The Cannibal Club and the Search for Soccer Immortality

For the rest of our spooky, soccer-themed Halloween content, hit up our homepage for Cracking the Crypt!

“Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart.” - Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon

One of the oldest taboos in the world, cannibalism has been practiced throughout time and all over the world. The act of eating human flesh and organs has appeared in various folk tales such as “Hansel and Gretel” and even in Greek mythology with the story of Thyestes, whose son was eaten by his brother and king Atreus. In various lore, the act of eating another human being was even thought as a way to gain strength and knowledge from the one consumed, and one could even attain immortality.

As we travel into modern society the idea of cannibalism is the one of grim tales and blockbuster movies. But what about in our sport of soccer? Not the idea of eating other humans, but the idea of one soccer club consuming another to gain strength and dominance in competition. Enter the Los Angeles Kickers, whose quest for national glory and soccer immortality saw the consumption of four different clubs. While, still in existence to this day, they are a former shell of what they have accomplished in the past. A  team whose strong success led to many titles and whose players have etched themselves in American soccer history.

The Kickers were founded in 1951 by a few German-Americans, most notably Albert Ebert and Fritz Ermit. They entered the crowded Los Angeles market and joined the Greater Los Angeles Soccer league or GLASL. While they found state and national success, the GLASL title eluded them. Then in 1963 the Kickers would absorb their first club, Los Angeles Victoria, and the dynasty was born. The Kickers, or sometimes referred to as LA-KV, won the GLASL league title in 1963, 1964, and 1965. Feeding off their league success in '63 and '64 the Kickers consumed Germania SC in 1965 and rebranded as the Los Angeles Soccer Club. After their title in '65 the Kickers began to fade from prominence. In an attempt to achieve glory once again, the Los Angeles Soccer Club consumed the Hollywood Stars SC in 1972 and then Almenia '69 in 1975, but they never achieved the success they once had.

The Kickers are one of the most decorated clubs in American soccer history. They won their first state title in 1956, five years after conception, and then won it from 1958 to 1965. During that seven year time period they went on to win their three league titles and two U.S. Open Cup titles. They appeared in the three open cup finals: the first in 1958 where they beat Baltimore Pompei 2-1, they lost to the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals in 1960 with a scoreline of 5-3 and got revenge in 1964 by beating the Ukranians 4-2. In 1964 the Kickers would go on to have one of the greatest seasons of American soccer history winning four titles: the GLASL league title, the Douglas Cup (Southern California), the Cal State Cup and the U.S. Open Cup.

With help from the Los Angeles Kickers, Southern California became a hotbed for soccer. Teams from all over the world, like Manchester United and 1860 Munich would come down to play in front of large crowds and often against the Los Angeles competition. In 1963, the Kickers would even go on an overseas tour to places like New Zealand, Australia and even played against Eintracht Frankfurt in front of 1500 German fans at the Riederwaldstadion, a stadium that was used by the Frankfurt U-23 until 2008.

The Kickers also contributed to the United States Men's National Team. Helmut Bicek earned five caps and two goals, including one goal in the 1965 2-2 tie against our biggest rival Mexico. Another Kicker Eberhard Herz earned one cap in World Cup qualification against Mexico. Herz also scored in the 1960 U.S. Open Cup final loss. One of the most famous Kickers was Willie Carson. While Carson only earned one cap with the USMNT, he was often the main source of goal scoring success for Los Angeles. He is known for his two goal game in the 1958 U.S. Open Cup final, but also had many multi-goal games in league play. Traverse old newspaper archives and his name is plastered throughout GLASL results. The other big name in Kicker's history is ten year captain Al Zerhusen, who earned at least 10 caps, played in the Pan-American games and even in the 1960 Olympics. Zerhusen was a high scoring midfielder who often won the GLASL golden boot.

Unfortunately most of the Kickers history has been lost with time and is often over-shadowed by the giants of East Coast soccer history. But unlike the many clubs from the East Coast who have faded away over time, the Kickers or the Los Angeles Soccer Club still exist to this day. While they may have achieved soccer immortality, their cannibalistic nature could not keep the club at the heights of glory and they remain a hollow shell of their past, but they live nonetheless.

TOP 10 SPOOKIEST LOWER LEAGUE BADGES

Some revealed themselves like an apparition in the dark; some needed to have their graves dug up; some will stick with you like a low hanging spiderweb in the face. Here are the top 10 Spookiest, most frightening and  most Halloweeniest, badges in the lower leagues, past or present. For the rest of our Halloween content, hit up our homepage for Cracking the Crypt!

10. San Diego Jaws (San Diego, CA)

The club from Sunny San Diego were only called Jaws for the 1976 season—and almost as scary as the movie was the regularity with which NASL clubs or rebranded. Prior to being the scary sharks off the West Coast, they were the Baltimore Comets. They later became the Las Vegas Quicksilvers, just to move back and become the San Diego Sockers.

9. Orange County SC (Central Florida)

Be prepared to meet your doom, when facing the green creatures from the lagoon. Unlike other “Orange County Soccer Clubs,” this brand new USASA Elite side from the Central Florida Soccer League might tear you apart—then they’ll let the Alligator feed on the remains.

8. Minneapolis City SC (Minneapolis, MN)

Surely Edgar Allan Poe would be mesmerized by the Murderous members of the NPSL North. In 2018 they were undefeated on the pitch and off, showcasing stimulating kits and making people cackle about their crowing crest.

7. Tacoma Narrows FC (Tacoma, WA)

This Wicked club from the Western Washington Premier League were “All-Stars” in the EPLWA but are “Moving” to a new league to wrap their tentacles around the competition. We hope they build as many bridges as they bring down.

6. Utah Spiders (Provo, UT)

This former Women’s Professional club, founded in 1999, must’ve been seeing “Starzz” when they changed their name in 2009—but we’ll always remember that they won their 2003 WPSL championship as the very scary Spiders.

5. Cincinnati Sirens (Cincinnati, OH)

Be sure to steer clear of the shores of the Ohio River or these dangerous demons will lure you into the rocks and destroy you. This active WPSL club has been singing their deadly song in the top women’s amateur league since 2015.

4. LA South Bay Monsters (Los Angeles, CA)

It would be monstrously remiss not to include the mad Monsters of South Bay, L.A. The Neighborhood referred to as San Pedro is home to a beast of club, with all the nuts & bolts to compete in the SoCal Premier League.

3. Providence City FC (Providence, RI)

The Rogues of Rhode Island showcase one of the scariest soccer badges in the States—there’s nothing jolly about the skull and crossbones of Providence City! This club from the Capital has our teeth chattering with their bone-chilling badge.

2. Denton Diablos (Denton, TX)

This Diabolic club from Denton demands your attention with its devilish and dark design. The Diablos will unleash their fury upon the NPSL in the Spring 2019 season, but watch out on Halloween or they might get you.

1. Vampire Associate Football Club (Alameda, CA)

According to a few sources, the club was founded somewhere between 1896 and 1897, right around the same time that Bram Stoker’s masterpiece was published in England. This club competed in the San Francisco Soccer Football League, the oldest continuous soccer league in the United States, but there’s no competition here; a club from the Victorian Era calling themselves the Vampires is the most-Halloweeniest of them all.

- Josh Duder

The Living Dead: Bethlehem Steel FC

The concept of zombies has fascinated humans for centuries. The idea that some sinister magical, scientific, or paranormal force could reanimate a previously deceased human is truly chilling, especially since zombies’ main desire is to bite and turn all living humans to their undead state. One of the earliest American tales of zombies lies in Voodoo folklore in Haitian and, subsequently, Louisiana Creole culture. They believed that a Voodoo priest could make a powder out of Porcupinefish (also known as a Blowfish) toxin and bring a person back to life under the priest’s control. They would appear the same to all casual onlookers, but they would not be able to speak and had lost their free will. Their new master would dictate anything they did. Bethlehem Steel FC is one such zombie.

Bethlehem Steel FC has a similar origin to many worldwide. The club began with a group of factory workers who had a common love of the sport and a need to blow off understandable steam after difficult days at the factory. By 1904, Bethlehem Steel Corporation had established itself as the primary shipbuilders and construction material provider in the entire country, with a few of its innovations leading to the age of the skyscraper in America’s metropolitan areas. The soccer team did not hit such lofty heights in their early history, however. The team started as a recreational side and after a few years, they decided to take their shot at playing in a more formal league setting. They originally played under the name Bethlehem Football Club and in their first official match, rather than dipping their toes in the water and playing another small, local side, BFC went big.

They called up the best team in the country at the time, West Hudson Athletic Association. The New Jersey-based club was fresh off a National Association Football League Championship. This league was semi-professional but its clubs would eventually form a large contingent of the more renowned and significant American Soccer League. West Hudson AA also had an American Cup (a contemporary of the National Challenge Cup which would become the US Open Cup) in its trophy cabinet at the time and would go on to win two more in the subsequent years. BFC took the field November 17, 1907 for the first time ever and were promptly demolished 11-2 by their far superior and far more experienced foes. This was not the start that BFC had in mind, but the club had its start nonetheless and it would press forward.

Bethlehem Football Club operated at an amateur level in the ensuing years, playing in local leagues and not making much noise at a national level. The club won the amateur Allied American Football Association (AAFBA) in 1912-13 and this title caught the eye of management at the company, who began to take a more active role in the running of the club. They built Bethlehem Steel Athletic Field in 1913, which is recognized as one of the first “full-seater” soccer stadiums in the United States. Charles M. Schwab, the owner of Bethlehem Steel Corporation (not to be confused with Charles R. Schwab, the famous stock broker), started to see the team as potentially good for business and set out to turn the squad into a true force in American soccer. At the start of the 1913 season, Schwab renamed the team to the now iconic Bethlehem Steel Football Club and turned the team from amateur to professional. This move involved a large injection of cash as well as moving the player recruitment from factory workers to recognized footballers abroad, primarily from England and Scotland. The results of the change showed in extremely short order.

The 1913-14 season saw BSFC open in the amateur AAFBA and it had no issue dominating, finishing as undefeated champions. It also saw success on other fronts as it won the Allied Amateur Cup and the coveted American Cup, completing a treble and simultaneously announcing its arrival as a force to be reckoned with in the sport. The next season saw BSFC compete in the American League of Philadelphia, a local amateur league, which it also decimated en route to another league championship. Their players’ national exploits continued as well as they reached the final of the National Challenge Cup and secured the DeWar Trophy for the first time with a 3-1 defeat of Brooklyn Celtic. This was the beginning of what is a record history in the National Challenge Cup, winning the cup on five different occasions and stamping their place in American Soccer folklore.

The domination of the local leagues continued and it became very clear that BSFC needed a new challenge if it was going to continue to compete with the best clubs in the nation. It moved on to the National Association Football League in 1917, having won another Challenge Cup in 1915-16, defeating Fall River Rovers (one of the predecessors to Fall River Marksmen who you will have read another ghost story about. If not, it’s here) 1-0 in the final. This move up to better competition alongside the likes of West Hudson AA spurred BSFC on to further glory. BSFC reached an incredible six straight Challenge Cup Finals from 1914-1919 triumphing in all but two. The team was practically unstoppable during this period, securing a further four league titles in the same time frame. In 1921, American Soccer as a whole saw the need to provide a higher level of competition and the American Soccer League was born.

This step up to the American Soccer League meant a serious slowing to the rate of silverware filling the trophy cabinets at BSFC.  The league had a long, if inconsistent, list of quality clubs who were also able to attract foreign talent with the promise of lucrative contracts and this meant a couple of tough league seasons for BSFC. In the first six years of ASL league play, the club were runners-up three times and had no league titles to their name. The national silverware had gone missing as well, with no Challenge Cup runs to speak of since joining the ASL. This all began to change in 1924, with the arrival of the most potent goalscorers in American soccer history, Archie Stark.

Scottish forward Archie Stark (pictured above) had lived in the US since he was thirteen and had made a name in the ASL for New York FC. The mismanagement of that club turned into a benefit for BSFC as they snapped up Stark at a cut rate as NYFC attempted to ditch its debt. The man had been a prolific scorer for NYFC but had played on the wing. He came to Bethlehem and they moved him to center forward. The results were absolutely incredible. He scored 67 goals in 44 games in 1924-25, which somehow still did not lead to a league championship for BSFC. His return was not as significant the following year, but he did lift a trophy as BSFC reached the Challenge Cup Final and triumphed emphatically over St. Louis-based Ben Millers by a score of 7-2 in front of 18,000 at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. All things seemed to be trending up for BSFC on the back of its new star and indeed it secured its first ASL title the following year, with Stark scoring a further 32 league goals. BSFC were seemingly back to being the best, but American Soccer was headed down a road that would send many of these clubs over a cliff to their untimely demise.

The “Soccer Wars” as they became known, were really just one dispute between the United States Football Association and the ASL. Another article could easily be spent just on this period in 1928-29, but suffice it to say that this dispute ultimately lead to the demise of the ASL and many of the marquee clubs within it. Two more league seasons were all that BSFC could withstand and between the impact of the Great Depression on the steel industry and the hit that the ASL as a whole took, they could not continue and the club ceased to be in 1930. As for the ASL,  the league struggled to survive and fully collapsed in 1933, and dying with it was any fervor the American public had held for the sport.

Fast forward to 2013. BSFC had been dead for fully 83 years when the Philadelphia Union of MLS wore an alternate kit commemorating the first famous Pennsylvania club. This served as foreshadowing for the reanimation ritual that MLS and the Union were about to perform. In 2015, Union ownership announced that they would be operating an United Soccer League team as their official affiliate and naming it Bethlehem Steel FC. The badge was unveiled and featured the famous name and the I-beam from the original crest, but with the Union’s snake coiled around the beam. This famous club had been reanimated by its voodoo priest and was now controlled totally by its master, the Philadelphia Union. The most successful club in the Open Cup lives on, but in name and physical form only. The club that was, is not, and may never be again.

- Phil Baki

The Kicks and a Minnesotan Soccer Spirit That Never Quite Died

Where do I begin with the Minnesota Kicks, an orange and blue-clad club that made Minnesota a core piece of the NASL long before the Stars or United would make even the slightest of marks in the 21st century?

The Kicks, who drew an average of 23,000 fans to Bloomington, Minnesota, were the state’s first proper professional soccer club and in turn its most memorable footprint on the beautiful game in the 20th century. Bringing international notables like Glasgow Rangers, Hammarby IF, and Ipswich Town to Met Stadium through the years, the boys in orange weren’t just part of another club from the golden age of the NASL, they made up one of the league’s great teams. Needless to say, the club- which started as a two-year flop in Denver known as the Denver Dynamos and recording a record of 14 wins and 28 losses -found its home in Minnesota.

When it comes to stats and basic history, the Kicks are famous for a variety of achievements ranging from a single game attendance of 49,572- a state record only recently broken by Minnesota United -to their long list of division and conference titles. It should be known that the Minnesota Kicks won their division four times in a row from 1976 to 1979. It may very well be, however, that there is a greater testament to the power of the Minnesota Kicks than what they accomplished on the pitch. That measurement is their ascension to an almost folklore-like existence in the consciousness of Minnesota soccer clubs and supporters young and old.

One can find references, dedications, and inspiration from the Minnesota Kicks at every corner of the beautiful game in the state of 10,000 lakes. From a Kicks-themed away kit for the 2011 Minnesota Stars to a dedication involving several former Kicks players at Minnesota United inaugural MLS home match in 2017, professional soccer in the state has never tried to run too far away from its roots. In anticipation for its attendance record-breaking match against the LA Galaxy, Minnesota United promoted the match with retro footage and images of the Kicks, a marketing plan which visibly won over the hearts of soccer fans who could remember Kicks games and young fans who were desperate for a glimpse into the blurred past of professional soccer in the United States.

The Kicks, who were quite cleverly named via a name-the-team contest, also find themselves the target of adoration from Minnesota’s modern-day lower league landscape. This is best shown by recent summer actions taken by Minneapolis City SC. Following the opening of its Club Shop, a wide variety of merchandise was sold that included homages to the NASL club, its kits, and its star players. City went as far as to briefly change its logo to one designed in dedication to the Kicks’ logo and invited Kicks players to the store’s grand opening.

The core story of the Kicks, like most from the original age of NASL, ends on a sad note. Following changes in ownership, changes within the NASL as a league, mixed results on the pitch, and financial roadblocks, the team found itself up for sale and missing a payment toward its players and staff at the end of the 1981 season. NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam attempted to find a buyer for the club but was not able to do so, leading to the club’s exclusion from the 1981-82 NASL Indoor season. The club folded in December of 1981 and had its players released in a dispersal draft.

The Minnesota Kicks are no longer, and it’s been that way for quite some time, but that hasn’t stopped the boys in orange and blue from cementing themselves in the hearts and imaginations of Minnesota’s ever-growing crowd of soccer fans. From winks and nods by the Stars and United to open dedications at the history-making Minneapolis City SC Club Shop, the NASL may be dead and gone but the Kicks are very much alive, just not in the way you might expect.

- Dominic Bisogno

The Ghosts of Fall River

My theory on ghosts is that that they are lingering echoes from time gone by. Not necessarily spirits or spectral beings, but just regular people, like you and I, who are somehow reflecting across time, connected to a place in the world. Maybe that’s less spooky than imagining a haunting spirit in the mood for vengeance, but I’ve always seen it as slightly more scientific. Because the past certainly influences us in the present, from our genetics to our heritage to our national history. They are all aspects that have been shaped and molded by eras that are long gone and by thousands of people long dead. We may pretend that those who came before have no bearing on the here and now, but that doesn’t make them any less significant.

In Tiverton, Rhode Island, there’s a haunted house in the soccer neighborhood. A place where once there was a mighty force that dominated the soccer landscape for a decade. A mighty force that, ghostlike, haunts the dreams of all soccer fans in this country. Mostly in echoes, old fashioned names and grainy black and white images, dancing on the edges of our consciousness like a memory wanting to be remembered, but just out of reach. That place is now an overgrown field, an empty lot, really. Much like the memory of the club that once played there, nearly forgotten by the town that contains it. That place is Mark’s Stadium and the club that played there was the Fall River Marksmen.

The Fall River Marksmen began their storied life in 1922. Fall River United was purchased by Sam Mark and he renamed the club after himself (Mark’s Men = Marksmen). At that time, Fall River and neighboring Tiverton were full of fresh immigrant families, most of whom came to work in the booming textile industry in the area. In 1920, Fall River had over 100 textile factories in operation, making the city the largest textile producer in the United States.

All those mills required a tremendous amount of human labor and European immigrants flooded the market to take those jobs. They brought with them their love of soccer and the American Soccer League and clubs like Fall River United sprouted up to fill that need. Those ghostly clubs from that past era that we’ve heard of but never understood were, for the most part, rooted in these immigrant factory-based communities. The people in these cities supported the sport, filled the stands, and often produced the players. This was truly local soccer.

Prior to Sam Mark purchasing the club, Fall River United was a crap club. Its first year it finished sixth out of eight clubs in the inaugural ASL season. The club leader in goals only had six (Jack Corrigan), and the club tripled that number in the loss category. It was a rough season and the club seemed destined to collapse as many of these start up clubs did that first year (three others disbanded). With the club in a perilous situation, Sam Mark stepped in to save the day. A local businessman who was born in Fall River, he felt that investing in the club could yield some results and he did just that.

Other soccer clubs in that era were drawing 10,000 a match. That might seem like a small number but consider that in 1921 the Boston Red Sox were drawing less than 2,000 fans a game in their new home, Fenway Park. In terms of attendance, soccer was the best attended sport in the United States. Mark knew that if he could turn the club around, he could draw a crowd and, of course, make money.

His first move was renaming the club; shake the dust off and move forward. Next he began building a stadium for his new club. It might be a surprise to some that the stadium site was across the river in Rhode Island, in Tiverton, but Sam had a plan. Massachusetts at the time (some still exist) had strict “blue laws” which restricted  business operations on Sundays. Those laws included soccer matches, so Mark, like any businessman, found a better option that would allow him to run his business on whatever day he chose. To do that, he built his new stadium in Tiverton, RI, close enough to draw crowds from Fall River, but just clear of those pesky blue laws. He named his new 15,000 seat stadium Mark’s Stadium.

Now that the club had been rebranded and moved into a new home, it was time to restructure the play on the field. The first move was to bring on multiple players from the Scottish Leagues (this would cause problems later on). The big signing, however, came from another ASL club: Bethlehem Steel. Mark signed Harold Brittan, a former Chelsea player who had scored 24 goals for Bethlehem the year before. His offense was sure to bring change to the 18 loss club.

The 1923 season showed instant improvement for Fall River. Brittan delivered on his promise, scoring 19 goals and pushing the club to third in the league. The next season Mark invested in the roster again and the club improved- winning the double -both the ASL and the National Challenge Cup (what’s now called the U.S. Open Cup). The semifinal match of the Challenge Cup, where Fall River would face league rivals Bethlehem Steel, drew an estimated 20,000. That 1924 season would be the beginning of a decade of dominance for the Fall River Marksmen. The club won six league titles and four National Challenge Cup competitions. But all ghost stories contain tragedy and the story of Fall River is no exception.

While the American Soccer League had done well for most of the 1920s, the next decade would bring trouble for the league. The Great Depression greatly reduced the amount of disposable income in the country and most leagues struggled. To magnify the financial problems, the ASL had placed most of its clubs in manufacturing centers. Much of that manufacturing slowed or died during the economic downturn, creating mass unemployment. Even worse, there was a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria in the country and soccer was seen as a foreign sport. These outside pressures sparked infighting between the league clubs. The final nail was FIFA pressuring the USFA (now USSF) to sanction the ASL, due to its raiding of European leagues and ignoring existing club contracts. In 1933, the greatest American soccer league- one that had dominated the national soccer culture, crushed visiting foreign clubs, gobbled up players from around the world, and won the battle for sports fans in the country -collapsed.

Fall River Marksmen disbanded and the players were absorbed into the few surviving clubs that remained. Sam Mark moved to California to pursue other business opportunities. Mark’s Stadium was used by other clubs over the next couple of decades, before being turned into a drive-in theater. That theater was eventually torn down in the 1970s. Now there’s nothing but an empty field, overgrown with weeds and scrub trees; a ghostly symbol of what once was.

For the most part, the ghosts of Fall River barely touch the awareness of modern American soccer fans. Most fans began their awareness in the 1990s with the emergence of MLS. Some older groups may remember the 1970s and the NASL, Pele and the Cosmos, but almost no one goes back to the old American Soccer League. The Marksmen were the greatest of a generation, maybe the greatest American soccer team of all-time in their brief heyday. Their memory has become the thing of legends and myths, almost unbelievable. But their ghosts linger, begging to be remembered.

- Dan Vaughn

Many thanks to TheCup.US for their amazing work, telling the story of soccer in this country. Their articles on Fall River Marksmen were used as sources in the writing of this article. I highly recommend their site if you want to go down the rabbit hole of US soccer history.