1927–28 American Soccer League
Introduction Statistics of American Soccer League in season 1927–28.
Overview ===New teams===During the 1927 off-season, Charles Stoneham bought Indiana Flooring and renamed it the New York Nationals. In order to bring the number of teams back to twelve after the withdrawal of the Springfield Babes and Philadelphia Field Club the previous season, the league admitted the Hartford Americans and Philadelphia Celtic.===New format===With twelve teams in place, the league made significant changes to its schedule from the previous season. Rather than running a single, 44 game, table for the entire season, the league split the season into two halves, each with its own table. At the end of the season, the top two teams from each half would enter a playoff to determine the league championship.===Season===The first half of the 1927-28 season began September 10, 1927, and ended on January 8, 1928.Ten games into the season, Philadelphia Celtic withdrew due to financial problems. By this time, the Hartford Americans were also showing financial weakness. Therefore, the league requested Hartford voluntarily withdraw from the league both to strengthen the league's financial position and to create a balanced schedule for the rest of the season. By the end of the first half, Boston had finished at the top of the table, but Bethlehem Steel and New Bedford tied with forty-one points each. This led to an improvised first half playoff game on February 22, 1928, between Bethlehem Steel and New Bedford to determine second place. The second half of the season began on February 4, 1928, and ended on May 30, 1928.===Playoffs===The structural problems with the proposed playoff system became obvious by the end of the first half of the season. As mentioned above, Bethleham Steel and New Bedford finished tied for second place. This led to a playoff game which, ironically, did not take place until February 22, 1928, nearly two weeks after the second half of the season began. In that game, played in Tiverton, Rhode Island, the Whalers defeated the Steelmen, 2-0.Further complications arose at the end of the second half. When New Bedford and Fall River F.C. finished as the top two teams this led to an unbalanced playoff. The league had intended to have a four team playoff, but the playoff now consisted of three teams – Boston, New Bedford and Fall River. Therefore, the league first decided to allow Bethlehem Steel to enter as the fourth team. This led to a protest by the New York Nationals that they deserved to be the fourth team on account of finishing above Bethlehem Steel in the second half. The league executives decided then to include both the Nationals and Bethlehem Steel, making the playoffs a five-team affair. Bethlehem Steel defeated the Nationals in a two-game series, the first on June 4 and the second on June 6.Three days later, Bethlehem met the Boston Soccer Club in the first game of their semifinal series. The Bethlehem players were clearly fatigued and their goalkeeper, Dave Edwards went down injured as Bethlehem lost. Rather than travel back to their home stadium in Pennsylvania for the second leg of the series, Bethlehem elected to play at Hawthorne Stadium in Brooklyn. This was home to the Brooklyn Wanderers. While there, Bethlehem requested the Wanderers loan their goalkeeper, future Aberdeen great Steve Smith, to replace the injured Edwards. However, Bethlehem Steel failed to notify league officials that Smith would be a guest player. After Bethlehem won the game, 4-0, going through on aggregate, Boston lodged a complaint which the league sustained. The second game was declared void and Boston's first leg victory became the deciding game in the semifinal. In the other semifinal, the New Bedford Whalers defeated Fall River F.C. However, two players from each team were sent off in the second game. Then Sturdy Maxwell, one of the ejected Whalers players got into a post-game fight with Tec White of the 'Marksmen'. The league suspended White and Maxwell, depriving the Whalers of their starting right half. In the final between the Boston Soccer Club and New Bedford Whalers, both teams scored in the first half, but the Whalers clinched the championship with three second half goals by Barney Battles Jr.
League standings ===First half===PlaceTeamGPWLDGFGAPtsPct1 Boston291874653643 '''.741'''2 New Bedford Whalers291775684541 '''.706'''3 Bethlehem Steel291856704941 '''.706'''4 Brooklyn Wanderers 291397685035 '''.603'''5 Fall River F.C. 3114611755834 '''.548'''6 New York Giants 3013611735732 '''.533'''7 Providence 309813475926 '''.433'''8 J & P Coats 326719396619 '''.297'''9 Newark Skeeters307320467717 '''.283'''10 New York Nationals 307320417717 '''.283'''11 Hartford Americans 11425141410 '''.454'''12 Philadelphia Celtic 1021717355 '''.222'''===Second half===PlaceTeamGPWLDGFGAPtsPct1 New Bedford Whalers 251384523134 '''.680'''2 Fall River F.C.261556553035 '''.673'''3 New York Nationals241086393528 '''.583'''4 Bethlehem Steel 231067433126 '''.565'''5 Boston 221967413427 '''.545'''6 Providence 2611510414627 '''.519'''7 New York Giants 2311312535025 '''.481'''8 Brooklyn Wanderers 259313395221 '''.420'''9 J & P Coats 20331430549 '''.225'''10 Newark Skeeters17211418465 '''.147'''
Playoffs ===First half playoff===When Bethlehem Steel and New Bedford finished tied for second place during the first half of the season, this playoff game in February was used to determine the second place team for playoff purposes.----===First round===''Bethlehem Steel advances, 6–1, on aggregate''----===Semifinals=======Seminfinal  1====The league voided the result of the second leg game after it was discovered Bethlehem Steel used Steve Smith, the Brooklyn Wanderers goalkeeper, in place of the injured Dave Edwards. ''Boston advanced to the final.'' ----====Seminfinal  2====''New Bedford advanced, 3–2, on aggregate''----===Final===
League Cup The winners of the League Cup final were awarded the H.E. Lewis Cup===Bracket===----===Semifinals===''Bethlehem advances, 7–1, on aggregate.'' ----''Boston advances, 8–4, on aggregate.'' ----===Final===''Bethlehem wins Lewis Cup, 5–4, on aggregate.''
Goals leaders RankScorerClubGamesGoals1 Andy Stevens New Bedford Whalers46302 Max Grünwald New York Giants51293 Tom Gillespie Bethlehem Steel43284 Arnie Oliver J&P Coats4427 Archie Stark Bethlehem Steel 46276 John Nelson Fall River F.C.3825 Davey Brown New York Giants47258 Dave McEachran Boston4722 Tommy FlorieProvidence 502210 Bobby BlairFall River F.C.4221 Tec White Fall River F.C.462112 Bill Paterson New Bedford Whalers342013 Joseph Gregretsky  Newark Skeeters2919 Jimmy McConnellJ&P Coats3219 George Graham Brooklyn Wanderers3419 Billy HoggNew York Giants341917 Mike McLeavy New Bedford Whalers3617 Werner NilsenBoston4617 Bobby Curtis Brooklyn Wanderers471720 Harold BrittanFall River F.C.2816 Moritz Häusler New York Giants4216 Shamus O'BrienNew York Giants531623 Barney Battles Jr. Boston4315 Jerry BestNew Bedford Whalers4615 Red Ballantyne New Bedford Whalers5115 Billy AdairBrooklyn Wanderers541527 József Eisenhoffer Brooklyn Wanderers4314 Bobby Walker New York Nationals4714 Alex McNab Boston501430 Johnny Jaap Bethlehem Steel401331 Johnny Ballantyne Boston321232 Geordie Henderson New York Nationals321133 James McKechnie New York Nationals2510 Bart McGhee New York Nationals3810 Andy Auld Providence4410 Alec Lorimer New Bedford Whalers4810 Alec Beattie Providence4810 Johnny Harvey Fall River F.C.5410
External links * The Year in American Soccer - 1928
References