1 May 1926 - Possession Is Great, But It's What You Do With It That Counts

On 1 May 1926, Viennese club Hakoah, on a tour of the United States, played a match against a group of American Soccer League All-Stars at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan. The match drew a crowd of 46,000, setting a US attendance record that would not be broken until after Pelé signed for the New York Cosmos in 1977.

Founded in 1909, Hakoah (pictured) was an all-Jewish sports club, taking their name from the Hebrew word for "strength." Their football squad was very successful, finishing second in the Austrian league in 1922, then winning the title in 1925. They frequently toured the world, drawing large crowds in part by attracting spectators from the local Jewish populations.

Hakoah's 1926 US tour pulled in some of the largest crowds ever to attend football matches in the US, with three successive matches drawing 25,000, followed by 30,000, and then 36,000, before setting the record with 46,000 on 1 May.

Hakoah's opponents on the day were an All-Star team drawing from the rosters of the New York Giants and Indiana Flooring. The goalkeeper was the Giants' Pete Renzulli, who later described Hakoah as having the ball for 87 out of the 90 minutes in the match. The All-Stars, however, made the best of their limited possession, scoring three times off counter-attacks to win 3-0.

Despite the crowds, the tour was a financial failure for Hakoah, reportedly losing over $30,000 for the club. But Hakoah's players enjoyed the tour so much that many chose to remain in the US and eventually formed a new club named New York Hakoah, who went on to win the 1929 US Open Cup.

16 February 1931 - America's Other New York Yankees

On 16 February 1931, the American Soccer League's Fall River Marksmen merged with the New York Soccer Club to form a new team--the New York Yankees.

The Marksmen were one of the ASL's most successful clubs, with seven league titles and three National Challenge Cup trophies from 1922 through 1930. But by the time they won their last league title in 1930 (despite playing only 27 of 30 matches), the Great Depression had lowered attendances across the league. In an effort to revive the team's flagging revenues, owner Sam Mark moved them from Fall River, Massachusetts to New York.

The team competed in the Spring 1931 league season as the New York Yankees, but had already registered for that year's National Challenge Cup under their former name. Accordingly, they participated in the two different competitions under two different names. As the Yankees, they finished third in the league, but as the Marksmen, they won the Cup, defeating the Chicago Bricklayers in a three-leg Final, behind strong play from their US internationals, Billy Gonsalves (above left) and Bert Patenaude (above right).

After splitting the first two matches of the Final, the Marksmen won the third leg 2-0. It was the last match the team ever played under either name, as the owner moved the team back to Massachusetts as the New Bedford Whalers.

2 October 1928 - A "Renegade League" Sounds More Exciting Than It Actually Is, Unfortunately

On 2 October 1928, the United States Football Association suspended the nation's top league, the American Soccer League. Established in 1921, the ASL was the United States' first professional league. It was regional, with its teams based primarily around New York and Philadelphia.

The suspension arose from a dispute between the ASL and the USFA over the USFA-run National Challenge Cup (the forerunner of today's U.S. Open Cup). The Challenge Cup was played during the ASL season and was open to all clubs in the nation operating under the USFA umbrella. Thus, ASL clubs often found themselves interrupting their season to travel miles away and play against amateur teams in front of small crowds. The poor crowds combined with high travel expenses to strain the finances of the ASL clubs.

In 1928, the ASL boycotted the Challenge Cup (which they had also done in 1924). Nevertheless, three ASL clubs--Bethlehem Steel, New York Giants, and Newark Skeeters--ignored the boycott and entered the Cup competition. The ASL promptly suspended them, which in turn led the USFA, and later FIFA, to suspend the ASL.

The ASL operated as a renegade league for the rest of the 1928-29 season, while the USFA established a new professional league, the Eastern Professional Soccer League, to take its place. In 1929, at the start of the following season, the ASL agreed to comply with the USFA's demands.

The battle between the ASL and USFA irrevocably damaged the ASL, however, and the league, which had by then merged with the EPSL, dissolved in the spring of 1933.

2 September 1929 - Apparently, We Once Called It "Football," Too

On 2 September 1929, the Eastern Professional Soccer League (otherwise known as the Eastern Soccer League, or ESL) launched its second--and last--season.

The ESL was created as the result of a schism between the older American Soccer League and the United States Football Association. For financial and scheduling reasons, the ASL had objected to playing in the USFA-sponsored National Challenge Cup and boycotted the tournament. In response, the USFA suspended the ASL and helped launch the Eastern Professional Soccer League as a replacement.

The new league included eight teams, three from the former ASL (Bethlehem Steel FC (pictured, from 1924), Newark Skeeters and New York Giants), four from the Southern New York Soccer Association (New York Hispano, New York Celtics, Philadelphia Centennials and IRT Rangers), and one new team (New York Hakoah).

For the second season, Centennials and Celtic had dropped out and were replaced by Victoria Hungaria and Newark Portugeuse.

The ESL managed to play only half of its new season before financial pressures--including the October 1929 stock market crash--took their toll on the sport nationally. In November 1929, the ASL reconciled with the USFA and the Eastern Professional Soccer League was dissolved.

At the time, Bethlehem Steel were at the top of the standings and were thus declared champions.