Sport in History the Rise and Fall of Professional Soccer in Holyoke
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This article was downloaded by: [109.162.208.108] On: 30 June 2014, At: 06:21 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Sport in History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsih20 The Rise and Fall of Professional Soccer in Holyoke Massachusetts, USA Brian D. Bunk a a University of Massachusetts Published online: 23 Nov 2011. To cite this article: Brian D. Bunk (2011) The Rise and Fall of Professional Soccer in Holyoke Massachusetts, USA, Sport in History, 31:3, 283-306 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17460263.2011.618697 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. 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Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub- licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions Downloaded by [109.162.208.108] at 06:21 30 June 2014 Sport in History Vol. 31, No. 3, September 2011, pp. 283Á306 The Rise and Fall of Professional Soccer in Holyoke Massachusetts, USA Brian D. Bunk During the first half of the twentieth century, the city of Holyoke Massachusetts and surrounding communities had a strong tradition of playing soccer, so much so that in 1921 one club was convinced to try and make it in the country’s first major professional league. I argue that the experiment failed mainly due to financial reasons brought on by an inability to draw fans to watch the team play. The cause of this failure was not necessarily because soccer was seen as un-American but rather because it was too closely identified with a single ethnic group Á British Protestants. In September 1921 the American Soccer League (ASL) began its inaugural season of play. Touted as the first major effort to create a professional league in the United States, the competition featured some of the nation’s top teams and included representatives from New York City, Philadelphia, Downloaded by [109.162.208.108] at 06:21 30 June 2014 and Fall River.1 The Bethlehem Steel team, one of the country’s strongest, was not a member of the ASL although most if its best players turned out for the Philadelphia squad.2 Bethlehem had originally been included in the league but withdrew after ASL owners decided that home teams would keep all gate receipts. As a result club officials moved the team to Philadelphia where they felt they could attract larger crowds.3 To replace Bethlehem and retain an eight-team competition the league invited Holyoke Falco Football Club to become one of its founding members. At first glance, Holyoke Massachusetts seemed an unlikely home for a Brian Bunk, University of Massachusetts. Correspondence to: [email protected] ISSN 1746-0263 print; ISSN 1746-0271 online/11/030283-24 # 2011 The British Society of Sports History http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17460263.2011.618697 284 B.D. Bunk professional soccer club. The town had neither the population advantages of some ASL cities nor a long history of success in top-level competitions like others. The curious inclusion of the team in the league prompted two questions: how did the Falcos become one of the ASL’s original teams and why did they drop out after only one season? The search for answers to these questions illustrates the challenges in researching the history of the sport in the US. Although scholars of English football have lamented the lack of source material, documentation for the early history of American soccer is even more lacking.4 No truly national organization existed before the formation of the United States Football Association (USFA) in 1913 and no major professional league had lasted much more than a single season until the ASL.5 The national sporting press generally devoted little space to soccer and one of the only major publications devoted to the sport, Soccer Pictorial Weekly began in 1927 and produced just eight issues.6 Because many of the clubs, leagues and organizations founded before 1940 no longer exist, institutional records that might prove helpful in exploring the origins and develop- ment of the professional game have not survived.7 The history of soccer in the US is a patchwork quilt of leagues, clubs and individuals tenuously linked through an appreciation for the game and a desire to see it become successful. The best way to understand the success and failure of the sport is to examine soccer’s development in specific localities.8 In many ways the rise and fall of the Falcos serves as a representative case explaining both the success and the failure of soccer in the US before 1940. During the first half of the twentieth century, the city of Holyoke and surrounding communities had a strong tradition of playing the game, so much so that one club was convinced to try and make it in the country’s first major professional league. I argue that the experiment failed mainly due to financial reasons brought on by an inability to draw fans to watch Downloaded by [109.162.208.108] at 06:21 30 June 2014 the team play. In many ways, Holyoke fits the general explanation offered by Andrei Markovits and Steven Hellerman that professional soccer failed to take hold due in part to ‘the overwhelming self-identification of American soccer with ethnicity’.9 Such a sweeping claim, however, tends to obscure the specific details of local circumstances. In larger cities like Chicago, New York, and Boston the sport quickly moved beyond its roots in communities from the British Isles and incorporated immigrant groups from a variety of nations as well as native-born Americans.10 Such growth also took place in Western Massachusetts but not in Holyoke where the game failed to expand its base of support beyond its original adherents. The cause of this failure was not necessarily because soccer was seen as Sport in History 285 un-American but rather because it was too closely identified with a single ethnic group Á British Protestants. Soccer in Holyoke before 1921 Holyoke Massachusetts is an industrial community about one hundred miles west of Boston situated next to an abundant source of electricity thanks to the South Hadley Falls of the Connecticut river. As the city grew it became known for textile and paper production, earning the nickname the Paper City. It is not known when organized soccer first began to be played in the city but by 1889 squads from Holyoke competed with groups from the nearby city of Springfield. The teams emerged out of English and Scottish communities and had names such as Caledonian Football Club, Springfield Scots, and Holyoke Englishmen.11 In 1904 clubs from Holyoke and neighbouring towns organized the first regional competition called the Western Massachusetts Association Football League. The names of Holyoke’s two entries, Caledonians and Celtic, confirmed that it was primarily Scots who played and supported the game in the city.12 Indeed, virtually all the early players who can be identified with some degree of certainty were born in Scotland (see Table 1). Peter Murray, founder and owner of one of Springfield’s largest department stores and a native of Scotland donated a cup to be presented to the league’s winning team.13 A few years later the league grew to include entries from other local communities along with a new outfit called Holyoke Rangers; eventually a second club from the city named Clan MacLaren was added.14 Initially teams played from September to November but over time the league expanded the length of the season to include games in the fall, winter and spring.15 For most of its early history the league retained a British flavour and in addition to the Downloaded by [109.162.208.108] at 06:21 30 June 2014 Holyoke clubs similar organizations from nearby cities sponsored teams including Clan Murray, the Sons of St. George, Clan McLennan, and Ludlow Thistle. Farr Alpaca football club, predecessor to the Falcos, began play in 1909 and was named after the textile mill that employed most of the team’s players. George Randall and Herbert Farr founded the company in 1873 after moving operations to Massachusetts from Canada. The Farr, as it was known, specialized in the production of mohair coat linings and between the 1880s and 1920s held a virtual monopoly claiming up to 80 per cent of the overall market.16 The connection between the sport and the company may have existed from the start. A lack of skilled labour in Holyoke meant that roughly half of the company’s initial workforce of 286 B.D.