Statistics of American Soccer League in season 1928–29.

Overview

The first half of the 1928-29 season began on September 1, 1928. This season saw the onset of the Soccer War., a struggle between the American Soccer League and the

United States Football Association The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer at ...

for control of the sport. It began when the league boycotted the

National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

in September 1928. Within a week, three ASL teams, Bethlehem Steel, Newark Skeeters and New York Giants, defied the boycott and entered the cup. On September 24, 1928, Bill Cunningham, president of the American Soccer League, suspended the three teams and fined them each $1000.00. In response, the USFA helped create a competing league, the

Eastern Professional Soccer League Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

which included the three teams suspended by the ASL, as well as teams from the Southern New York Soccer Association and the newly created

New York Hakoah New York Hakoah is an American soccer club based in New York City, which takes its name from two earlier, defunct clubs. ''Hakoah'' (roughly translated as "strength" from Hebrew) is a frequent name for sport and social Jewish clubs around the wor ...

. In a bizarre twist, the first half of the season ended for some teams as early as December 25, 1928, and for others as late as January 13, 1929. The second half of the season then began on December 29, 1928, for some team and for other, not until January 5 or January 13, 1929. This created a situation in which some teams were still playing first half games while other teams were playing their second half games. In December 1928, the league admitted

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

as the league's ninth team for the second season. Jersey City made it seven games into the second half before withdrawing from the league and disbanding. Then on March 23, 1929, J&P Coats also withdrew from the league following its victory over Brooklyn that day. The team came under new ownership which renamed it the Pawtucket Rangers and re-entered the league, taking J&P Coats' record and position in the standings. The team played its first game, a 2-1 loss to Fall River on March 30, 1929. The league had one last team withdrew when the New Bedford Whalers left the league and jumped to the

after its 4-0 victory over Boston on March 17, 1929. The Fall River Football Club topped the standings in both the first and second half of the season and were declared league champion.

League standings

* Percentage is a percentage of games won to games played.

First half

Second half

League Cup

The winners of the League Cup final were awarded the H.E. Lewis Cup. The finalist were tied on aggregate goals (4 each) after their two match series, and so were required to play a third winner take all match at a neutral site, Hawthorne Field in Brooklyn.

Bracket

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Semifinals

''New Bedford advances, 4–3, on aggregate.'' ----
''New York advances, 8–7, on aggregate.'' ----

Final

''New York wins Lewis Cup, 8–6, on aggregate.''

Goals leaders

External links

The Year in American Soccer - 1929

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1928-29 American Soccer League American Soccer League (1921–1933) seasons American