October 6, 1894: America's 1st Professional Soccer League

The 1894 Philadelphia Phillies... soccer team.

October 6, 1894: The American League of Professional Football, the 1st pro soccer league in the United States, begins play. The 1st game is played in Philadelphia, at the home of the Phillies, what would later be known as Baker Bowl. The New York World, Joseph Pulitzer's splashy, sometimes trashy, newspaper, prints this story: 

Philadelphia, Oct. 6 -- The championship season of American League Professional Football opened here this afternoon on the Philadelphia baseball grounds, with a game between Philadelphia and New York's clubs.

The visitors won by a score of 5 to 0. Two halves of 45 minutes were played.

After 40 minutes of play in the first half, Connolly of New York kicked the first goal.

In the second half, the home players did not back each other up properly, and New York had little trouble in making four more. Gavin scored two and Lupton scored two.

There was a good crowd present, and the liveliest interest was maintained. The New York XI showed excellent teamwork, and the coaching of their captain Trainor had a good effect.

The sporting public in this vicinity are not going to die of heart disease caused from over-enthusiasm for professional football.

Still, it seems to be gaining in popularity. It is an open question whether football can succeed baseball.

There were 6 teams in the ALPF, all named after the baseball teams in town. In alphabetical order: The Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Beaneaters, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Senators.

Baltimore won their 1st 4 games by a combined margin of 24-3, but couldn't afford to stay in business, and had to fold. Since the standings were decided by points, 2 for a win and 1 for a tie, the standings were as follows: Brooklyn 10, Baltimore 8, Boston 8, New York 4, Philadelphia 4 and Washington 2. A dispute with a competing soccer authority and the depression of the 1890s combined to prevent a 2nd season in the Autumn of 1895.

New York and Philadelphia would become important cities in American professional soccer, and both would have teams in the American Soccer League, the original North American Soccer League, and, with the 2010 establishment of the Philadelphia Union, Major League Soccer. But Americans simply have never cared enough about soccer to put in on the same level as baseball. That would not be the case with the game we call "football."

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October 6, 1894 was a Saturday. The baseball season was over. Hockey was all-amateur. And basketball had barely been invented. But there were college football games played. Among them were the following:

* Army beat Amherst, 18-0 on The Plain at West Point, New York.

* Harvard beat Andover, 46-0 at Soldiers' Field in Boston.

* Michigan were held to a 12-12 tie by the Michigan Military Academy, at Regents Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

* The University of Chicago beat nearby Northwestern, 46-0 at Marshall Field in Chicago.

* And in New Jersey, Rutgers beat Lafayette, 12-10 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick.

In England, there was professional soccer, including Woolwich Arsenal, which would one day move to North London and became the Arsenal team I support, beating Lincoln City, 4-1 at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, then in Kent, now in Southeast London.