All-Time ASL I Standings

A work in progress, the standings for the original (1921-1933) American Soccer League, based on the great original research of Colin Jose, Mark Wheeler and Dave Litterer.

The ASL’s very existence was only a legend well into the 1970s, by which time the second ASL was more than 40 years old and attempting to be a viable alternative to the growing North American Soccer League. In 1980’s The American Encyclopedia of Soccer, author Zander Hollander wrote:

“Information is sketchy, and memories have clouded, but several old-timers interviewed in 1978 recalled a ‘soccer war of 1931’ and an old ‘American Soccer League’ in the 1920s.”

Jose’s 1998 book, American Soccer League 1921-1931 is the definitive (and very hard to find) tome on the original league. The standings below are from this book, though they do have errors that will be noted within the charts as we work through them.

By the time the ASL played what was intended to be the second half of its 1932-33 season, it was down to just four teams. One, Bohemian Queens, played just one match and was supplanted by another called the Prague Americans, who played the rest of the double round-robin. This would be the last gasp of the original ASL.

1932-33 American Soccer League
Second Half (Spring, 1933)
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
New York Brookhattan	6	4	1	1	11	7	9
New York Americans	6	4	2	0	19	10	8
Brooklyn Wanderers	6	3	2	1	9	11	7
Prague Americans	5	0	5	0	3	13	0
Bohemian Queens	1	0	1	0	2	3	0
First Half (Fall, 1932)
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Fall River Football Club	19	10	2	7	27		27
Pawtucket Rangers	19	10	4	5	25		25
New York Americans	11	6	3	3	14		15
New York Field Club	11	5	5	1	11		11
Brooklyn Wanderers	15	5	8	2	12		12
Hakoah All-Stars	15	4	7	4	12		12
Queens Bohemians	9	2	4	3	5		7
New Bedford Whalers	6	2	4	0	4		4
Boston Bears	11	2	7	2	6		6

NOTE:Only goals scored totals are available for teams in the season’s first half. Further research is necessary to complete the record. Also, first-half wins total 46, while losses total just 44, so a result is off.

1927-1928 American Soccer League (First Half)
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS	Pct.
Boston Wonder Workers	29	18	4	7	65	36	43	.741
Bethlehem Steel	29	18	6	5	70	49	41	.707
New Bedford Whalers	29	17	5	7	68	45	41	.707
Brooklyn Wanderers	29	13	7	9	68	50	35	.603
Fall River Marksmen	31	14	11	6	75	58	34	.548
New York Giants	30	13	11	6	73	57	32	.533
Providence Clamdiggers	30	9	13	8	47	59	26	.433
J & P Coats	32	6	19	7	39	66	19	.297
Newark Skeeters	30	7	20	3	46	77	17	.283
New York Nationals	30	7	20	3	41	77	17	.283
Hartford Americans#	11	4	5	2	14	14	10	.455
Philadelphia Celtic*	10	2	7	1	17	35	5	.250
Playoffs: 02/22/1928 – New Bedford 2, Bethlehem 0 (2,500) at Fall River, Mass. The original plan was for the top two finishers in the season’s first half to join the top two finishers from the second half in a four-team playoff to determine the 1927-28 ASL champion. When New Bedford and Bethlehem finished tied for second place in the first half, the two teams met to determine the second spot. *The financially ailing Philadelphia club dropped out of the league Oct. 18, 1927. #Hartford was persuaded to drop out Oct. 24, 1927 to balance the 11-team league.
1927-1928 American Soccer League (Second Half)
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS	Pct.
New Bedford Whalers	25	13	4	8	52	31	34	.680
Fall River Marksmen	26	15	6	5	55	30	35	.673
New York Nationals	24	10	6	8	39	35	28	.583
Bethlehem Steel	23	10	7	6	43	31	26	.565
Boston Wonder Workers	22	9	7	6	41	34	24	.545
Providence Clamdiggers	26	11	10	5	41	46	27	.519
New York Giants	23	11	12	3	53	50	25	.543
Brooklyn Wanderers	25	9	13	3	39	52	21	.420
J & P Coats	20	3	14	3	30	54	9	.225
Newark Skeeters	17	2	14	1	18	46	5	.147
NOTE: Second-half Goals For and Goals Against do not balance, so more study is warranted.
Playoffs: 06/04/1928 – BETHLEHEM 2, New York Nationals 1 06/06/1928 – Bethlehem 4, NEW YORK NATIONALS 0 With New Bedford having qualified through the second-place playoff in the season’s first half, the league decreed that Fall River and New York, the second- and third-place finishers in the second half, would stage a two-legged playoff for the fourth and final semifinal spot. Bethlehem’s 5-3 win on aggregate set up a two-legged semifinal meeting with Boston, while New Bedford would meet Fall River. 06/09/1928 – NEW BEDFORD 3, Fall River 1 06/10/1928 – FALL RIVER 1, New Bedford 0 (New Bedford advanced 3-2 on aggregate) 06/09/1928 – BOSTON 3, Bethlehem 1 06/12/1928 – BETHLEHEM 4, Boston 0 While Bethlehem seemed to have advanced with a stunning 5-3 aggregate win, their second-leg victory was overturned because they had used an ineligible player, goalkeeper Steve Smith, signed at the last minute as an injury replacement without league approval. That send Boston through to the final. 06/16/1928 – BOSTON 4, New Bedford 2 (2,000)

1926-27 American Soccer League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts.	Pct.
Bethlehem Steel	44	29	7	8	114	52	66	.750
Boston Wonder Workers	44	25	12	7	90	59	57	.648
Fall River Marksmen	44	24	12	8	98	72	56	.636
New Bedford Whalers	44	24	14	6	124	72	54	.614
New York Giants	44	21	16	7	120	102	49	.557
Indiana Flooring	43	19	15	9	77	81	47	.547
Brooklyn Wanderers	44	18	20	6	83	96	42	.477
Providence Clamdiggers	43	15	18	10	73	96	40	.465
Newark Skeeters	38	13	25	6	54	91	32	.421
J & P Coats	44	11	19	14	48	72	36	.409
Philadelphia Field Club	44	11	29	4	63	118	26	.295
Springfield Babes	44	7	30	7	44	74	21	.239
NOTE: Goals For and Goals Against do not balance, so more study is warranted. Also, Springfield resigned from the league after 27 games. Its remaining 17 games were forfeited, with the points awarded to Bethlehem, Philadelphia, and J&P Coats (6 each), New Bedford and Indiana (4 each), Fall River, Boston, New York Giants and Brooklyn (2 each). Providence and Newark had already completed playing Springfield, so they received no forfeit points.
1925-26 American Soccer League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts.	Pct.
Fall River Marksmen	44	30	2	12	142	51	72	.819
New Bedford Whalers	44	28	11	5	118	70	61	.693
Boston Wonder Workers	43	23	13	7	103	66	53	.634
Bethlehem Steel	41	23	12	6	112	57	52	.616
Providence Clamdiggers	39	21	13	5	89	63	47	.602
Indiana Flooring (N.Y.)	42	18	18	6	82	82	42	.500
Brooklyn Wanderers	40	16	17	7	74	71	39	.487
J & P Coats	39	15	17	7	74	91	37	.474
New York Giants	37	13	18	6	75	90	32	.432
Shawsheen Indians	44	11	30	3	54	75	25	.284
Philadelphia Field Club	44	8	33	3	38	147	19	.215
Newark Skeeters	38	5	27	6	28	127	16	.202
NOTE: Goals For and Goals Against do not balance, so more study is warranted. This was the first year the standings were decided by Point Percentage (Pts/(GP*2)) because of unequal numbers of results.

1924-25 American Soccer League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Fall River Marksmen	44	27	5	12	113	38	66
Bethlehem Steel	44	29	10	5	127	53	63
Brooklyn Wanderers	44	22	14	8	67	56	52
Boston Wonder Workers	41	22	12	7	75	53	51
New Bedford Whalers	41	21	13	7	69	55	49
Providence Clamdiggers	42	18	13	11	85	59	47
J & P Coats	42	19	18	5	89	76	43
New York Giants	43	16	21	6	78	85	38
Indiana Flooring	43	16	21	6	68	69	38
Fleisher Yarn	39	11	22	6	65	113	28
Newark Skeeters	39	8	28	3	39	104	19
Philadelphia Field Club	42	2	34	6	26	141	10
1923-24 American Soccer League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Fall River Marksmen	27	19	2	6	59	19	44
Bethlehem Steel	28	18	6	4	63	33	40
New York Field Club	27	15	5	7	65	39	37
J & P Coats	25	11	9	5	59	52	27
Brooklyn Wanderers	27	9	13	5	47	56	23
New York Giants	26	6	14	6	36	64	18
Philadelphia Field Club	25	5	18	2	30	64	12
Newark Skeeters	23	3	19	1	21	53	7
1922-23 American Soccer League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
J & P Coats	28	21	5	2	68	30	44
Bethlehem Steel	28	18	4	6	59	26	42
Fall River Marksmen	28	15	8	5	53	36	35
New York Field Club	23	10	9	4	53	42	24
Paterson Silk Sox	20	9	7	4	38	31	22
Brooklyn Wanderers	25	5	15	5	24	52	15
Harrison Field Club	21	4	17	2	26	56	10
Philadelphia Field Club	25	3	20	2	24	72	8
1921-22 American Soccer League
	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	PTS
Philadelphia Field Club	24	17	3	4	72	36	38
New York Field Club	24	14	5	5	59	33	33
Todd Shipyards	24	12	7	5	56	37	29
Harrison Soccer Club	24	8	8	7	45	44	23
J & P Coats	23	9	9	5	34	40	23
Fall River United	24	5	18	1	28	57	11
Holyoke Falcos	22	2	17	3	17	64	7