Philadelphia Field Club is a name used by four soccer teams based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All four versions of Philadelphia F.C. competed in the first American Soccer League, but none were in any way related to the other three teams which shared its name.
Philadelphia F.C. was an inaugural club of the American Soccer League based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before the season, the owners of the powerful Bethlehem Steel F.C. decided to disband the club and form Philadelphia F.C. The club re-signed most of the top players from Bethlehem and players from elsewhere. Not surprisingly the team won the first ASL championship. After the season, the management broke up the team selling many of its top players due to financial trouble and lack of support. The team then returned to Bethlehem.
Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | National Cup |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1921/22 | 1 | ASL | 1st | Champion (no playoff) | Fourth round |
After the first Philadelphia F.C. returned to Bethlehem, a new team also called Philadelphia F.C. joined the American Soccer League for its second season. The new team was the polar opposite of the powerful Bethlehem languishing at the bottom of the table
After the 1926/27 season, the team was bought by new management who bought top talent from Ireland and renamed the club Philadelphia Celtic. The spending spree left the owners in financial straits and the club went bankrupt and were suspended by the league after playing only 10 games in the first half of the 1927/28 season.
Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | National Cup |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1922/23 | 1 | ASL | 8th | No playoff | ? |
1923/24 | 1 | ASL | 7th | No playoff | ? |
1924/25 | 1 | ASL | 12th | No playoff | Did not enter |
1925/26 | 1 | ASL | 11th | No playoff | Second round |
1926/27 | 1 | ASL | 11th | No playoff | First round |
1927/28 | 1 | ASL | 12th (1st half) | N/A | N/A |
A third Philadelphia F.C. joined the American Soccer League the season after the Philadelphia Celtic was suspended. The team played a limited schedule and folded after its only season.
Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | National Cup |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1928/29 | 1 | ASL | 7th (1st half); 6th (2nd half) | Did not qualify | ? |
The Bridgeport Bears joined the American Soccer League in the fall of 1929. After only six games the team moved to Philadelphia to become another Philadelphia Field Club. They played eight more games before the season was suspended due to the merger of the ASL and the Eastern Soccer League.
Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | National Cup |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fall 1929 | 1 | ASL | 9th | No playoff | N/A |
Bethlehem Steel Football Club (1907–1930) was one of the most successful early American soccer clubs. Known as the Bethlehem Football Club from 1907 until 1915 when it became the Bethlehem Steel Football Club, the team was sponsored by the Bethlehem Steel corporation. Bethlehem Steel FC played their home games first at East End Field in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley, then later on the grounds Bethlehem Steel built on Elizabeth Ave named Bethlehem Steel Athletic Field.
The Brooklyn Wanderers was a U.S. soccer team which was a founding member of the National Association Football League in the late nineteenth century. Later versions joined the original American Soccer League and the reorganized American Soccer League.
New York Giants was a name used by three different New York City soccer teams. Two of these teams were associated with the New York Giants baseball franchise. The first team that used the name played in the American League of Professional Football in 1894. The second team played in the American Soccer League between 1923 and 1930 while the third team played in the same league between 1930 and 1932.
The first Philadelphia Ukrainians team, also known as the "Philadelphia Tridents", Tryzub FC, was an American soccer club based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was a member of the American Soccer League. The Ukrainian Nationals were six (6) time American Soccer League Champions: in 1960-61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1967–68 and 1970. The team's colors are red and black. The Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals were the first team in United States history to have home games televised, and played in the first regulation indoor soccer game in Atlantic City's Convention Center in New Jersey.
Bartholomew "Bertie" or "Bart" McGhee was a Scottish American soccer forward who typically played left wing forward. He played for the United States men's national soccer team at the 1930 FIFA World Cup, and scored the second goal in World Cup history against Belgium. He was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1986.
Robert Millar was a Scottish American soccer forward and coach of the U.S. national team at the first FIFA World Cup, in 1930. During his at times tumultuous Hall of Fame career, Millar played with over a dozen teams in at least five U.S. leagues as well as two seasons in the Scottish Football League. He finished his career as a successful professional and national team coach.
Archibald McPherson Stark was a U.S. soccer player who became the dominant player in U.S. leagues during the 1920s and early 1930s. He spent nine seasons in the National Association Football League and another twelve in the American Soccer League. He also earned two caps, scoring five goals, as a member of the U.S. national team. He holds the U.S. single-season scoring record with 67 goals scored during the 1924–25 season which is the current World Record. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1950.
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Charles Harry Spalding was an American soccer and baseball player. 'C.H.', as he also was nicknamed, played the first two games in the history of the U.S. national soccer team and competed in professional soccer for nearly fifteen years, primarily with teams based in Pennsylvania. Besides, Spalding spent two seasons in Major League baseball and later served as a first base coach. A lifelong resident of Philadelphia, he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1951.
Harold Pemberton Brittan was a U.S.-English soccer center forward. He began his career in England with Chelsea before moving to the United States. In the U.S., he was a prolific goalscorer with the powerhouse Bethlehem Steel, Philadelphia Field Club and Fall River F.C. clubs in the National Association Football League and American Soccer League. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1951.
John Ferguson was a football (soccer) full back. He began his career in Scotland before moving to England, then the United States. He earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1925. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
The Eastern Professional Soccer League, better known as the Eastern Soccer League (ESL), was an American soccer league which existed for only a season and a half in 1928 and 1929. Born of the internecine strife between soccer organizations in the United States known as the “Soccer War”, the ESL was created by the United States Football Association (USFA) as a counter to the professional American Soccer League which was contesting USFA control of professional soccer in the country.
The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 2010 as an expansion team. The club's home stadium is Subaru Park, a soccer-specific stadium located in Chester, Pennsylvania on the banks of the Delaware River.
Johnny Rollo was a Scottish soccer player who typically played as an inside forward, but also as both a half back and full back. He began his career with Rangers F.C., but had his greatest success in the American Soccer League. He later coached at the amateur level.
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Statistics of American Soccer League in season 1927–28.
These are the statistics of the Fall 1929 American Soccer League.
Statistics of American Soccer League in season 1930.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is an American soccer competition open to all United States Soccer Federation affiliated teams, from amateur adult club teams to the professional clubs of Major League Soccer. The following is the history of the U.S. Open Cup tournament.
The American Soccer League, established in 1921, was the first of four different professional soccer sports leagues in the United States to use the ASL name. It was formed by the merger of teams from the National Association Football League and the Southern New England Soccer League. For several years the ASL's popularity rivaled the popularity of the National Football League. Disputes with the United States Football Association and FIFA, as well as the onset of the Great Depression, led to the league's collapse in spring 1933.