1927–28 American Soccer League

During the 1927 off-season, Charles Stoneham bought Indiana Flooring and renamed it the New York Nationals.[1] In order to bring the number of teams back to twelve after the withdrawal of the Springfield Babes and Philadelphia Field Club the previous season, the league admitted the Hartford Americans and Philadelphia Celtic.

With twelve teams in place, the league made significant changes to its schedule from the previous season. Rather than running a single, 44 game, table for the entire season, the league split the season into two halves, each with its own table. At the end of the season, the top two teams from each half would enter a playoff to determine the league championship.

The first half of the 1927-28 season began September 10, 1927, and ended on January 8, 1928. Ten games into the season, Philadelphia Celtic withdrew due to financial problems.[2][3] By this time, the Hartford Americans were also showing financial weakness. Therefore, the league requested Hartford voluntarily withdraw from the league both to strengthen the league's financial position and to create a balanced schedule for the rest of the season.[4] By the end of the first half, Boston had finished at the top of the table, but Bethlehem Steel and New Bedford tied with forty-one points each. This led to an improvised first half playoff game on February 22, 1928, between Bethlehem Steel and New Bedford to determine second place. The second half of the season began on February 4, 1928, and ended May 30, 1928.

The structural problems with the proposed playoff system became obvious by the end of the first half of the season. As mentioned above, Bethleham Steel and New Bedford finished tied for second place. This led to a playoff game which, ironically, did not take place until February 22, 1928, nearly two weeks after the second half of the season began.[5] In that game, played in Tiverton, Rhode Island, the Whalers defeated the Steelmen, 2-0. Further complications arose at the end of the second half. When New Bedford and the Fall River Marksmen finished as the top two teams this led to an unbalanced playoff. The league had intended to have a four team playoff, but the playoff now consisted of three teams – Boston, New Bedford and Fall River. Therefore, the league first decided to allow Bethlehem Steel to enter as the fourth team. This led to a protest by the New York Nationals that they deserved to be the fourth team on account of finishing above Bethlehem Steel in the second half. The league executives decided then to include both the Nationals and Bethlehem Steel, making the playoffs a five-team affair.[6] Bethlehem Steel defeated the Nationals in a two-game series, the first on June 4 and the second on June 6th.[7] Three days later, Bethlehem met the Boston Soccer Club in the first game of their semifinal series. The Bethlehem players were clearly fatigued and their goalkeeper, Dave Edwards went down injured as Bethlehem lost. Rather than travel back to their home stadium in Pennsylvania for the second leg of the series, Bethlehem elected to play at Hawthorne Stadium in Brooklyn. This was home to the Brooklyn Wanderers. While there, Bethlehem requested the Wanderers loan their goalkeeper, future Aberdeen great Steve Smith, to replace the injured Edwards. However, Bethlehem Steel failed to notify league officials that Smith would be a guest player. After Bethlehem won the game, 4-0, going through on aggregate, Boston lodged a complaint which the league sustained. The second game was declared void and Boston's first leg victory became the deciding game in the semifinal. In the other semifinal, the New Bedford Whalers defeated the Fall River Marksmen. However, two players from each team were sent off in the second game. Then Sturdy Maxwell, one of the ejected Whalers players got into a post-game fight with Tec White of the Marksmen. The league suspended White and Maxwell, depriving the Whalers of their starting right half.[8] In the final between the Boston Soccer Club and New Bedford Whalers, both teams scored in the first half, but the Whalers clinched the championship with three second half goals by Barney Battles Jr.

When Bethlehem Steel and New Bedford finished tied for second place during the first half of the season, this playoff game in February was used to determine the second place team for playoff purposes.

February 22, 1929

New Bedford Whalers	2–0	Bethlehem Steel
Mike McLeavy McLaughlin

Mark's Stadium, Tiverton, Rhode Island

June 4, 1928
5:30 PM EST

Bethlehem Steel	2–1	New York Nationals
Archie Stark  1',  46'	Report	44' Hookey Leonard

Lehigh Stadium, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Referee: Mose Bloom

June 6, 1928
9:00 PM EST

New York Nationals	0–4	Bethlehem Steel
	Report	75',  77' Archie Stark , Wattie Jackson

Polo Grounds, New York City

Referee: Charles Creighton

Bethlehem Steel advances, 6–1, on aggregate

June 9, 1928

Boston	3–1	Bethlehem Steel
Barney Battles Jr. , ,  90'	Report	44' Archie Stark

Referee: Thomas Cunningham

June 12, 1928
6:45 PM EST

Bethlehem Steel	4–0	Boston
Hugh Reid Archie Stark , Tom Gillespie	Report

Hawthorne Field, Brooklyn, New York

The league voided the result of the second leg game after it was discovered Bethlehem Steel used Steve Smith, the Brooklyn Wanderers goalkeeper, in place of the injured Dave Edwards.

Boston advanced to the final.

June 9, 1928

New Bedford Whalers	3–1	Fall River Marksmen
Sam Chedgzoy Bill Paterson Walter Aspden		Bobby Blair

June 10, 1928

Fall River Marksmen	1–0	New Bedford Whalers
Johnny Harvey Johnny Harvey Dougie Campbell		Red Ballantyne Sturdy Maxwell

Mark's Stadium, Tiverton, Rhode Island

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Thomas Cunningham

New Bedford advanced, 3–2, on aggregate

March 3, 1928

Bethlehem Steel	3–1	Newark Skeeters
Malcolm Goldie Archie Stark  58',		Jim Green

I and Tioga, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Dave Scott

March 4, 1928

Newark Skeeters	0–4	Bethlehem Steel
		37' Archie Stark  50' Tom Gillespie  60' Malcolm Goldie  85' Tom Gillespie

Newark, New Jersey

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: J. Hume

Bethlehem advances, 7–1, on aggregate.

March 18, 1928

New Bedford Whalers	3–4	Boston
Jerry Best , Bill Paterson		Tommy Fleming Johnny Ballantyne Jock McIntyre Werner Nilsen

New Bedford, Massachusetts

Referee: George Lambie

March 24, 1928

Boston	4–1	New Bedford Whalers
Barney Battles Jr. , Red Ballantyne Werner Nilsen		Alec Lorimer

Boston, Massachusetts

Referee: Thomas Cunningham

Boston advances, 8–4, on aggregate.

April 7, 1928

Bethlehem Steel	3–2 AET	Boston
Archie Stark  15', 92' Johnny Rollo	Report	22' (pen.) Barney Battles Jr.

I and Tioga, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Referee: Charles Creighton

April 8, 1928

Boston	2–2	Bethlehem Steel
Barney Battles Jr.  5', 50'	Report	2' Malcolm Goldie  23' Archie Stark

Boston, Massachusetts

Referee: Tom Cunningham

Bethlehem wins Lewis Cup, 5–4, on aggregate.