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3. The Working-Class and Immigrant Eras, 1875-1894
After the demise of college soccer, the game lay primarily in the
hands of working-class communities, who were rapidly adopting the
game, as the upper classes increasingly looked to rugby/gridiron.
This was a trend in Europe as well as the US. As immigration increased,
the new arrivals brought soccer traditions with them, and the game
grew rapidly in the Northeastern industrial cities. The growth first
took place in the West Hudson region of New Jersey, Philadelphia and
New York City, soon spreading by the late 1870's to Fall River, and
New Bedford, MA. Pick-up games and loose informal teams soon grew
into established clubs and led to corporate sponsorship finally the
development of local and even regional leagues. The game spread to
other parts of New England including Boston and Rhode Island, and
into Baltimore, and in the 1880's, into Chicago, Cleveland and St.
Louis, and finally Pittsburgh. The game was continually hampered by
sociological forces-- Baseball was seen as the American past-time,
and many immigrants would attempt to Americanize themselves to assimilate,
often switching to baseball from soccer which was seen increasingly
as a sport only played by foreigners.
In 1884, a group of ex-British enthusiasts met in Newark and formed
the American Football Association, the fourth national association
to be formed. Besides attempting to coordinate the proliferating local
and regional amateur leagues, the AFA establshed the first National
Championship competition, the American Cup, which was first won by
ONT ("Our New Thread", brand name for the sponsoring sewing
manufacturer in Kearny, NJ) in 1885. Before the cup's suspension in
1898, the bulk of the champions were primarily from Southeastern New
England, which had turned into the first true soccer hotbed in the
country, with its "golden triangle" of Fall River, Pawtucket
and New Bedford. The AFA also organized the first national team, which
played two games against Canada (a 0-1 loss on 11/28/1885, and a 3-2
win in 1886).
Soccer grew at a moderate pace during the early 1890's, spreading
to Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland and even San Francisco and Los Angeles
by the end of the century. Corporate sponsorship had led to some leagues
attaining semi-pro stats, and more and more teams were based on cultural
and ethnic organizations rather than factories and corporations. The
AFA favored the semi-pro clubs in its American Cup scheduling, and
the New York clubs withdrew in protest to form the American Amateur
Football Association in 1893. The game was slowly being reintroduced
on a low-level basis in colleges. Finally, in 1894, the first attempt
was made to establish a fully professional soccer league. Interestingly,
this league was not promoted by any of the existing soccer associations,
but was formed by a group of professional baseball owners from the
National league, and was intended to fill the baseball stadiums during
down time. The league even used The American League of Professional
Football had six teams from major Northeastern cities, and made its
1894 debut with much fanfare, but attendance was low after the first
week, partially to the scheduling of too many weekday games, and some
managers used less than ethical measures to procure overseas players.
The league collapsed among heavy financial losses during its first
season.
Other historic segments:
- Origins,
1609-1862
- The
College Era, and Rules Consolidation, 1862-1875
- The
Working-Class and Immigrant Eras, 1875-1894
- The
Doldrums, 1895-1913
- The
First Dynasties, 1913-1921
- The
Golden Era, 1921-1933
- The
Ethnic Period, 1933-1960
- The
Birth of the American Soccer Renaissance The 1960's
- Outdoor
soccer reaches a low: 1985
- The
Hope for a World Cup Mid 1980's
- A
Change in Fortunes, 1988
- The
Rebirth of Outdoor Soccer, 1988-1994
- The
Indoor Soccer Wars, 1990-1992
- The
Road to the World Cup 1989-1994
- The
World Cup comes to America 1994
- From
World Cup to Major League Soccer 1995-1996
- The
Here and Now, 1996-present
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