The Kearny Scots are an American

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 ...

club based in

Kearny, New Jersey Kearny ( ) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a suburb of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 41,999, an increase of 1,315 (+3.2%) from the 2010 census cou ...

. The club presently plays in the

Eastern Premier Soccer League The American Premier Soccer League (APSL) is a United States Adult Soccer Association affiliated amateur soccer league that includes teams from the Eastern United States. Currently the league has members from Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusett ...

, which is a

United States Adult Soccer Association The United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) is a national organization for Amateur sports, amateur Association football, soccer in the United States. It consists of 54 state associations in four regions, as well as national, regional, and ...

-affiliated league and an amateur affiliate of the professional third tier

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is previously in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season for ...

. The Scots are one of the oldest continuously operating soccer clubs in the United States. In the Scots' earlier days, they played in both the

National Association Football League The National Association Football League (also spelled ''National Association Foot Ball League'') (NAFBL) was a semi-professional U.S. soccer league which operated between 1895 and 1898. The league was reconstituted in 1906 and continued to oper ...

and the second American Soccer League. When not members of those leagues, the Scots competed in lower level city leagues.

History

The Scots had been established in the late 19th century and was a founding member of the first

(NAFBL). In 1895, the Scots finished runner up to Bayonne Centerville in the NAFBL's first season. When the NAFBL folded at the end of the 1898–1899 season, the Scots continued to play in smaller local leagues. In 1909, the Scots became founding members of the second NAFBL and continued to play in the league until 1918. They finished runner up in the 1906–1907, 1915–1916, and 1916–1917 seasons. The Scots began the 1918–1919 season, but the U.S. entry into

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

led to the loss of much of the team. Consequently, the Scots dropped out the NAFBL five games into the season. After leaving the NAFBL in 1919, the Scots continued to play in city leagues. They returned to high level competition when they were an inaugural member of the second American Soccer League in 1933. Originally known as the "Scots-Americans", the club was officially renamed the "Kearny Americans" beginning with the 1941/42 season. The club continued to be better known as the Kearny Scots and returned to their original name before the 1950/51 season. The club won the New Jersey State Challenge Cup in 1939 and in 1940 took a "double" winning the league and the

Lewis Cup The Lewis Cup was an American soccer trophy established in 1914 as the championship trophy for the amateur Blue Mountain League, which was composed of clubs from the Lehigh Valley region of northeastern Pennsylvania. It was later awarded to the win ...

. The club won the Lewis Cup again in 1948. Due to financial difficulties, the Scots withdrew from the American Soccer League after the 1952/53 season. After playing in state leagues in New Jersey, the Scots re-joined the semi-professional circuit on June 30, 2021 by joining the

Year-by-year

Honors

American Cup The American Football Association Challenge Cup (also known as the American Association Cup or simply American Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1884, and organised by t ...

:* Winner (1): 1915 :* Runner-up (3): 1907, 1910, 1916 American Soccer League :* Winner (5): 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41 :* Runner-up (2): 1947–48, 1951–52

* Winner (2): 1940, 1948 New Jersey Men's Open State Cup :* Winner (6): 1924–25, 1932–33, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1964–65, 1990–91

References

External links

*
NAFBL standings
{{coord, 40.758, -74.143, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NJ, display=title National Association Football League teams American Soccer League (1933–1983) teams Soccer clubs in New Jersey Association football clubs established in 1895 1895 establishments in New Jersey Scottish-American culture in New Jersey Kearny, New Jersey Diaspora soccer clubs in the United States British association football clubs outside the United Kingdom Scottish diaspora in North America