This Week in American Soccer History: American Soccer League
du Nord, May 9, 2011
Contributing Editor Dillon Young(links posted are to images of the original documents from the era)This Week in Soccer History: 1921This week in May 1921, The American Soccer League was born, the first major effort at creating a professional league in the United States. The league consisted of teams from all over the Northeast coast, including New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Originally the league was suppose to consist of eight teams, with two teams in the Philadelphia area, Philadelphia FC and the famous Bethlehem Steel FC. Instead the teams merged, taking the majority of their players from the powerful Bethlehem squad and taking the name and location of Philadelphia FC. The Philadelphia Squad, led by Harold Brittain's 27 goals, beat out the New York Football Club and third place and former national champion Todd Shipyards FC for the Championship in the first season of the ASL.