Whether it’s a club, a college, a supporter’s group or a professional team, history is an essential element for building strong, long-term soccer communities. David Kilpatrick and Chuck Carlson lead the discussion.
Recent Posts
DSV Germania: The 1930 Deutschamerikaner Tour
Robert Gansler reviews DSV Germania’s 1930 tour of Germany, which included players from Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Newark, New York City, and Philadelphia.
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.
Celestial visitors? Almost
The Uruguayan team that toured the United States in 1927 wasn’t really the world champion it was touted as it may have been the greatest team ever to make an American tour.
Good days for the Cosmos
The New York Cosmos had an up-and-down record over the years in friendlies against European and South American teams. Two of those home friendlies that do stand out impressively.
SASH Session, Friday, Dec. 6 at 12 pm ET: Oral History Workshop Updated with Video
The Oral History Workshop will be an overview of the basics of conducting oral histories and more.
A boost for Bethlehem
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.
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.
SASH Session, Friday, Oct. 4 at 12pm ET: Gabe Logan presents, “The First National Amateur Cup and the 1924 Olympic Team Selection” Updated with Video
Gabe Logan will discuss the origins of the National Amateur Cup tournament and its connection to the 1924 US Olympic soccer team.
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.
A century ago: The untold story of the 1924 U.S. Olympic team
Michael Lewis recounts the story of the first US Olympic soccer team.
Playoffs, then and now
American soccer has had varied experience with playoffs over the years, some good, some bad.
Formation and First Season of the National Association Football League, Part 3: The First Season is Completed
Kurt Rausch’s three-part examination of the the first National Association Football League season concludes with a review of the season’s play.
Formation and First Season of the National Association Football League, Part 2: Build Up to the First Season
Kurt Rausch’s three-part examination of the the first National Association Football League season continues as the league organizes for its first season in an extended period of economic depression, labor unrest, and reduced immigration.
Formation and First Season of the National Association Football League, Part 1: Setting the Stage
Kurt Rausch’s three-part examination of the the first National Association Football League season begins with a look at associations and leagues in the New York Metropolitan Area that preceded the league’s formation in 1895.
Rounding the curve in ’91
The events of 1991 included some important steps in the right direction for the US national team.
SASH Session, Friday, Sep. 6 at 12pm ET: A Survey of Minnesota Soccer History Updated with video
Brian D. Bunk, Brian Quarstad, and Chris Bolsmann will be the presenters.
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.
SASH Session, Friday, June 7 at 12 pm ET: “Tom ‘Bullets’ Cahill: A Reappraisal of a Founding Father of American Soccer” Updated with Video
Tom McCabe will discuss the impact of a little known event on the life of one of the leading figures of early 20th Century American soccer.
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.
SASH Session, Friday, April 5 at 12 pm ET: “How the United States is Represented in Women’s Soccer Beyond the USWNT” Updated with Video
Zach Bigalke will discuss the phenomenon of the United States as a global exporter of women’s soccer talent and the impact that has on both national narratives and the individuals who make these choices.
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.
Catching minnows
The Concacaf World Cup qualifying format has thrown the USMNT up against small island nations from the Caribbean in early rounds.
The other Confederations Cup run
In 1999 the United States advanced through the first round from a group that included Brazil and Germany.
Studying mythology
The idea that the United States team at the 1930 World Cup included a group of British ringers is one of the longest-standing pieces of fiction in American soccer.
The Bicentennial Cup
The what cup? Roger Allaway explains.
The Lewis Cup
In its day, which lasted from 1925 to 1963, the Lewis Cup was one of the biggest events in American soccer.
SASH Session on Friday, Dec. 8 at 12 pm ET with Donald Wine: “Black American Soccer History is American Soccer History” Updated with video
Wine is on the national board of the American Outlaws, the largest supporters group for the U.S. national teams.
Open Cup widened some horizons
The U.S. Open Cup once did a great deal to widen the horizons of American soccer.
The original dos á cero
The United States’ 2-0 upset of Mexico in the semifinals of the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup seems to have been largely forgotten.
Soccer History USA now available on SASH podcasting platform
The Soccer History USA podcast series is now available on SASH’s podcasting platform.
The American Football Association
The American Football Association was only the second “national” football association to be formed outside the British Isles, following one in Canada.
The Bill Graham Guides Collection is now available!
In making the Graham Guides freely available, SASH hopes to spark scholarship in a vital period of US soccer history.
SASH Sessions now available as podcasts
SASH Sessions are now available in podcast format from all major podcast distributors including Apple, Google, Spotify, and Amazon.
The battle of ’99
The Quarterfinal match against Germany may have been the best match on the USWNT’s path to the championship at the 1999 Women’s World Cup.
Is this the American style?
It is often said that the United States doesn’t have a distinct national style of playing soccer.
The brief Dettmar Cramer
On the sudden departure of Dettmar Cramer as head coach of the USMNT in 1975.
The accidental Gerry Baker
Baker holds the title of the first European first-division player ever to play for the United States men’s national team.
The Cosmos’ takeoff in 1977
Roger Allaway looks at how the New York Cosmos became “The Cosmos!” in 1977.
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