This year saw the end of the first American Soccer League early in its spring season. Soccer continued solely at the amateur and semi-pro level among the municipal leagues, and the colleges until the second American Soccer League made its debut in the fall.
American Soccer League
The American Soccer League revived briefly by playing a fall session in 1932. There was considerable change in the makeup of the league, with the New York Giants and Newark Americans having left, and Queens Bohemians, New York Field Club and Boston Bears joining the circuit. Only a partial league table is available, but it is known that Fall River was the league champion. The league began its disintegration in earnest after this fall season, with several teams dropping out, and New York Brookhattan (later to be a significant ASL II team) and Prague Americans joining for a fateful spring 1933 season. Information is very sketchy for this season: only a few box scores are available and a brief mention that Brookhattan won the first half of the season. It is likely that the second half was simply abandoned, but until more information can be uncovered, the league’s ultimate fate remains a mystery. The passing of the original ASL marked the end of the golden age of American Soccer. Although a new American League was launched in the fall of 1933, this new league was on a smaller scale, centered in the New York-New Jersey/Philadelphia/Baltimore regions and did not reach the heights of the previous League, although a number of its teams went on to win National Challenge Cup championships. This new league spanned several eras in US soccer history, lasting almost until the end of the North American Soccer League in the early 1980’s, and had a wide ranging history of its own.
Final American Soccer League Standings, Fall 1932
1st half (fall, 1932)
Before the season, New York Field Club, Queens, and Brooklyn were added.
GP W D L GF GA PTS
Fall River Football Club19 10 7 2 27
Pawtucket Rangers 19 10 5 4 25
New York Americans 11 6 3 3 14
New York Field Club 11 5 1 5 11
Brooklyn Wanderers 15 5 2 8 12
Hakoah All-Stars 15 4 4 7 12
Queens Bohemians 9 2 3 4 5
New Bedford Whalers 6 2 0 4 4
Boston Bears 11 2 2 7 6
CHAMPION: Fall River.
After the season, Fall River, Pawtucket, New York Field Club,
Hakoah, New Bedford and Boston withdrew.
Final American Soccer League Standings, Spring 1933
2nd half (spring, 1933)
Before the season, Prague was added.
GP W D L GF GA PTS
Brookhattan 6 4 1 1 11 7 9
New York Americans 6 4 0 2 19 10 8
Brooklyn Wanderers 6 3 1 2 9 11 7
Prague Americans 5 0 0 5 3 13 0
Bohemian Queens 1 0 0 1 2 3 0
After the conclusion of the 1933 spring season, the league ceased operations. It
was completely reorganized during the summer, being reborn in the fall of 1933
as the second American Soccer League.
St. Louis Soccer League
Thomas Cahill took over administration of the St. Louis League with a mission to restore the league to its former glory. Although unsuccessful in that respect, this program of increased sponsorship, reduced admission prices, better salaries, and more professional league management did lead to several seasons of notably improved performance and fan interest. Stix Baer & Fuller, buttressed by an influx of top players surged to the top of the league, winning the league title as well as the US Open Cup. Coca Colas fell apart, a sudden fall from its former glory.
1932-33 Final SLSL League Standings
GP W L T GF GA Pts
Stix Baer & Fuller 15 10 2 3 39 28 23
Andersons 15 4 5 6 25 26 14
Ben Millers 15 5 8 2 32 32 12
Coca Colas 15 5 9 1 28 38 11
Champion: Stix, Baer & Fuller
Municipal League Champion: German Sport Club
Leading Scorers: G
Bennie Nash, Ben Millers 12
Ed Grennon, Coca Colas 9
John "Dinty" Moore, Andersons 7
"Hop" Coughlin, Ben Millers 7
William MacLean, Stix 6
Werner "Scotty" Nilsen, Stix 6
Vince Sullivan, Coca Colas 6
Lou Ahrens, Stix 5
Bill McPherson, Stix 5
Alex McNab, Stix 4
James Cronin, Andersons 4
Frank Lodderhouse, Andersons 4
Larry Kickham, Ben Millers 4
Amateur Leagues & Cups
California Senior Challenge Cup: Olympic
John O. Bellis Perpetual Trophy: Olympic
Rowland Cup (Maryland State Open): Patansco Rangers
New Jersey State Challenge Cup. Scots-American
New York State Senior Challenge Cup. German-Hungarian
New York State Qualifying Cup. German-Hungarian
German-American Soccer League (New York): German Hungarian S. C.; B Division: Newark
Metropolitan League (New York). Premier Division: Norwegian Turn; First Division: Manhattan
Metropolitan Challenge Cup (New York): Greenock W. Scot.
Peel Challenge Cup (Illinois): Sparta F. C.
National Soccer League of Chicago: Sparta FC
West Penn Challenge Cup: Curry; Junior Cup: McKnights
The US National Team
The US National team did not play any games during 1933.
National Challenge Cup
Stix, Baer & Fuller of St. Louis defeated the New York Americans, 1-0 and 2-1, to win the two-leg final. Following the folding of the original American Soccer League, five of the players who had played against Stix for New Bedford in the 1932 final had signed with Stix and moved to St. Louis.
In the first game of the final, played on April 16 before 15,200 at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, the only goal came from one of Stix’s holdover players, Bill McLean. In the second leg, on April 23 at Starlight Park in the Bronx, McLean and former New Bedford star Werner Nilsen got the Stix goals.
Stix had rumbled past Chicago Sparta in the semifinals, winning the fist leg by 7-3 and the second by 1-0. The eastern semifinal also was a two-leg affair, with New York Americans losing the first leg to Pawtucket Rangers, 4-2, and coming back to take the second, 4-1. In the quarterfinals, Stix had beaten another St. Louis team, Anderson, 4-1, while New York Americans took a two-leg series from Philadelphia German-American, 1-0 and 3-2. The other quarterfinal results were Pawtucket Rangers 5, New York German-Hungarian 0, and Chicago Sparta 1, Cleveland Slavia 0.
International Tours
Audax S. C. (Chile) September 16, 1933 – October 22, 1931. 8 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss
Roster: Arranedo, Aviles, Azerman, Bologna, Carrollo, Fischer, Gornell, Guibice, Ojeda, Orrego Riveras, Sorrelli.
9/16 Audax 5, Wisconsin 2 (at Milwaukee) 9/22 Audax 2, Sparta leader (at Chicago) 9/23 Audax 2, National League Stars 0 (at Chicago) 9/30 Audax 6, Stix Baer & Fuller 4 (at St. Louis) 10/9 Stix Baer & Fuller 3, Audax 2 (at St. Louis) 10/10 Audax 4, Slavia 2 (at Cleveland) 10/14 Audax 5, Michigan Stars 3 (at Detroit) 10/21 Audax 8, Philadelphia Americans 3 (at Philadelphia) 10/22 Audax 4, Brooklyn Celtic 2 (at Brooklyn)
The College Game
Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association Champion: Penn, Penn State
Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Soccer League: Penn
California Intercollegiate Soccer Conference Champion: San Francisco
College All-Americans: G - Bell, Penn State RF - Black, Syracuse LF - Graham, Penn State RH - Strzepeck, Illinois CH - Fletcher, Penn State LH - Reilly, Pennsylvania OR - Ritchie, Haverford IR - Finzel, Penn State CF - Roberts, Springfield IL - Bielecki, Penn State OL - Gonzalez, Pennsylvania
Other Action
1933 National Amateur Cup Final: Philadelphia German-Americans defeated Pittsburgh McKnight Beverage 5-1 on April 23.