The North American Soccer Football League, also known as the North American Football League, was a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

league that operated for two seasons, 1946 and 1947. Fred Weiszmann was the league founder and first president in 1946 while

Leslie O'Connor Leslie Michael O'Connor (August 31, 1889 – January 20, 1966) was an American lawyer and professional baseball executive. He was the assistant to the Commissioner of Baseball from January 1921 until the death of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain La ...

was the president in 1947 (as elected in December 1946). Financial problems reduced the league to five teams in September 1947. The Maroons and Vikings of Chicago were replaced with the Chicago Tornadoes. The remaining teams were the St. Louis Raiders, Pittsburgh Indians, Toronto Greenbacks, and Detroit Pioneers. The Tornadoes were a combination of the best players from the old Vikings and Maroons.

1946 season

The 1946 season featured a 20-match schedule from 7 June to 1 September, with all five teams playing eight matches each. The Detroit Wolverines clinched the title on 24 August after rivals Toronto lost their second-last match of the season. Toronto won their last game of the season over Detroit on 25 August, but still finished one point back in the standings. Detroit and Toronto were then scheduled to meet in a two-match playoff, with Toronto winning the first match on 21 September. Detroit claimed that they did not want to complete the series as they had already won the league's championship.

1947 season

The 1947 season featured a 30-match schedule from 6 April to 30 August, with all six teams scheduled to play 10 matches each. The champion Detroit Wolverines had dropped out of the league, while both the Detroit Pioneers and St. Louis Raiders were added to the league. The Pittsburgh Indians and Toronto Greenbacks finished tied for first place with 14 points each, thus requiring a two-match playoff to decide a champion. The two matches were played in October (after the Fall Season had started), with Pittsburgh winning both matches to claim the championship.

1947 Fall season

After league meetings in July, the 1947 Fall season was scheduled to feature seven teams with the return of the Detroit Wolverines. The league decided against adding a team from Cleveland. By the time the season started in September, however, the revised schedule featured just four teams (without the Wolverines, Chicago Maroons, and Chicago Vikings). A fifth team, the new Chicago Tornadoes, was set to replace the two Chicago teams. Despite all the schedule revisions, only three teams were in action from 6 September to 4 October: Pittsburgh Indians, St. Louis Raiders, and Toronto Greenbacks.

Champions

* 1946 season:

Detroit Wolverines The Detroit Wolverines were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team that played in the National League from 1881 to 1888 in the city of Detroit, Michigan. In total, they won 426 games and lost 437, taking their lone pennant (and winning the p ...

* 1947 season:

Pittsburgh Indians Pittsburgh Indians were a mid-twentieth-century American soccer club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny C ...

Teams from 1946 to 1947

* Chicago Maroons (1946, 1947) * Chicago Vikings (1946, 1947) * Detroit Pioneers (1947) *

(1946) * Morgan Strassers /

(1946, 1947) * St. Louis Raiders (1947) *

Toronto Greenbacks The North American Soccer Football League, also known as the North American Football League, was a soccer league that operated for two seasons, 1946 and 1947. Fred Weiszmann was the league founder and first president in 1946 while Leslie O'Conno ...

(1946, 1947) * Chicago Tornadoes (Fall 1947)

Significant players

* Dick Arends with Toronto in '46 and '47 and on loan to Chicago Vikings in '46 *

Paul Danilo Paul “Doots” Danilo (July 5, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was born in South Fayette Township, Pennsylvania and was a U.S. soccer outside right who played most of his career with amateur teams in western Pennsylvania. He scored the winning goa ...

with Pittsburgh in '46 and '47 *

Nicholas DiOrio Nicholas DiOrio (February 4, 1921 – September 11, 2003) was a member of the U.S. national team at the 1950 FIFA World Cup. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Youth DiOrio grew up in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and gr ...

with Pittsburgh in '46 and Chicago in '47 * Gil Heron with Detroit Corinthians in '46 (top league goal scorer) and father of

Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Ja ...

died 27 November 2008 * Doug McMahon with Chicago in '46 *

Les Medley Leslie Dennis Medley (3 September 1920 – 22 February 2001) was an English Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, left winger. Born in Edmonton, London, aged 11 he gained a scholarship place at the Latymer Sch ...

with Toronto in '47 *

Harry Phillips Harry Phillips may refer to: * Harry Phillips (rugby union) Henry Thomas Phillips (22 June 1903 – 16 December 1978) was a Welsh international rugby union lock who played club rugby for Cross Keys and Newport and international rugby for Wal ...

with Toronto in '46 and '47 and on loan to Chicago Vikings in '46

References

Sources

NASFLObituary: Nicholas DiOrio / Competed in 1950 World Cup

External links

A brief history at The Philly Soccer Page
{{USDefunctSoccer Defunct soccer leagues in the United States Defunct soccer leagues in Canada 1946–47 in American soccer 1946 establishments in the United States 1947 disestablishments in Canada