temporary and the status quo quickly disintegrated.

In September 2015 the NASL accused US soccer of antitrust violations if the USSF went ahead with the adoption of a new set of criteria for professional league sanctioning. The league accused the federation of colluding with Major League Soccer to protect the Division I league’s monopoly. The USSF ignored the NASL and adopted its new Professional League Standards.

During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, the Division III USL (rebranded from USL Pro) doubled in size in large part due to a multi-year agreement with the MLS where the MLS Reserve League was integrated into the league. By the 2016 season, the USL had ballooned to 29 teams of which 21 were affiliates or partners of MLS clubs.

In January 2017, the USSF granted USL provisional Division II status for the 2017 season and only granted the NASL provisional sanctioning due to its membership dropping below the newer 12-team minimum. In September, the USSF revoked the NASL’s sanctioning completely for the 2018 season leaving the USL as the only remaining Division II league.

The NASL responded by filing an antitrust suit in federal court seeking to prevent the USSF from revoking the leagues Division II status and to strike down the federation’s Professional League Standards and other divisional rules. The court ruled against the league’s motion and, in February 2018, the appeal court denied an appeal. In the wake of those rulings, the NASL announced a cancellation of their 2018 season with clubs moving to other leagues.

With the demise of the NASL, Major League Soccer and it’s partner, the USL, gained complete control of the U.S. professional league system. As of the publication of this article, there are 74 teams in the three professional divisions with 44 of them owned or affiliated with MLS.

- Dan Creel

The Kicks and a Minnesotan Soccer Spirit That Never Quite Died

Where do I begin with the Minnesota Kicks, an orange and blue-clad club that made Minnesota a core piece of the NASL long before the Stars or United would make even the slightest of marks in the 21st century?

The Kicks, who drew an average of 23,000 fans to Bloomington, Minnesota, were the state’s first proper professional soccer club and in turn its most memorable footprint on the beautiful game in the 20th century. Bringing international notables like Glasgow Rangers, Hammarby IF, and Ipswich Town to Met Stadium through the years, the boys in orange weren’t just part of another club from the golden age of the NASL, they made up one of the league’s great teams. Needless to say, the club- which started as a two-year flop in Denver known as the Denver Dynamos and recording a record of 14 wins and 28 losses -found its home in Minnesota.

When it comes to stats and basic history, the Kicks are famous for a variety of achievements ranging from a single game attendance of 49,572- a state record only recently broken by Minnesota United -to their long list of division and conference titles. It should be known that the Minnesota Kicks won their division four times in a row from 1976 to 1979. It may very well be, however, that there is a greater testament to the power of the Minnesota Kicks than what they accomplished on the pitch. That measurement is their ascension to an almost folklore-like existence in the consciousness of Minnesota soccer clubs and supporters young and old.

One can find references, dedications, and inspiration from the Minnesota Kicks at every corner of the beautiful game in the state of 10,000 lakes. From a Kicks-themed away kit for the 2011 Minnesota Stars to a dedication involving several former Kicks players at Minnesota United inaugural MLS home match in 2017, professional soccer in the state has never tried to run too far away from its roots. In anticipation for its attendance record-breaking match against the LA Galaxy, Minnesota United promoted the match with retro footage and images of the Kicks, a marketing plan which visibly won over the hearts of soccer fans who could remember Kicks games and young fans who were desperate for a glimpse into the blurred past of professional soccer in the United States.

The Kicks, who were quite cleverly named via a name-the-team contest, also find themselves the target of adoration from Minnesota’s modern-day lower league landscape. This is best shown by recent summer actions taken by Minneapolis City SC. Following the opening of its Club Shop, a wide variety of merchandise was sold that included homages to the NASL club, its kits, and its star players. City went as far as to briefly change its logo to one designed in dedication to the Kicks’ logo and invited Kicks players to the store’s grand opening.

The core story of the Kicks, like most from the original age of NASL, ends on a sad note. Following changes in ownership, changes within the NASL as a league, mixed results on the pitch, and financial roadblocks, the team found itself up for sale and missing a payment toward its players and staff at the end of the 1981 season. NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam attempted to find a buyer for the club but was not able to do so, leading to the club’s exclusion from the 1981-82 NASL Indoor season. The club folded in December of 1981 and had its players released in a dispersal draft.

The Minnesota Kicks are no longer, and it’s been that way for quite some time, but that hasn’t stopped the boys in orange and blue from cementing themselves in the hearts and imaginations of Minnesota’s ever-growing crowd of soccer fans. From winks and nods by the Stars and United to open dedications at the history-making Minneapolis City SC Club Shop, the NASL may be dead and gone but the Kicks are very much alive, just not in the way you might expect.

- Dominic Bisogno