It was no coincidence that the Bethlehem Steel soccer team, one of the greatest in American soccer history, was at its peak at the same time that World War I was raging in Europe.
Author: Roger Allaway
The wrong place at the wrong time
Smoke bombs thrown onto the field? Ho-hum. Hooligans in the streets? Yawn. There are American soccer players who have seen far worse, like tear gas in the stadium.
Footnotes
Some odd facts, footnotes in American soccer history.
These Pilgrims brought soccer
A very important factor in reviving American interest in soccer at the beginning of the 20th century was the visits of an English amateur all-star team called the Pilgrims, who made American tours in 1905 and 1909.
The overlapping Werner Fricker
Fricker’s legacy remains not just as the man who brought the World Cup to the United States for the first time, but as an important bridge between eras in American soccer.
Playoffs, then and now
American soccer has had varied experience with playoffs over the years, some good, some bad.
Honoring Colin Jose
Roger Allaway pays tribute to Colin Jose, the giant of North American soccer history who has passed away at the age of 88.
Rounding the curve in ’91
The events of 1991 included some important steps in the right direction for the US national team.
More than spectators
American soccer’s contribution to the American war effort of 1941-45 is not as well known as that of baseball or football, but it definitely did exist.
Old parks
Roger Allaway looks at some historic soccer grounds, some still here, others long gone.
Rising from the depths in ’87
So who brought the United States back? Paul Krumpe and Jim Gabarra did.
The confrontational Joe Barriskill
Joe Barriskill was a complicated figure in American soccer of decades ago, playing an important part in shepherding American soccer through some dark times.
Progress in Paysandu
A high-water mark for American success in international soccer was the 1995 Copa America in Uruguay.
A shirt sponsor in 1887?
Fall River Rovers played in a jersey that displayed a shirt sponsor in 1887.
Bethlehem and Fall River
Bethlehem Steel vs. Fall River was the first great intersectional rivalry in American soccer, and more than 100 years after its last game, it may still be the greatest.
The sad end of the original NASL Cosmos
The decline and fall of the original NASL Cosmos was not a heroic story. It really began in 1982, but its last stages, in 1984 and 1985, were the particularly grim ones.
A perfect 10
Not too many teams have played shorthanded for the full 90 minutes and not only won but collected a trophy, too.
The NASFL
During the years when the East Coast-based American Soccer League was the best in American soccer, a common theme was that a way to expand the sport in the United States would be to establish a midwestern equivalent of the ASL.
Who were and weren’t the Oneidas?
The Oneidas weren’t really the first American soccer team. Even so, they were an important stepping stone in the direction of the American soccer that we know today.
The enterprising Sam Mark
While not a dedicated champion of the game like Tom Cahill or Edgar Lewis, Sam Mark built one of the great American soccer teams, the Fall River Marksmen.
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