A timeline of early soccer in Cleveland: “Socker’s” roots spread (1905-1906)

The first meeting of the Cleveland Soccer Football Club took place at the Colonial Hotel, which is known mainly because it was one of the first indoor shopping malls in the country.
The first meeting of the Cleveland Soccer Football Club took place at the Colonial Hotel, which is known mainly because it was one of the first indoor shopping malls in the country. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Cleveland has a very long but under-recognized soccer history. The first official game took place in 1889, the first league formed in 1906, and the first fenced soccer-specific field was built in 1914. Cleveland teams have contested the US Open Cup title three times, in 1930, 1945, and 1973, and the Shamrocks won the Amateur Cup in 1932.  The history of soccer in Northeast Ohio is longer and stronger than most people imagine, as this second of two timelines of soccer’s beginnings in Cleveland illustrates.

A version of this article first appeared at The Sockerite on April 23, 2015

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