Archie Stark scored one of his 49 goals (in 43 matches) of the 1927-28 ASL season as Bethlehem Steel blanked the Fall River Marksmen. Stark set a record with 67 regular-season goals for Bethlehem Steel in the 1924-25 season. [Read more…] about Nov. 27, 1927 – Fall River Marksmen 0:1 Bethlehem Steel, Mark’s Stadium (Att.: 5,149)
Tommy Fleming and Archie Stark were born in Scotland, moving while in their teens to industrial centers in the Northeastern U.S., where they forged professional soccer careers. [Read more…] about Oct. 30, 1926 – Bethlehem Steel 1:1 Boston SC. Goals: Archie Stark, Tommy Fleming
Fall River SC concluded a tour with 2W-3L-1D record, protesting against biased refereeing and claiming it was not paid by Ferencvaros, the club that organized the tour. In this match, Jeremiah Best and Alex McNab are listed as Fall River scorers in Colin Jose’s American Soccer League 1921-1931/The Golden Years of American Soccer, though other sources list Archie Stark and McNab as scorers. Jozsef Takacs (Takacs II) had a hat trick and Mihaly Tancos, Geza Toldi and Jozsef Turay also converted for Ferencvaros. [Read more…] about Aug. 31, 1930 – Ferencvaros 6:2 Fall River SC in Budapest (Att.: 6,000)
Stix, Baer & Fuller 2:5 (5:8) New Bedford, National Challenge Cup final at Sportsman’s Park. Billy Gonsalves scored twice, including the aggregate go-ahead goal on a free kick 18 minutes into the second half, according to an Associated Press report. (Other sources credit Gonsalves with one goal in the game – and a record 14 goals in U.S. Open Cup finals; Gonsalves could actually have totaled 15 goals). The New Bedford team was essentially the Fall River Marksmen, who had won the 1930 and ’31 Challenge Cup titles, owner Sam Mark moving the franchise for the 1932 season (difficult to understand why Mark moved to New Bedford, as he controlled Mark’s Stadium near Fall River).
The record for U.S. Open Cup titles is five (Bethlehem Steel and Los Angeles Maccabi), but Gonsalves holds the individual title with eight victories (playing for five teams). This was the third of six successive U.S. Open Cup championships for Gonsalves, who was 23 years old at the time. [Read more…] about April 2, 1932 – New Bedford Whalers win U.S. Open Cup
This U.S. Open Cup match at the Polo Grounds “was one of the greatest games ever seen here,” according to the Boston Globe report. Attendance announced at 15,000, including 3,000 arriving from New England (the New York Giants averaged less than 12,000 attendance in both the 1929 and ’30 seasons at the Polo Grounds).
A replay was set at New Bedford next Sunday “by the committee of the National Cup.” Bethlehem Steel scored on an R. McAuley own goal after 12 minutes of the second half. “Stark had almost connected with Dick’s great center and McAuley’s lunge at the ball caused the deflection.” At 27 minutes, Alex McNab deadlocked. [Read more…] about March 16, 1930 – Fall River 1:1 aet Bethlehem Steel, National Challenge Cup at Polo Grounds ‘One of the greatest games’
That was the question in The Boston Globe story after J&P Coats qualified for a showdown with the Fall River Marksmen in the U.S. Open Cup. J&P Coats had blanked the Newark Skeeters, 5-0, as Johnny Harvey scored three goals in Pawtucket, R.I., in a Feb. 7 match.
The next day, the ASL’s top teams, the Fall River Marksmen and Bethlehem Steel played to a 2-2 draw before a 10,000 crowd at Mark’s Stadium in North Tiverton, R.I. Archie Stark scored one of his 67 regular-season goals for Bethlehem. Stark would go on to convert four goals as the U.S. took a 6-1 win over Canada in an international friendly in Brooklyn in November. The Marksmen went on to record a 19W-0L-3D record at home, totaling 66 points in 44 games, and edging Bethlehem by 3 points for first place. The Globe’s George M. Collins wrote. “The soccer men who are crying ‘Do not play any American League games in January and February’ should have been at Tiverton, R.I. …”
TODAY IN NE SOCCER HISTORY