1928–29 American Soccer League

Statistics of American Soccer League in season 1928–29.

American Soccer League
-1928–29 Season-
Season1928–29
ChampionsFall River F.C. (4th title)
Lewis CupNew York Nationals
Top goalscorerWerner Nilsen (30)
& János Nehadoma

Overview

The first half of the 1928-29 season began on September 1, 1928. This season saw the onset of the Soccer War., a struggle between the American Soccer League and the United States Football Association for control of the sport. It began when the league boycotted the National Challenge Cup in September 1928.[1] Within a week, three ASL teams, Bethlehem Steel, Newark Skeeters and New York Giants, defied the boycott and entered the cup.[2] On September 24, 1928, Bill Cunningham, president of the American Soccer League, suspended the three teams and fined them each $1000.00.[3] In response, the USFA helped create a competing league, the Eastern Professional Soccer League which included the three teams suspended by the ASL, as well as teams from the Southern New York Soccer Association and the newly created New York Hakoah. In a bizarre twist, the first half of the season ended for some teams as early as December 25, 1928, and for others as late as January 13, 1929. The second half of the season then began on December 29, 1928, for some team and for other, not until January 5 or January 13, 1929. This created a situation in which some teams were still playing first half games while other teams were playing their second half games.

In December 1928, the league admitted Jersey City as the league's ninth team for the second season. Jersey City made it seven games into the second half before withdrawing from the league and disbanding. Then on March 23, 1929, J&P Coats also withdrew from the league following its victory over Brooklyn that day. The team came under new ownership which renamed it the Pawtucket Rangers and re-entered the league, taking J&P Coats' record and position in the standings. The team played its first game, a 2-1 loss to Fall River on March 30, 1929. The league had one last team withdrew when the New Bedford Whalers left the league and jumped to the Eastern Professional Soccer League after its 4-0 victory over Boston on March 17, 1929. The Fall River Football Club topped the standings in both the first and second half of the season and were declared league champion.

League standings
  • Percentage is a percentage of games won to games played.

First half
Place Team GP W L D GF GA Pts Pct
1 Fall River F.C. 31 17 9 5 64 36 43 .694
2 Brooklyn Wanderers 31 18 6 7 79 61 42 .677
3 New York Nationals 29 13 8 8 70 53 34 .586
4 Providence 24 13 5 11 53 44 31 .534
5 New Bedford Whalers 29 11 6 12 51 47 28 .483
6 Boston 28 8 8 12 49 60 24 .429
7 Philadelphia 18 3 6 9 27 40 12 .333
8 J&P Coats 28 4 7 17 28 69 15 .268
9 New York Giants 8 3 2 3 15 17 8 .500
10 Bethlehem Steel 6 3 0 3 12 8 6 .500
11 Newark Skeeters 7 0 1 6 7 30 0 .000

Second half
Place Team GP W L D GF GA Pts Pct
1 Fall River F.C. 22 11 6 5 38 24 28 .636
2 Providence 22 12 3 7 46 37 27 .614
3 J&P Coats /
Pawtucket Rangers[Note 1]		 25 13 2 10 42 39 28 .560
4 New York Nationals 21 8 7 6 68 55 23 .548
5 Brooklyn Wanderers 20 5 6 9 42 50 18 .536
6 Philadelphia 18 6 3 9 36 54 15 .450
7 Boston 25 7 4 14 45 55 18 .417
8 New Bedford Whalers[Note 2] 14 7 1 6 37 28 15 .360
9 Jersey City[Note 3] 7 2 0 5 11 23 4 .286
  1. Team played 18 games as J&P Coats and 7 games as the Pawtucket Rangers.
  2. Withdrew from the ASL after March 17, 1929, and entered the Eastern Professional Soccer League.
  3. Withdrew following February 10, 1929, loss to Providence.

League Cup

The winners of the League Cup final were awarded the H.E. Lewis Cup. The finalist were tied on aggregate goals (4 each) after their two match series, and so were required to play a third winner take all match at a neutral site, Hawthorne Field in Brooklyn.[4]

Bracket
January 5–20
2-legged aggregate 		January 26 - February 3
2-legged aggregate & *match replay
          
MA New Bedford Whalers 1 3 4
MA Fall River F.C. 1 2 2
MA New Bedford Whalers 3 1(2) 6
NY New York Nationals 2 2(4) 8
NY New York Nationals 5 3 8
NY Brooklyn Wanderers 5 2 7

Semifinals
New Bedford Whalers1–1Fall River F.C.
Mike McLeavy 9' 79' Alex McNab
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Referee: A. White


Fall River F.C.2–3New Bedford Whalers
Tec White
Bert Patenaude
Denis Doyle 79' (o.g.)		 Sam Kennedy
80' Sam Chedgzoy
Mark's Stadium, Tiverton, Rhode Island
Referee: R. Bethune

New Bedford advances, 4–3, on aggregate.

New York Nationals5–5Brooklyn Wanderers
Hookey Leonard
Bart McGhee
Jimmy Gallagher
John Nelson , 		Bobby Curtis
, , , János Nehadoma
The Polo Ground, New York, New York


Brooklyn Wanderers2–3New York Nationals
Frank Toner 48', 53' 27', 33', 43' John Nelson
Hawthorne Field, Brooklyn, New York
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: James Walder

New York advances, 8–7, on aggregate.

Final
New Bedford Whalers3–2New York Nationals
Sam Chedgzoy 10'
Mike McLeavy 30'
Jimmy Howieson 82'		 Report 43', John Nelson
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Attendance: 5,000


New York Nationals2–1New Bedford Whalers
Hookey Leonard 55', 89' Report 1
Report 2
Report 3		 5' Sam Kennedy
The Polo Grounds, New York, New York
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Thomas Cunningham


New York Nationals4–2New Bedford Whalers
Jimmy Gallagher 56', 73', 79'
John Nelson 61'		 Report 46' Sam Chedgzoy
75' Sam Kennedy
Hawthorne Field, Brooklyn, New York
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Thomas Cunningham

New York wins Lewis Cup, 8–6, on aggregate.

Goals leaders
Rank Scorer Club Games Goals
1 Janos Nehadoma Brooklyn Wanderers 48 43
Werner Nilsen Boston 53 43
3 John Nelson J&P Coats 43 39
4 Bill Paterson Providence 35 33
5 Hookey Leonard New York Nationals 50 31
6 Sam Kennedy J&P Coats 37 23
7 Freddie Wall Philadelphia 23 22
Tec White Fall River F.C. 49 22
9 Bart McGhee New York Nationals 30 19
10 Herbert Carlsson New York Nationals 45 18
11 Leslie Lyell Brooklyn Wanderers 45 17
12 Billy Adair Brooklyn Wanderers 43 16
Bert Patenaude Philadelphia 28 16
14 David Robertson Brooklyn Wanderers 38 15
15 Jerry Best New Bedford Whalers 30 14
Jack Green Providence 37 14
17 Jim Purvis Philadelphia 29 13
18 Bobby Curtis Brooklyn Wanderers 41 12
19 Nils Nygren Boston 29 11
Mike McLeavy Providence 31 11
Pete Fitzpatrick New York Giants 43 11
22 Billy Gonsalves Boston 32 10

References
  1. The Globe -- Bethlehem; Thursday, September 13, 1928
  2. The Globe -- Bethlehem; Wednesday, September 19, 1928
  3. REGRET LEAGUE ACTION AGAINST THREE CLUBS
  4. Lovett, C.A. (February 3, 1929). "Nationals, Whalers Playoff Soccer Tie". New York Daily News. p. 27. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
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