American Soccer League Concepts

[joegaetjens]

The original American Soccer League, operating between 1921 and 1933, was the first significant, viable, professional soccer league in the United States. The league operated primarily in the Northeastern United States, mainly in the New York metropolitan area and Pennsylvania. The ASL was created by the merger of several teams from the National Association Football League (NAFBL) and Southern New England Soccer League in 1921. The move came from a growing disenchantment with the mismanagement of the NAFBL as well as the desire by the United States Football Association (USFA) to create a unified first division league.

 

In real life, the experiment came to an end in 1933, the first of many attempts to create a professional league in the United States left in the dustbin of history. But what if the league had been able to make it work? Sure, teams would have come and gone, as they do in any league, but what if the idea of pulling in great clubs teams to build your league, in the same way that leagues in Europe and Latin America did, had remained. What would the landscape of American soccer look like today?

 

This thread will include a series of concepts, all based around real club teams that have existed at some point in the United States. The idea is that, instead of franchises moving and expansion drafts being scheduled, that the ASL just continued to add more teams from existing clubs as it went along, eventually necessitating the creation of lower divisions feeding up to an ASL Premier Division. Teams were picked based on historical success in the National Challenge Cup (later known as the US Open Cup), various pro leagues, local amateur competitions, or just because I thought they seemed cool and I needed a team in a market.

 

 

PREMIER DIVISION
Seattle Hibernian
Kutis Raiders (St. Louis)
Miami Tango
Boston SC
Washington Britannica
Morgan Strasser (Pittsburgh)
SFIAC (San Francisco)
Orange County SC
Los Angeles Kickers-Victoria
Atlanta Datagraphic Magic
Greek American Atlas (New York)
Philadelphia UGH
Chicago Canadians
Cleveland Bruell
Denver Kickers
Galveston Pirate
Carpathia FC (Detroit)
Bethlehem Steel FC
 

FIRST DIVISION

Florida Kickers (St. Petersburg)
Fall River Marksmen
Baltimore Pompeii
San Jose Oaks
Olympia (Washington) Olys

FC Portland
Athletic Kansas City
Legends FC (Dallas)
Brooklyn Field Club
RWB Adria (Chicago)
Stegman's FC (Minneapolis)
Chicago Sparta
Arizona Sahuaros
Holley Carberutor SC (Detroit)
Kolping Field Club (Cincinnati)
Club España (Washington, D.C.)
Charlotte Eagles
Hoboken FC 1902

[joegaetjens]

First up - Miami Tango!

 

Formed in 1980, Miami Tango is one of the newer clubs in the ASL. Playing out of Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, they were admitted to rectify the lack of a South Florida club in the league. Despite it's youth, Miami has rapidly risen to the Premier League and is one of the most competitive of the Southern clubs. The ASL has since added two more Floridian clubs - Florida Kickers in St. Petersburg and Weston FC in Weston, just outside of Fort Lauderdale. Although neither of the other clubs has made it to the Premier League, occasional cup and preseason clashes have shown the potential for incredible in-state derbies.

 

 

EDIT: Here's their current logo, for reference - 

[joegaetjens]

Next up - the Fall River Marksmen;

 

Fall River is one of the most storied clubs in American soccer. With twelve top division titles and scores of local and national cup titles, the Marksmen have one of the fullest trophy cases in the ASL. Unfortunately, the financial realities of modern football combined with hard times in the region have made it difficult for one of the smallest market teams in American professional soccer to compete at a high level. The 2010 season saw what for many fans was an unthinkable event - relegation to the ASL First Division and a spot outside of America's top flight. Up north, in Boston, fans of the Marksmen's archrival Boston Soccer Club watched with mixed emotions as a team that has often dominated them in the derby falls on hard times.

 

There is reason for hope, though - the team's youth academy continues to produce great talent, especially from Southern New England's large Portuguese-American community, and a long established relationship with Boavista continues to pay dividends in technically adept loans from the Porto club.

 

 

EDIT: Their actual logo from the thirties, for reference - 

[BigRed618]

Good start. I always imagined Fall River to be more of a green team, for some reason, and there is of course the question of whether it's acceptable to have firearms on your logo. I mean, if a certain basketball team isn't even allowed to call themselves the Bullets, then that should say something.

[joegaetjens]

And Fall River's hated rivals - Boston SC "The Bears"

 

Another club with a long history, Boston Soccer Club has been an ASL member since 1924, never having been relegated from the top flight. That said, their trophy chest remains incredibly bare, with only two ASL titles (1927-28 & 1973) and four National Challenge Cup titles to their name. The team often played second fiddle to Fall River in the league, and has endured spells of dominance from Morgan Strasser, Kutis Raiders, and most recently, Seattle Hibernian, while remaining a perennial bridesmaid in the league table.

 

Couldn't find any reference on a historic logo, so this one is totally fantasy.

 

[joegaetjens]

Next up - Baltimore Pompeii!

 

Baltimore Pompeii, "The Rockets", founded in 1953, is one of a number of teams that regularly bounce between the Premier and First divisions of the ASL. While located in a great market, the lack of revenues that would be gained from their own, modern stadium have hurt the club, and no one has stepped up to sign the check to solve this issue for Pompeii. When the team can stay up, derbies against Washington Britannica are spirited affairs, often being moved to the Ravens stadium downtown. 

 

A dispute with the ownership at Under Armour, who provide the kits for Britannica, has caused the team to use a variety of different kit providers - this year's has been provided by Diadora.

 

 

 

[joegaetjens]

5 (1934, '57, '77, '78 & 2001) time ASL Premier champions - Philadelphia UGH (United German-Hungarians!

 

The larger of Philadelphia's two pro teams was started as a club for ethnic Germans who had come to this country from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Like many American teams, it has since broken beyond ethnic borders, and has fans across Pennsylvania and beyond of every stripe. Occasional derbies with second division Philadelphia Celtic are very well attended, as are matches with Detroit's Carpathia Football Club (the "Deutsch Derby"), and games against fellow Pennsylvanians Morgan Strasser of Pittsburgh and Bethlehem Steel.

 

While the team is nowhere near the glory days of it's late 70's teams, which had included a number of American and European international footballers, PUGH always manages to finish in the top half of the ASL Premier, and has one of the most rabid and loyal fan bases in North America.

 

 

Here's the club's current logo, for comparison:

 

[@axpze]

There was another American Soccer League that played from 1933 to 1983 and there were a few of teams from these cities:

Miami Americans 1976-1980
Fall River Astros 1967-1968
Chicago Cats 1975-1976 (great name)

And don't forget the North American Soccer League, 1968-1984:

Kansas City Spurs 1968-1970 (the first professional soccer team in Kansas City)
Washington Darts 1967-1969 
Golden Gate (San Fran.) Gales 1980
Indianapolis Daredevils 1978-1979 (great name)

I think it's only a matter of time until we see MLS teams commemorate these early American soccer teams.


The NPSL only existed for one year (1968), but the Pittsburgh Phantoms were apparently pretty popular playing at Forbes Field, this was their logo:

 

[XenonDesigns]

Cool stuff so far! Philly looks great! I would've liked to see more green than black for Boston though and the Baltimore crest seems a bit too forced with the white for the volcano. Maybe it would look better as gold on black somehow. I'm also really enjoying the back stories, very interesting! 

[joegaetjens]

9 hours ago, @axpze said:

There was another American Soccer League that played from 1933 to 1983 and there were a few of teams from these cities:

 

Thanks for the comment!

 

True story, and there were a couple of other failed leagues in the US as well - notably the USA (United Soccer Association) which wins the prize for best league abbreviation ever, the USISL, and a couple other ASL's. The thing that separates that first ASL from almost every other league that came after it (and the thing that inspired this thread) is that the league didn't start as a bunch of new teams that folded when the league did, but rather, it was a collection of the best club sides from NE, NY, and PA. That's exactly the way the Football League in England started, for example, and that's what I was trying to simulate here - over time, my fantasy ASL grew by adding club sides from around the country until eventually it was to big to all fit in one division. 

 

I am going to do an ASL Second Division as well, once I get to that point.

 

8 hours ago, XenonDesigns said:

Cool stuff so far! Philly looks great! I would've liked to see more green than black for Boston though and the Baltimore crest seems a bit too forced with the white for the volcano. Maybe it would look better as gold on black somehow. I'm also really enjoying the back stories, very interesting! 

 

Thanks, man! Philly's my favorite to, at this stage. On the Baltimore logo - how do you see that - would the volcano be gold with a black border? Or would it be a slightly different shade of gold? I struggled with that one a little bit, so I'm definitely happy to knock together an alternate version, just trying to picture it.

[XenonDesigns]

It would look much better with some sort outline.

[joegaetjens]

1 hour ago, XenonDesigns said:

It would look much better with some sort outline.

 

How 'bout this?

 

[Krz]

Looks more professional