It's Neither NY nor LA: This City May Have Had the First Organized Soccer Club in the U.S.
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
Massachusetts is known for having many firsts: the first public school, the first public garden, even the first to invent basketball, and some also claim it was the first to play soccer in the United States, or at least an early version of the sport. Walking through Boston Common, near the carousel, one might notice a discreet monument. On one side, a list of the 16 original members of the Oneida Football Club. On the other, an inscription that reads: 'The first organized soccer club in the United States.' And between the years 1862 and 1865: 'The Oneida goal was never crossed.' Dr. Kevin Tallec Marston and Dr. Mike Cronin wrote the book 'Inventing the Boston Game.' Cronin says, 'They were wealthy and educated people, so they left a lot of documentation.' Around the time of the Civil War, a type of game involving kicking a round ball was played in Boston Common by the Oneida Club. This game is a precursor to what we now know as soccer, rugby, and American football. 'Different regions of the United States had different versions of these school games of kicking the ball. The same was true in the UK,' says Cronin. 'It is not until these games come together and are defined in the 1860s and 1870s, under more established rules, that they become what we know today as soccer,' the doctor adds. The game played by the Oneida evolved into a style with greater use of hands, and it was working-class communities and immigrants from the UK, in places like Fall River, who continued kicking the round ball. Marston recounts that at that time, 'there is a very active soccer culture, although invisible from the perspective of national media, that flourishes in immigrant and ethnic communities.' This evolution of the sport led the Oneida themselves to adjust their claim of having been the first. 'Basically, they present themselves as the first organizers of soccer played with kicks, because they know full well that modern soccer was formalized in 1863. They mention it in their memoirs and correspondence. So they say, 'Well, we were from 1862.' It’s very convenient for another 'first' from Massachusetts,' says Tallec Marston. It’s a story that few know, even among soccer fans. If there is one thing the authors would ask FIFA ahead of the 2026 World Cup, it is to somehow showcase the original ball used here in the Common during World Cup matches, as a tribute to the history of the sport in the United States.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
