United Soccer Association

Last updated

United Soccer Association
United Soccer Association 1967 logo.gif
Founded1966;58 years ago (1966)
FoldedMerged with NPSL
to form NASL in 1968
CountryUnited States
Other club(s) fromCanada
Confederation CONCACAF
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid1
Last champions Los Angeles Wolves
(1967)
Most championships Los Angeles Wolves (1)

The United Soccer Association (USA) was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American Soccer League. Every team in the league was actually an imported European or South America club, that was then outfitted with a "local" name. Dick Walsh served as the commissioner.

Contents

Origins

In 1966 a group of sports entrepreneurs, led by Jack Kent Cooke and including Lamar Hunt and Steve Stavro, formed a consortium known as the North American Soccer League with the intention of forming a professional soccer league in North America. This group was subsequently sanctioned by both the USSFA and FIFA. However a rival consortium known as the National Professional Soccer League also emerged and to avoid confusion Cooke renamed his consortium the United Soccer Association. The USA originally intended to launch its league in the spring of 1968. However the NPSL, which secured a TV contract from CBS, announced it was ready to launch in 1967. Not wanting to lose ground to its rival, the USA decided to fast track its launch. Without any players of its own, it opted to import whole teams from Europe and South America. It was intended that these teams would represent the franchises during the inaugural season, giving them time to build their own squads for the following season. By May 1967, the USA had garnered applications for franchises wanting to create teams for the next season. An application was made for a team in Miami, to be called the Miami Cobras. [1] A Calgary-based franchise was also in the offing. [2]

Competing teams

FranchisesImported clubsStadiums (capacity)Owners
Boston Rovers Flag of Ireland.svg Shamrock Rovers Manning Bowl (21,000) Weston Adams (Boston Bruins)
Chicago Mustangs Flag of Italy.svg Cagliari Calcio Comiskey Park (46,550) Arthur Allyn Jr. (Chicago White Sox)
Cleveland Stokers Flag of England.svg Stoke City Cleveland Stadium (78,000) Vernon Stouffer, Gabe Paul (Cleveland Indians)
Dallas Tornado Flag of Scotland.svg Dundee United Cotton Bowl (75,504) Lamar Hunt (Kansas City Chiefs)
Detroit Cougars Ulster Banner.svg Glentoran Tiger Stadium (36,000) William Clay Ford (Detroit Lions)
Houston Stars Flag of Brazil.svg Bangu AC Astrodome (44,500) Judge Roy Hofheinz (Houston Astros)
Los Angeles Wolves Flag of England.svg Wolverhampton Wanderers Los Angeles Coliseum (93,000) Jack Kent Cooke (Los Angeles Lakers & Kings)
New York Skyliners Flag of Uruguay.svg C.A. Cerro Yankee Stadium (67,000) Madison Square Garden Corporation
San Francisco Golden Gate Gales Flag of the Netherlands.svg ADO Den Haag Kezar Stadium (59,942) [3] George Fleharty (Ice Follies)
Toronto City Flag of Scotland.svg Hibernian Varsity Stadium (25,000) Steve Stavro
Vancouver Royal Canadians Flag of England.svg Sunderland Empire Stadium (33,000)Brigadier General E.G. Eakins
Washington Whips Flag of Scotland.svg Aberdeen D.C. Stadium (46,000) Earl Foreman

1967 season

After a series of exhibition games, the USA began playing on May 28 and got off to a good start. The Houston Stars attracted an opening crowd of 34,965. [4] However subsequent attendances did not keep pace and the league finished with an average of 7,890 per game. Of the twelve teams, the Los Angeles Wolves, represented by Wolverhampton Wanderers and featuring Derek Dougan, the Cleveland Stokers, represented by Stoke City and featuring Gordon Banks, and the Washington Whips, represented by Aberdeen, emerged as the strongest sides. Roberto Boninsegna of Chicago Mustangs finished as the league's top scorer with 10 goals.

The USA entered its playoff stage in July 1967. The Western Division champion Los Angeles Wolves, by the flip of a coin, won the right to host the championship game against the Eastern Division champion Washington Whips. The match drew 17,824 to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Wolves won the championship beating the Whips, 6–5, after 36 minutes of extra-time. The wide-open final featured two hat-tricks, three penalties given (two converted), four goals scored within a four-minute period midway through the second half and each team scoring during (non-golden goal) extra time. The game was finally decided when Whips defender Ally Shewan scored an own goal shortly after the start of golden goal extra time.

Final standings

Eastern Division

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1 Washington Whips 125521911+815 1967 USA Championship
2 Cleveland Stokers 125431913+614
3 Toronto City 124532317+613
4 Detroit Cougars 123631118−712
5 New York Skyliners 122641517−210
6 Boston Rovers 122371226−147
Source: American Soccer History Archives
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Note: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss

Western Division

PosTeamPldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1 Los Angeles Wolves (C)125522114+715 1967 USA Championship
2 San Francisco Golden Gate Gales 125342519+613
3 Chicago Mustangs 123722014+613
4 Houston Stars 124441918+112
5 Vancouver Royal Canadians 123542028−811
6 Dallas Tornado 123361423−99
Source: American Soccer History Archives
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Note: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, 0 points for a loss
(C) Champions

USA Final 1967

Los Angeles Wolves 6–5 [5] (a.e.t.) Washington Whips
Knowles Soccerball shade.svg3'
Burnside Soccerball shade.svg65', 67', 82'
Dougan Soccerball shade.svg113'
Shewan Soccerball shade gold.svg 122' (o.g.)		 Report Smith Soccerball shade.svg21'
Munro Soccerball shade.svg64' (pen.), 89', 120' (pen.)
Storrie Soccerball shade.svg66'
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Attendance: 17,842 [6]
Referee: Dick Giebner [7] (USA) [8]

1967 USA Champions: Los Angeles Wolves

USA All-Stars

First Team [9] [10]   Position  Second Team
Bobby Clark, Washington G Gordon Banks, Cleveland
Mario Tito, Houston D Eric Skeels, Cleveland
Jose Fidelis, HoustonD Jan Villerius, San Francisco
Pat Stanton, Toronto M Joe Davis, Toronto
Jim Baxter, VancouverM John Moore, Cleveland
Tommy McMillan, WashingtonM Miguel Angelo Longo, Chicago
Ary Clemente, Houston F Doug Smith, Dallas
Paulo Borges, HoustonF Henk Houwaart, San Francisco
Peter Dobing, ClevelandF Roberto Boninsegna, Chicago
George Eastham, ClevelandF Benedicto Ribeiro, New York
Roy Vernon, ClevelandF Peter Cormack, Toronto

Coach of the year

NASL

In December 1967 the USA merged with National Professional Soccer League to form the North American Soccer League, taking the original name of the USA group. As a result of the merger several of the original USA franchises folded. This was partly to avoid some cities having two teams. As a result, Toronto City, New York Skyliners and the San Francisco Golden Gate Gales were disbanded in favor of their NPSL rivals, Toronto Falcons, New York Generals and Oakland Clippers. The owners of the Gales franchise subsequently merged with the Vancouver Royal Canadians and the Boston Rovers were relaunched as the Boston Beacons. Together with the Cleveland Stokers, Los Angeles Wolves, Houston Stars, Washington Whips and Dallas Tornado, these teams then became founding members of the NASL. However, after the 1968 season all of these franchises, with the exception of Dallas folded. For their part, the Tornado went on to become NASL champions in 1971 and continued to play in the NASL until 1981, when they merged with the Tampa Bay Rowdies. [12] [13]

The idea of importing teams to represent franchises was revived during the 1969 NASL season. Both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Dundee United returned. This time the former represented Kansas City Spurs and again emerged as champions. The latter linked up once again with Dallas Tornado. Two other English League teams West Ham United and Aston Villa represented Baltimore Bays and Atlanta Chiefs while Kilmarnock of the Scottish Football League played as the St. Louis Stars.

Attendance

TeamGPTotalHighLowAverage
Houston Stars 6118,79334,96512,38019,799
Dallas Tornado 655,36020,3754,9169,227
New York Skyliners 652,59621,8713,5178,766
Washington Whips 7 [lower-alpha 1] 54,5979,7605,1127,800
Los Angeles Wolves 646,64011,5725,2317,773
Vancouver Royal Canadians 642,11310,0535,1147,019
Toronto City 641,53815,1783,1526,923
Cleveland Stokers 639,3999,7934,5166,567
Detroit Cougars 634,24711,6296485,708
San Francisco Golden Gate Gales 632,5318,1773,8535,422
Chicago Mustangs 625,2399,8722,0134,207
Boston Rovers 625,0257,3438534,171
Total73 [lower-alpha 1] 568,07834,9656487,782
  1. 1 2 One game was replayed, both figures included

Sources: kenn.com

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References

General

Specific

  1. ↑ Cronauer, Bill (May 26, 1967). "City Soccer Stars Seek Berths On Miami Team". St. Petersburg Times . Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Calgary Seeks Berth In United Soccer". Schenectady Gazette . May 12, 1967. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Happel's "Monster" Dutchmen Take San Francisco By Storm". The Soccer Observer. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ "New Soccer League Greeted By Huge Crowd In Houston". The Miami News . May 29, 1967. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Wolves v Aberdeen, United Soccer Association Championship, 14th July 1967". YouTube. July 25, 2013. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  6. ↑ United Press International (July 16, 1967). "Wolves capture U.S. soccer title". The New York Times . p. 152. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Past Winners | North American Soccer League". Naslsoccerbowl.com. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ↑ "NASL Homepage". May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 1, 2008. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". Oocities.org. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Wolves left out". Leader-Post . Regina. Associated Press. July 18, 1967. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
  12. ↑ MacCambridge, Michael (October 2, 2012). Lamar Hunt: A Life in Sports. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN   9781449423391 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ Beard, Randy (September 17, 1981). "Rowdies Take On A Western Flavor". Evening Independent. p. 4-C. Retrieved May 5, 2017– via Google News Archive Search.