Eastern Soccer League (1928-1929)

The United States Football Association set up the Eastern Soccer League in the fall of 1928 as a home for Bethlehem Steel, the Newark Skeeters and the New York Giants, the three clubs the ASL had suspended for entering the National Challenge Cup. Filled out with New York's ethnic clubs, it played a split 1928–29 season and a fall 1929 season before the Soccer War ended and its clubs were folded back into the ASL.

defunct United States second-division league

recorded 1928-1929 First Half–1929 Fall most titles Bethlehem Steel (2) attendance 2,925 avg data coverage

seasons
3
games
198
clubs
12

Seasons and totals are as recorded here.

Seasons

season champion golden boot goals/game avg. attendance
1929 Fall Haeusler 2,860 (56%)
1928-1929 Second Half Bethlehem Steel Stark 4.73 2,985 (51%)
1928-1929 First Half Bethlehem Steel Stark 2,914 (51%)

The percentage after an attendance average is the share of that season's games with a crowd on record. Seasons without one have a crowd for every game.

Clubs, season by season

1928-1929 First Half 1928-1929 Second Half 1929 Fall rank by 1928-1929 First Halfrank by 1928-1929 Second Halfrank by 1929 Fall Bethlehem SteelBethlehem Steel: 3 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall Brooklyn HispanoBrooklyn Hispano: 3 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall IRT RangersIRT Rangers: 3 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall New York Giants (1923-1930)New York Giants (1923-1930): 3 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall New York HakoahNew York Hakoah: 3 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall Newark SkeetersNewark Skeeters: 3 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall Hakoah All-StarsHakoah All-Stars: 2 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall Hakoah All-Stars, 1928-1929 First HalfHakoah All-Stars, 1929 Fall New York HungariaNew York Hungaria: 2 seasons, 1928-1929 Second Half-1929 Fall Newark PortugueseNewark Portuguese: 1 season, 1929 Fall Philadelphia CentennialsPhiladelphia Centennials: 2 seasons, 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second Half New Bedford WhalersNew Bedford Whalers: 1 season, 1928-1929 Second Half New York CelticsNew York Celtics: 1 season, 1928-1929 First Half
Clubs by season. Ordered by last season, then by seasons played. A block marks a season the club played; a row with gaps is a club that left and came back. Where a final table is on record the block is shaded by the finish, bright green at the top of the table, dulling towards the middle, then deepening red at the bottom, and shows the record on hover; an outlined block is a season with no final table on file. Select a season at the top to rank the clubs by how they finished it, and again to restore the order.

Clubs by season

0 2 5 8 10 1928-1929 First Half: 9 clubs 1928-1929 First Half 1928-1929 Second Half: 9 clubs 1928-1929 Second Half 1929 Fall: 9 clubs 1929 Fall
Clubs by season. Counts every club that played at least one recorded game in the season.

League positions

1928-1929 First Half 1928-1929 Second Half 1929 Fall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bethlehem Steel, 1928-1929 First Half: 1st of 8; 1.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfBethlehem Steel, 1928-1929 Second Half: 2nd of 10; 1.5 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second HalfBethlehem Steel, 1929 Fall: 1st of 8; 1.3 over 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall Bethlehem Steel New York Hakoah, 1928-1929 First Half: 3rd of 8; 3.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfNew York Hakoah, 1928-1929 Second Half: 1st of 10; 2.0 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second HalfNew York Hakoah, 1929 Fall: 2nd of 8; 2.0 over 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall New York Hakoah New York Giants (1923-1930), 1928-1929 First Half: 2nd of 8; 2.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfNew York Giants (1923-1930), 1928-1929 Second Half: 6th of 10; 4.0 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second HalfNew York Giants (1923-1930), 1929 Fall: 3rd of 8; 3.7 over 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall New York Giants (1923-1930) Newark Portuguese, 1929 Fall: 4th of 8; 4.0 over 1929 Fall Newark Portuguese Brooklyn Hispano, 1928-1929 First Half: 7th of 8; 7.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfBrooklyn Hispano, 1928-1929 Second Half: 7th of 10; 7.0 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second HalfBrooklyn Hispano, 1929 Fall: 5th of 8; 6.3 over 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano New York Hungaria, 1928-1929 Second Half: 4th of 10; 4.0 over 1928-1929 Second HalfNew York Hungaria, 1929 Fall: 6th of 8; 5.0 over 1928-1929 Second Half-1929 Fall New York Hungaria IRT Rangers, 1928-1929 First Half: 4th of 8; 4.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfIRT Rangers, 1928-1929 Second Half: 3rd of 10; 3.5 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second HalfIRT Rangers, 1929 Fall: 7th of 8; 4.7 over 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall IRT Rangers Newark Skeeters, 1928-1929 First Half: 5th of 8; 5.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfNewark Skeeters, 1928-1929 Second Half: 9th of 10; 7.0 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second HalfNewark Skeeters, 1929 Fall: 8th of 8; 7.3 over 1928-1929 First Half-1929 Fall Newark Skeeters New Bedford Whalers, 1928-1929 Second Half: 5th of 10; 5.0 over 1928-1929 Second Half New Bedford Whalers 1928-1929 Second Half Philadelphia Centennials, 1928-1929 First Half: 6th of 8; 6.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfPhiladelphia Centennials, 1928-1929 Second Half: 8th of 10; 7.0 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second Half Philadelphia Centennials 1928-1929 Second Half New York Celtics, 1928-1929 First Half: 8th of 8; 8.0 over 1928-1929 First HalfNew York Celtics, 1928-1929 Second Half: 10th of 10; 9.0 over 1928-1929 First Half-1928-1929 Second Half New York Celtics 1928-1929 Second Half
League position by season, averaged over three seasons, 1928-1929 First Half to 1929 Fall. Each point is the club's mean finish over that season and the two before it, in the overall table: points, then wins. A break in a line is a season out of the league, and the count starts again after it; a season with no final table on file is left out. Names are in the order the lines end; clubs no longer in the league are listed below the current ones with their last season, most recent first. Line patterns repeat every five clubs and only tell neighbours apart; a lifted line takes the club's own color where one is on record.

Career leaders

complete stats

Goals

  1. Stark 55
  2. O'Brien 34
  3. Stevens 34
  4. Haeusler 31
  5. Wortmann 30
  6. Eisenhoffer 29
  7. Davey Brown 24
  8. Gruenwald 21
  9. McGivney 21
  10. Jaap 20

Assists

  1. Chedgzoy 1
  2. Davey Brown 1
  3. Findlay 1
  4. Shamus O'Brien 1
  5. Wortmann 1

Appearances

  1. O'Brien 57
  2. Haeusler 56
  3. Glover 53
  4. Reid 53
  5. Drucker 50
  6. Moorhouse 50
  7. Sternberg 49
  8. Cameron 45
  9. Prenter 45
  10. Wilson 45

All-time club records

team GP W T L pts gf ga ppg gf/ga
Bethlehem Steel 43 34 4 5 72 41 — 1.67 —
New York Hakoah 48 31 9 8 71 68 — 1.48 —
New York Giants (1923-1930) 45 25 5 15 55 52 — 1.22 —
IRT Rangers 38 12 3 23 27 30 — 0.71 —
Brooklyn Hispano 40 9 5 26 23 36 — 0.58 —
New York Hungaria 28 9 4 15 22 31 — 0.79 —
Philadelphia Centennials 26 6 5 16 16 24 — 0.62 —
New Bedford Whalers 8 6 1 1 13 26 — 1.63 —
Newark Portuguese 11 4 3 4 11 — — 1.00 —
Newark Skeeters 31 3 8 20 14 9 — 0.45 —
New York Celtics 8 0 2 6 2 0 — 0.25 —

Final games

date season team score team venue sources
Dec. 22, 1929 1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano 5 - 0 IRT Rangers Starlight Park 1
Dec. 15, 1929 1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano 5 - 4 New York Hungaria Starlight Park 1
Nov. 10, 1929 1929 Fall New York Hakoah 4 - 1 New York Hungaria Ebbets Field 1
Nov. 10, 1929 1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano 1 - 5 New York Giants (1923-1930) Starlight Park 1
Oct. 20, 1929 1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano 2 - 1 Newark Portuguese Ironbound Field 1
Oct. 20, 1929 1929 Fall New York Hungaria 3 - 1 Newark Skeeters Starlight Park 1
Oct. 20, 1929 1929 Fall New York Giants (1923-1930) 2 - 3 New York Hakoah Ebbets Field 1
Oct. 19, 1929 1929 Fall IRT Rangers 0 - 7 New York Hakoah Starlight Park 1
Oct. 19, 1929 1929 Fall Bethlehem Steel 1 - 1 Brooklyn Hispano Bethlehem, PA 1
Oct. 13, 1929 1929 Fall New York Hakoah 7 - 2 Newark Portuguese Starlight Park 1
Oct. 13, 1929 1929 Fall New York Hungaria 4 - 3 Newark Skeeters Ironbound Field 1
Oct. 13, 1929 1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano 1 - 2 New York Giants (1923-1930) Starlight Park 1
Oct. 13, 1929 1929 Fall Bethlehem Steel 4 - 1 IRT Rangers McGoldrick Field 1
Oct. 12, 1929 1929 Fall Bethlehem Steel 3 - 0 New York Hungaria Bethlehem, PA 1
Oct. 12, 1929 1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano 2 - 1 Newark Portuguese Starlight Park 1
Oct. 6, 1929 1929 Fall IRT Rangers 0 - 2 Newark Portuguese Ironbound Field 1
Oct. 6, 1929 1929 Fall New York Giants (1923-1930) 1 - 0 Newark Skeeters Starlight Park 1
Oct. 6, 1929 1929 Fall Bethlehem Steel 4 - 3 Brooklyn Hispano McGoldrick Field 1
Oct. 5, 1929 1929 Fall Bethlehem Steel 4 - 3 New York Hungaria Starlight Park 1
Sept. 29, 1929 1929 Fall Brooklyn Hispano 4 - 0 IRT Rangers McGoldrick Field 1
Sept. 29, 1929 1929 Fall New York Giants (1923-1930) 3 - 2 New York Hakoah Starlight Park 1
Sept. 29, 1929 1929 Fall New York Hungaria 1 - 4 Newark Portuguese Newark, NJ 1
Sept. 28, 1929 1929 Fall New York Hakoah 8 - 1 New York Hungaria Starlight Park 1
Sept. 28, 1929 1929 Fall Bethlehem Steel 4 - 1 Newark Portuguese Bethlehem, PA 1
Sept. 22, 1929 1929 Fall New York Giants (1923-1930) 2 - 2 Newark Portuguese Starlight Park 1

all ESL games →

Awards

award seasons winners most recent
Champion 1928-1929 First Half–1928-1929 Second Half 2