TLIAW: A Goal in One

I: The Beginnings of Organized Play (1906-1917)

Football in the United States at the start of the 20th Century would find itself recovering after its downward orientation in the 1890s. A tour by the Pilgrims, an English-based football team, in 1905, would find the earnest for the sport to return across the United States as people watched in glee to see its returns. Nearly a year after the tour as the sport slowly found itself reforming, the American Football Association (AFA) and the American Cup (organized in the 1880s) would be restored once more intent on playing the first matches with the initial teams in the northeastern United States. By the end of the decade, numerous leagues would find themselves sprouted up around major cities, such as New York City, New England, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The numerous leagues were under the modern context in an 'amateur' like state, and saw no direct entity for primary organization.

With the numerous leagues and state entities operating, all with different standards, it became paramount for the creation of a national body to organize standards and encourage cooperation among all the separate leagues. This however came to its own problems as the American Football Association had claimed to be the main national entity due to operating the American Cup and being supported by the Foot Ball Association of England, and that many people did not like the idea of the main national organization to be influenced or controlled by another nation. The numerous issues with the AFA saw debates over a 'counter' league to be formed, which would be created in October by the New York State Amateur Foot Ball League known as the 'American Amateur Foot Ball Association' (AAFA). The AAFA would immediately set themselves to work on integrating numerous state associations and leagues to ensure a standardized set of rules and procedures. In 1912, both the AFA and the AAFA would submit applications to FIFA to apply as the international entity on the behalf of the United States. After being sent up to the Emergency Committee, it would be determined to accept neither entity and to hold on until something more organized could be created. From that, both groups would begin discussions on the future, and a merger would be conducted between the American Football Association and the American Amateur Foot Ball Association, to create a new organization known as the United States Football Association (USFA) [1]. Per the creation of this new entity, the first new President of the USFA that would be elected would be G. Randolph 'Gus' Manning, a shock to many of the AFA (as he had been the representative of the AAFA to FIFA), while the first General Secretary would be Andrew M. Brown (the former President of the AFA). The immediate goals of the USFA would be to further organize the rules and standards per working with the state associations and operating 'leagues' combined with having an 'independent' picture away from England.

By the time the USFA would join FIFA in 1914, five primary leagues operated throughout the United States of some note. The National Association Football League (in Northeast New Jersey and New York City), New York State Amateur Football League, Allied American Foot Ball Association of Philadelphia, St. Louis Soccer League, and the Association Foot Ball League of Chicago were the five primary leagues spread across the United States. The National Association Football League (NAFL) was the only 'semi-professional' league operating at the time with the USFA beginning to look towards improving the semi-professional clubs by building the required infrastructure and to support the leagues. The expansion of a sixth major league in 1915, known as the Southern New England Soccer League would also showcase the need for a professional football league to be created as proposed by General Secretary Brown (inspired from baseball's own professional leagues, the American League and National League). The proposals would be heavily debated among the leadership and for how it would be worked out. As the debates raged forth among the leadership of the USFA, other events would take place with the creation of the United States National Team, and the expansion of the regular leagues in attendance and play.

The United States National Team would be assembled from clubs throughout the Northeast (with two players from St. Louis and one from Chicago) and set forth to Scandinavia to partake in their first international games. Their first game played against an all-star side from Stockholm would see them lose in the 89th minute by a second goal, ending the game at 2-1. The second game would see a game played against a full Swedish team, with a crowd of nearly 20,000 (including King Gustav V) and the game would be brought to conclusion at a tie of 2-2. The third game, played once more against the Stockholm 'All-Stars' would see a tie at 1-1. The fourth game would be played against 'all-stars' in Gothenburg, seeing a win by the USNT at 3-1. The fifth game would be brought to play in Kristiana, Norway against the Norwegian National Team, with a victory of 2-1 by the USNT. Their sixth and last game would be against the Stockholm 'All-Stars' once more, and after nearly ninety-minutes of play, the USNT would be victorious winning 3-2.

As the year 1917, everything appeared to be looking well for the growth of football in the United States and the plans for the first full professional football league appeared to be well in hand. Then, on April 6th, 1917, the United States would declare war on the German Empire, entering the First World War.

[1] That is the primary point of departure compared to OTL; the AAFA eventually managed to get support after a large amount of support from the AFA defected to them.
 
What is this?

A Timeline In a Week. Not a Timeline in a While. Duh.

No, you slow-brain. What is this about?

Soccer.

Soccer? Don't you mean football?

It is soccer here in the glorious United States, will be changing that for this (most likely...)

Right, right... So where is this focused in then?

I mentioned it just above.

No, you didn't? Oh, I see... And how will that be done Oh Silly One?

Somewhat simple. And yes, I am the Silly One. :p

Right, well get on with it already, and show us the survival!

Hold ya horses... Err, for this, hold your penalty kicks. Humor is allowed.

No humor.

Shut up.
 
Hell yeah :D
Could this possibly lead to Japan being the dominant power in baseball, with TTL America focused on "football'?
 
Hell yeah :D
Could this possibly lead to Japan being the dominant power in baseball, with TTL America focused on "football'?

I wouldn't say necessarily at this moment (in planning, plus I'm afraid I don't know much about baseball)... Although baseball might be having some upcoming troubles. ;)

Also, fun fact. Baseball team owners in the 1920s also 'owned' some of the football clubs in the American Soccer League (first professional league) from what I have read on it.
 
OOC: Apologies if it appears a tad too packed together in this chapter. Will be working on making it clear for the next one and the other reverberations going on. And I do suck at naming stuff there... :eek:

II: A War and Organization (1917-1924)

The entry of the United States into the First World War would be a drastically changing event for the United States, as hundreds of thousands of men would find themselves drafted as part of the war effort. Football would find itself effected in a variety of degrees, but less than other sports at this time. Some entire teams would find themselves wiped out by the draft, while other teams would find themselves facing minimal impact from the draft and the war. The United States Football Association would make a call to all associations to resist the temptation to strengthen the wealthy (but decimated) teams against the weaker, but much more complete teams. The First World War would help to 'bury' the hatchet as it was so called among the numerous separate state organizations, leagues, and clubs as they all banded together in support of the war.

While the war would see the limitation of football being played in the Northeast and Midwest, the USFA would begin planning out future plans for the creation of future 'leagues' in the United States. Two major approaches had been drafted in discussions, one being the creation of a 'national' league similar to what was done in England spread across the Northeast and Midwest for playing, while the other was a series of more 'regional' leagues with the leading teams from each of the leagues playing against each other to win a new 'cup'. The second idea was seen as one of more strength, and as the year 1918 entered, and started to fly by, plans began to be cemented for the creation of 'three' regional leagues in the United States. The first regional league, the tentative name being the Eastern Foot Ball League was to be created and have teams in the Northeastern United States; the second regional league, the tentative name being the Ohio-Missouri Football League was to be created and have teams along the Ohio Valley into the Missouri River Valley; and the third regional league, the tentative name being the Great Lakes Football League was to be created and have teams along the Great Lakes. As the proposal had been drafted, all three separate regional leagues were expected to host no less than eight clubs per, with an expectation averaging around twelve to sixteen clubs likely playing for any of the leagues.

The end of the war, would bring about the announcement by the United States Football Association that beginning in 1920, a series of three regional professional leagues would be created for the goal of playing professional football in the United States. Starting in 1919, all regular clubs could submit bids to join the professional leagues and the reasons behind. The USFA would find themselves inundated with requests to join, and eventually they would narrow down to a total of ten teams to form the initial core of the 'Eastern Foot Ball League' (EFL). The ten teams were the Boston Wonder Workers, Fall River Marksmen, J&P Coats, New York Field Club, Todd Shipyards (Brooklyn), Harrison Soccer Club, Bethlehem Steel, Philadelphia Field Club, Harrisburg Football Club, and the Albany Steamers. The teams came from a variety of leagues throughout the Northeast, which would find themselves (in most cases) pulling the plug on the existing amateur leagues operating. The intended schedule of the 1920 season was planned for a total of eighteen games for each team in all to start off, so each team could play the other teams twice. The 1920-1921 season (September to April) would see the Fall River Marksman narrowly beating Bethlehem Steel in the points. The showcase of the first successful professional football season highlighted a success as other professional sports suffered issues [1].

The 1921-1922 Season for the EFL would see the same teams being played, but harsh weather drastically reduced the amount of games having been played and the points that were scored. The Albany Steamers would score on top beating both Bethlehem Steel and the Fall River Marksmen, surprising many due to their rugged defense present. The success of the second professional season would be followed by the finalization of work for the 'Ohio-Missouri Football League' which was expected to start for the 1922-1923 season. As it came time, the Ohio-Missouri Football League would have a total of eight teams to start up, Homestead Steel, Beadling (Pittsburgh), Cincinnati Nationals, Indianapolis Goblins, Springfield Strikers, Scullin Steels (St. Louis), Vesper-Buicks (St. Louis), and the Kansas City Smokers. The 1922-1923 Season for the EFL would see Todd Shipyards drop out, to be replaced by the Patterson Silk Sox, with an extension to a total of twenty four games played for the season (September to May). The eventual winner in the EFL would be Bethlehem Steel, beating past the Fall River Marksmen and the Albany Steamers. By this point, contracts by clubs from the Eastern Foot Ball League would be making themselves known to Europeans football players as the clubs grew in financial strength at the time. The first season for the OMFL would see Homestead Steel top the Vesper-Buicks by a single point, and a general success for the OMFL. 1923 would also see the Great Lakes Football League also start in their first season as the EFL started their fourth season, and the MOSL started their second station. The Great Lakes Football League would have a total of eight starting clubs, the Niagara Rainbows (Buffalo), Goodyear Field Club (Cleveland), Willys Autos (Toledo), Hudson Cavaliers (Detroit), Pullman (Chicago), Chicago Rovers, Milwaukee Millers, and Gary Field. The EFL and the OMFL would have no expansion over 1923, conducting their games like normal. The EFL would have the Fall River Marksmen reign to victory there. The OMFL would see the Vesper-Buicks soar to victory against the Scullin Steels and Springfield Strikers. The GLFL would see the Chicago Rovers beat the Niagara Rainbows by three points due to the Niagara Rainbows suffering numerous cancellations. All was appearing well for the emergence of professional football in the United States.


Eastern Foot Ball League:
Boston Wonder Workers (1920)
Fall River Marksmen (1920) (2-1920, 1923)
J&P Coats (1920)
New York Field Club (1920)
Harrison Soccer Club (1920)
Bethlehem Steel (1920) (1-1922)
Philadelphia Field Club (1920)
Harrisburg Football Club (1920)
Albany Steamers (1920) (1-1921)
Patterson Silk Sox (1922)

Ohio-Missouri Football League
Homestead Steel (1922) (1-1922)
Beadling (1922)
Cincinnati Nationals (1922)
Indianapolis Goblins (1922)
Springfield Strikers (1922)
Scullin Steels (1922)
Vesper-Buick (1922) (1-1923)
Kansas City Smokers (1922)

Great Lakes Football League
Niagara Rainbow (1923)
Goodyear Field Club (1923)
Willys Auto (1923)
Hudson Cavaliers (1923)
Pullman (1923)
Chicago Rovers (1923) (1-1923)
Milwaukee Millers (1923)
Gary Field (1923)


[1] The beginnings of a 'Gridiron' league would be stunted in their tracks with a failure for a national organization and a series of bidding wars devastating the sport in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Proposals for a national Gridiron league would not return until the late 1950s as a result. Baseball would be hit hard by the Black Sox Scandal, with the near collapse of the American League after the withdrawal of the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and New York Yankees to the National League alongside the addition of the Detroit Lions totaling twelve teams for the National League. The American League would add three new teams in, the New Orleans Saints, Houston Bulls, and Kansas City Chiefs.
 
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