Photo: Courtesy Bethlehem Steel FC

Roger Allaway, the National Soccer Hall of Fame historian, former president of the Society For American Soccer History, and author of Corner Offices & Corner Kicks, the history of the original Bethlehem Steel FC (and New York Cosmos), shares his thoughts on the Union naming their new USL team after the legendary Bethlehem team.

This year’s developments concerning a new Bethlehem Steel soccer team have delighted me. Whether this is primarily because of my background as an historian of American soccer or because Bethelehem is a much easier drive for me than Chester, I’m not certain. Possibly both.

I have seen comments online that have contended that a hallowed name like Bethlehem Steel shouldn’t be sullied by being used for a third-division team like this new one. I feel a rather personal interest in that name, since I have studied and written about the old Bethlehem Steel soccer team as much as anyone, and I don’t feel the same way as those commenters. I am very happy to see the Bethlehem Steel name honored in this way. That feeling could change, but I don’t think it will.

Why would it change? I would be horrified if evidence were to appear that this team was pretending to be the same team as the old one whose famous name it carries (something that at least one other American pro soccer team with a retro name is doing), but I don’t anticipate that. I think it is very telling that the new team’s crest includes the year that it will begin play in the USL, not the year that the old Bethlehem Steel team began play (and I don’t think they can retire Archie Stark’s number, since I don’t think he wore one).

I am a fan of retro team names. Of course I voted for Bethlehem Steel in the poll that chose this name. In 2008, I voted for Seattle Sounders (fortunately, that poll didn’t have a question asking how far from Seattle you lived). And in the poll that chose the Union’s name, I resisted Steve Holroyd’s urging that I vote for Philadelphia Atoms, and instead voted for Philadelphia Nationals (although I knew that name didn’t have a prayer, and that even if it won, Major League Baseball would shoot it down).

I suppose that if I were going to look at this from a historical purist’s point of view, I would be disappointed that the team isn’t going to be playing at Steel Field, but I’m also a realist. Steel Field, with its artificial turf and its 400-meter track, is less than ideal for soccer these days. Besides, the old Bethlehem Steel team did play some games at an earlier Lehigh University football stadium, Taylor Stadium, including the 1915 U.S. Open Cup final and the 1916 American Football Association Cup final.

Some items on the bright side for this Bethlehem Steel team, from my viewpoint, come from the fact that studying American soccer history isn’t just a matter of looking at the past through rose-colored glasses. The researcher becomes acquainted with the downside, as well. So I’m confident that this Bethlehem Steel team won’t be playing in front of the same sort of crowds as the old one, which was known for its dismal attendance at home games (due at least in part to the fact that it was difficult for steelworkers to attend games on Saturday, which is when the team played). And I know that it won’t be facing the same sort of weather as the old one, which played many games on frozen fields or in sleet storms.

I have a few quibbles concerning some of the items surrounding this team, but they don’t amount to a hill of beans compared to my overall positive feelings about the team. One thing that has bothered me was the statement in an article on the Union website that many consider Bethlehem Steel to have been the first American soccer team. I know of only one person who has said that. Most American soccer historians are well aware that the first American soccer teams predate the 1907 start of the Bethlehem Steel team by about 40 years. Then there is the snake on the new team’s crest, which is curled around the beam in the crest in a way that makes it look like a capital letter “I” rather than the end of a long beam.

(Here, it’s time for a brief history lecture: The “Grey beam” or “Bethlehem beam,” which is featured in the corporation’s famous logo and the new team’s logo, is not really an I-beam. In 1906, Bethlehem Steel purchased the patent for making a beam developed by a Minnesota engineer named Henry Grey. The Grey beam had longer lips, or flanges, giving its end more the shape of an H lying on its side than an I. Those longer flanges made it much stronger than a normal I-beam for building to great heights, and the Grey beam was a significant factor the the corporation’s success.)

As a last quibble there is the fact, also mentioned on this site by Ed Farnsworth, that the old Bethlehem Steel soccer team never actually wore the famous Bethlehem Steel logo, which the company didn’t begin using until several years after the soccer team was disbanded in 1930. However, it would be hypocritical of me to complain too loudly about this unfortunate fact, since it hasn’t stopped me in recent years from becoming an avid purchaser of hats and shirts bearing that logo. I probably have more of them than I do shirts with the National Soccer Hall of Fame logo.

I will concede that one reason for my happiness over this Bethlehem team is that I have always been a rather lukewarm Union fan. I’ve been a D.C. United fan since day one of MLS. When the Union were established, I didn’t feel that turning my back on DCU was something I wanted to do. So, I’m delighted to have a team within easy reach (I live in Warminster) that I can root for whole-heartedly.

So, is this the view of a soccer historian about the new Bethlehem Steel team or is it the view of a fan? I’m not sure. All I know is that this historian couldn’t be happier about this team.