At 94 years old, Ray Lynch may be the oldest surviving Lighthouse Boys Club player. But his story isn’t just that of a Scotch-Irish immigrant playing the game of his father, it’s also part of the story of the movement of soccer in the US from its urban origins to the suburbs.
A look at the founding of the EPSA, originally known as the Foot Ball Association of Eastern Pennsylvania and District, in April, 1913, six days after the founding of the United States of America Football Association, known today as the US Soccer Federation.
Last Friday, a 103-year-old championship medal won by a Scottish goalkeeper in Philadelphia returned to the city to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Soccer Hall of Fame. Here’s the story of the goalkeeper who won that medal and how it came back from Scotland to Philly.
Our series on the origins of soccer in Philadelphia concludes.
The long tradition of holiday games continued for Philadelphia soccer teams in 1914.
After the quick demise of the Philadelphia Phillies pro soccer team in 1894, Philadelphia’s other pro team would return to the amateur ranks before going on to win Philadelphia’s first national soccer championship in 1897.
The decline of Philadelphia’s first organized league is followed by the appearance of the first professional soccer teams in the city.
Philadelphia’s first organized soccer league continued to grow in its second and third seasons with more teams, rising attendance, and intercity games.
Our series continues with the start of Philadelphia’s first organized soccer league, the Pennsylvania Football Union, in 1889.
Our series continues with a look at college football in Philadelphia after the 1863 Laws of the Game, and how rival rules of the game resulted in what would become American gridiron football supplanting soccer-style football in intercollegiate sport.
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