Fall River Football Club, was the name used by a United States

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

clubs, based in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...

. They played in the American Soccer League during the 1931 and 1932 season. The name is often used and is not to be confused with the Fall River F.C. team owned by

Sam Mark Samuel Mark (born Markelevich; September 22, 1896 – August 9, 1980) was an American soccer club owner. During the 1920s and early 1930s he was the owner of Fall River FC, often referred to as the ''Marksmen'', one of the era's most successful ...

Fall River F.C. Spring 1931

In 1931, after Mark relocated his team to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and renamed them the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, a group of Fall River businessmen, led by an ex-Marksmen player

Harold Brittan Harold Pemberton Brittan (11 November 1894 – 3 May 1959) was an American-English soccer center forward. He began his career in England with Chelsea before moving to the United States. In the U.S., he was a prolific goal scorer with the powerh ...

, then bought Gold Bugs, moved them into

Mark's Stadium Mark's Stadium is a former football (soccer), soccer stadium located in North Tiverton, Rhode Island. During the 1920s and early 1930s it was the home of Fall River F.C. (1922–1931), Fall River F.C., one of the era’s most successful soccer te ...

, and renamed them Fall River F.C. The new club played for just one season, Spring 1931, eventually finishing fifth. However, during their short existence they did win two notable prestige friendlies. On February 22, 1931, they beat Vélez Sársfield 5–2. Then on May 31 with a team that included Joe Kennaway, Bill Paterson and

Tom Florie Thomas Florie (September 6, 1897 – April 26, 1966) was an American soccer forward. He played in both the first and second iterations of the American Soccer League, winning two National Challenge Cup titles. Florie was also a member of the U ...

they beat

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

1–0. Kennaway subsequently signed for Celtic after impressing them with his performance in goal. By early 1931 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 ...

had severely effected the stability of the ASL and several teams relocated, merged and even disappeared. On April 19, 1931, Fall River absorbed

New Bedford Whalers New Bedford Whalers was the name of three American soccer teams based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first Whalers played in the Southern New England Soccer League between 1914 and 1918. The second Whalers played in the American Soccer Leag ...

. On May 31, 1931, Fall River defeated

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

before a crowd of 7,000 at Mark's Stadium. The club folded after the first half of the season.

Fall River 1932

This Fall River soccer team played during the Fall 1932 American Soccer League season. This team was put together by manager Tec White.

, the successor team of both the earlier Fall River F.C./Providence F.C. and the 'Marksmen', also began the Fall 1932 season but they only survived for six games before folding. The team began the season with the following lineup: goalkeeper John Souza, fullbacks Chick Rebello and Bert Campbell, halfbacks Dinny Doyle, John Dubienny, and John Caldwell, forwards Jim White, Myrtle, Fred Wall, Billy Gonsalves and Joe Czapya with Ralph and Chet Varanese as reserves.

Billy Gonsalves Adelino William Gonsalves (August 10, 1908 – July 17, 1977) was an American soccer player, sometimes described as the "Babe Ruth of American Soccer". He spent over 25 years playing in various American professional leagues and was a member of ...

with the new Fall River club, scored 7 goals in 12 games, until he transferred to Stix Baer Fuller.

Notable players

Year-by-year

Honors

Fall River F.C. II * American Soccer League **''Winners'' Fall 1932: 1

References

{{Reflist Soccer clubs in Fall River, Massachusetts Defunct soccer clubs in Massachusetts American Soccer League (1921–1933) teams