These are the statistics of the Fall 1929 American Soccer League.

Overview

At the beginning of the 1928-29 American Soccer League season, the league initiated a struggle with 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 ...

. The controversy centered on 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 ...

, but was really about the question of who controlled soccer in the United States, the team owners or the federation bureaucrats. In September 1928, the league announced it was boycotting the Challenge Cup. Three teams decided to defy the league and enter the cup:

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...

Newark Skeeters The Newark Skeeters was an American soccer club based in Newark, New Jersey and was a member of the American Soccer League and the Eastern Soccer League. History In December 1924, Tom Adam, former manager of West Hudson A.A., became the mana ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. By the end of September, the American Soccer League had suspended the three teams. The USFA responded by suspending the ASL, making it an outlaw league according to FIFA rules. The USFA then went further and created a new 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 ...

, made up of the three ex-ASL teams as well as several from the Southern New York Soccer Association. The two competing leagues, the American Soccer League and Eastern Professional Soccer League vied for fans and public support during the 1928-29 season. Several teams and players jumped between the two leagues during the season. Other, European, players returned to Europe in order to retain their FIFA standing. By the summer of 1929, both leagues were in some financial difficulty. Despite this, they both began a 1929-1930 season while simultaneously holding talks on declaring a truce.TRUCE DECLARED IN SOCCER CONTROVERSY
/ref> The collapse of the stock market in October 1929 led to the onset of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

which exacerbated the financial problems and gave the two leagues and USFA the motivation to find a solution to the conflict. The two leagues continued to play for several more weeks, but by the beginning of November, 1929, both leagues had suspended operations and agreed to merge into one league called the Atlantic Coast League. The Atlantic Coast league began its

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

on November 6, 1929. Therefore the standings reflect less than one half of the originally scheduled season. The ASL declared Fall River F.C. the champions.

League standings

Goals leaders

References

External links

The Year in American Soccer - 1929
{{American Soccer League (1921-1933) seasons Fall 1929

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Overview

League standings

Goals leaders

See also

References

External links