List of St. Louis Soccer League seasons

The following is a list of seasons for the St. Louis Soccer League. The league ran from 1915 to 1938 was America's only professional soccer league at the time of foundation. This list also includes seasons from 1907 to 1915 for the St. Louis Soccer Football League.

1907–08 St. Louis Soccer Football League

League standings

Place Team GP W L T Points
1 Innisfails 17 9 2 6 24
2 St. Matthew 16 6 4 6 18
3 St. Teresa 16 6 7 3 15
4 Thistles of Bend, IL 17 3 11 3 9

[1]

1908–09 St. Louis Soccer Football League

League table

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 St. Leo's 18 12 2 4 39 14 28
2 St. Teresa 18 7 4 7 23 20 21
3 West Ends 18 4 7 7 12 17 15
4 Thistles 18 1 11 6 8 31 8

1909–10 St. Louis Soccer League

Overview

St. Leo's won the 1909–10 Athletic Park League.[2] The weeks leading up to the 1909–10 season saw the arrival of the Pilgrims club from England. This team, on a tour of the United States, played several games against local opponents. The season began the first week of November 1909.[3] All games were played at Athletic Park which used to sit at the intersection of Garrison Avenue and Market Street.

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 St. Leo's 15 6 1 8 23 14 20
2 St. Teresa 15 6 4 5 25 18 17
3 Blue Bells 16 6 5 5 19 17 15
4 Innisfails 15 3 10 2 10 28 8

1910–11 St. Louis Soccer League

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 St. Leo's 17 10 4 3 41 22 23
2 Columbus Club 17 5 5 7 24 25 17
3 Innisfails 17 7 9 1 24 30 15
4 Blue Bells 17 4 8 5 14 26 13

[1][4]

1911–12 St. Louis Soccer League

League standings

Final league standings for the 1911-12 St. Louis Soccer League.[5]

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 St. Leo's 15 11 2 2 34 15 24
2 Innisfails 15 8 4 3 29 16 19
3 Irish American A.C. 15 4 9 2 11 24 10
4 Columbus Club 15 2 10 3 12 31 7

[1][5]

1912–13 St. Louis Soccer League

League standings for the 1912–13 season as of December 23, 1912 for the Athletic Park League.[6] The St. Leo's team withdrew in January and were replaced by Compton Hills. The League reset and started anew on January 26, 1913.

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 St. Leo's 10 7 2 1 19 10 15
2 Innisfails 11 6 3 2 15 10 13
3 Columbus Club 10 3 6 1 10 15 7
4 Business Men's A.C. 10 2 7 1 12 21 5

1913–14 St. Louis Soccer League season

This season, the league experienced a split caused by St. Leo's success the past few seasons. St. Leo's was the only fully professional team in the league which led to its domination. When the other teams attempted to ban professionals, St. Leo's left the SLSL and set up the St. Louis Football League playing out of Athletic Park.[7] The other teams formed the St. Louis Soccer League playing out of Robison Park.[8]

Athletic Park League

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 St. Leo's 13 11 0 2 32 1 24
2 Ben Millers 13 7 4 2 21 13 16
3 Columbia A.C. 13 4 8 1 11 35 9
4 Rock Church A.C. 13 1 11 1 9 27 3

Robison Park League

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Columbus Club 20 14 6 0 40 24 28
2 Innisfails 20 9 6 5 36 27 23
3 St. Teresa 20 6 10 4 20 35 16
4 Athletics 20 5 12 3 23 33 13

1914–15 St. Louis Soccer League seasons

The St. Louis Soccer League had split into two competing leagues, the Federal Park League and the Robison League, before the 1913–14 season. This season, the Robison League played two halves with a mid-winter break. At the end of the season, the champions from each league played against each other for the city championship.[9]

Federal Park League

Place Team GP W L T Points
1 St. Leo's 13 10 1 2 22
2 Ben Millers 13 8 3 2 18
3 Columbia A.C. 10 3 7 3 9
4 Rock Church A.C. 13 1 10 2 4

Robison League

Innisfails won the league title with 20 points over Columbus Club which had 18 points.[10]

First half

Place Team GP W L T Points
1 Innisfails 9 6 2 1 13
2 Columbus Club 9 4 4 1 9
3 St. Teresa 9 2 3 4 8
4 Manewals 9 2 5 2 6

Second half

Place Team GP W L T Points
1 Columbus Club 5 4 0 1 9
2 Innisfails 5 3 1 1 7
3 St. Theresa's 5 1 3 1 3
4 Manewals 5 0 4 1 0

City championship

Innisfails defeated St. Leo's. The first game of the three-game series ended in a 2–2 tie with Innisfails taking the second game, 4–2. The third game never materialized because of conflicting events and unavailability of players.[11]

1915–16 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1915-16 St. Louis Soccer League.[12]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Ben Millers 20 12 5 3 45 22 27
2 Innisfails 19 7 6 6 25 23 20
3 Naval Reserve F.C. 20 4 8 8 25 36 16
4 St. Leo's 19 4 8 7 15 39 15

1916–17 St. Louis Soccer League

The St. Louis Soccer League was reestablished this season after the league had split into two competing blocks of teams during the previous two seasons.[13][14]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T Points
1 Ben Millers 20 10 8 2 22
2 Innisfails 20 9 8 3 21
3 St. Leo's 20 8 8 4 20
4 Naval Reserves 20 7 10 3 17

1917–18 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1917-18 St. Louis Soccer League.[15][16]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Ben Millers 17 9 5 3 33 26 21
2 St. Leo's 17 7 4 6 36 28 20
3 Innisfails 17 5 6 6 23 27 16
4 Naval Reserves 17 2 8 7 18 29 11

1918–19 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1918-19 St. Louis Soccer League.[17][18]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Scullin Steels 21 10 7 4 31 27 24
2 Innisfails 21 9 8 4 36 27 22
3 St. Louis Screw 21 8 8 5 28 36 21
4 Ben Millers 21 5 9 7 30 40 17

1919–20 St. Louis Soccer League

The season concluded with Ben Millers and Innisfails tied at 23 points each.[19] A one-game playoff was needed to break the tie which was won by the Ben Millers.[20]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T Points
1 Ben Millers 21 8 6 7 23
2 Innisfails 21 10 8 3 23
3 St. Louis Screw 21 8 9 4 20
4 Scullins Steel 21 7 10 4 18

1920–21 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1920-21 St. Louis Soccer League.[21][22]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Scullin Steels 17 9 5 3 38 31 26
2 Ben Millers 17 8 3 6 28 31 22
3 St. Louis Screw 22 6 7 9 23 23 21
4 Innisfails 22 6 9 7 21 25 19

1921–22 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1921-22 St. Louis Soccer League.[23][24]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Scullin Steels 21 10 6 5 40 28 25
2 DeAndreis 21 9 7 5 36 33 23
3 Ben Millers 21 8 7 6 37 41 22
4 St. Louis Screw 21 4 11 6 28 39 14

1922–23 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1922-23 St. Louis Soccer League.[25][26]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Vesper-Buicks 17 8 4 5 28 16 22
2 Scullin Steels 17 5 5 7 20 21 17
3 Hoover Sweepers 17 5 5 7 21 25 17
4 Ben Millers 17 4 8 5 28 35 13

1923–24 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1923-24 St. Louis Soccer League.[27][28]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Vesper-Buicks 13 9 2 2 30 15 20
2 Barrett Hoovers 13 6 4 3 28 20 15
3 Scullin Steels 13 3 3 4 17 22 10
4 Ben Millers 13 2 8 4 23 35 7

1924–25 St. Louis Soccer League

Final league standings for the 1924-25 St. Louis Soccer League.[29]

League standings

Place Team GP W L T GF GA Points
1 Ben Millers 18 11 4 3 54 26 25
2 Vesper-Buicks 18 10 4 4 32 25 24
3 Scullin Steels 18 4 7 7 25 34 15
4 Raticans 18 2 12 4 19 45 8

Top Goal Scorers

Rank Scorer Club GP G
1 Pee-Wee Fitzgerald Ben Millers 19
2 Beano Balam Ben Millers 15
3 Jimmy Dunn Ben Millers 11
4 Ed Hart Scullin Steels 8
Dutch Gockel Vesper-Buicks 8
6 Raphael Tracey Vesper-Buicks 7
7 Ed Becker Vesper-Buicks 6
8 George Schemel Raticans 4
J. Burke Scullin Steels 4

1935–36 St. Louis Soccer League

This season the St. Louis Soccer League, headed by president Phil A. Riley, decided to try a new format. The idea was to make an eight team league[30] instead of the usual four with 50 cent admission playing out of two fields. Four 'old pros' comprising the national champion Centrals, (Johnny) Marre's, Ben Millers, and Hellrung Grimms would be combined with four 'graduates' in the German Sport Club, George McGann's Schumachers, Ed Delaney's Hermanns, and Sociedad Espanola (Spanish Sport Club).[31] The two fields used were Sportsman's Park and South Side Park, aka National Softball Park.[31] The referees enlisted were Oscar Mossman, Jimmy Dunn, Ribby Murphy,[31] and Charley LaBarge. The league played three rounds beginning on October 6 before problems arose in the fourth week. The standings for the first three weeks are below.

St. Louis 8 Pts GP W L T GF GA Dif Perc
1 Democrats 5 3 2 0 1 12 4 +8 .833
2 Spanish Sports Club 5 3 2 0 1 9 2 +7 .833
3 H&G 4 3 2 1 0 9 6 +3 .667
4 Marres 3 3 1 1 1 9 6 +3 .500
5 Ben Millers 3 3 1 1 1 5 5 0 .500
6 German 2 3 1 2 0 5 11 -6 .333
7 Hermanns 1 3 0 2 1 2 9 -7 .167
8 Schumachers 1 3 0 2 1 0 8 -8 .167

Beginning with the fourth week (October 27) admission was reduced to 25 cents with ladies free. Two of the games were called off at South Side field because of weather conditions. The games at the other field were played after a delay due to the assumption that the games would also be called off for the same reason. The delay caused the games to be shortened and were played without a break with some players having left as well. It was decided that these games would be considered exhibitions and not count in the standings and the entire round replayed. This never happened because by the next week the Schumachers, Hermanns, and German Sport Club withdrew from the league.

St. Louis 5

On November 3, prior games were scratched from the record and the league restarted with five teams: Ben Millers, Hellrung & Grimm, Spanish Sport Club, and St. Louis Soccer Club (formerly Democratic Country Club). In the first round St. Louis Soccer Club toppled Ben Millers 6-1 while Spanish Sport Club shutout Hellrungs 4–0, Marre's had a bye.

St. Louis 4

The following week (November 10) the league restarted a third time having returned to four teams and one field.[32] The league would play at National Softball Park while the 'St. Louis 1' soon to be Father Dempsey's Shamrocks would be a league of their own at Sportsman's Park to entertain intercity competition. The next week (November 17) the St. Louis Soccer Club played their first games as the Shamrocks against the Maccabees of Chicago, winning 4–2. The Spanish Club also played their first game as Burke's and went on to win the first half with a perfect record. First half season standings below.

St. Louis 4 Pts GP W L T GF GA Dif Perc
1 Burke's 16 8 8 0 0 18 2 +16 1.00
2 H&G 6 8 3 5 0 12 13 -1 .375
3 Marres 6 8 3 5 0 9 14 -5 .375
4 Ben Miller 4 8 2 6 0 8 18 -10 .250

Champion: Burke's Undertakers

Shamrocks

Last season's 'double winners' as the Centrals began the current season under the sponsorship of the Democratic Country Club only to lose it a month later to become simply the St. Louis Soccer Club. They may have been able to repeat the double but did not participate in the remainder of the league season and finished runner up in the National Challenge Cup competition. When they were competing in the league they were undefeated but found stiff competition from the also undefeated Burke's, the Shamrocks had the edge only in goal differential. Their toughest intercity opponent proved to be Heidelberg. They commenced independent play on November 17 as Father Dempsey's Shamrocks. Their games were played at Sportsman's Park with an admission fee of 55 cents which was more than twice than what the St. Louis league was charging yet they drew many more fans. Below are their results including goal scorers.

  • November 17 Shamrocks 4-2 Chicago Maccabee (Patenaude (3), Gonsalves)
  • November 24 Shamrocks 2-2 Slavia-Bartunek (Gonsalves)
  • December 1 Shamrocks 3-2 Chicago Sparta (Watson, Patenaude, Roe)
  • December 8 Shamrocks 2-4 Heidelberg (Gonsalves(2))
  • December 15 Shamrocks 7-0 Milwaukee Deutscher SC (Patenaude(3), Gonsalves(3), Watson)
  • December 22 Shamrocks 5-1 Cleveland Graphite-Bronze (Patenaude(4), Gonsalves)
  • December 29 Shamrocks 4-1 Cleveland Slavia (Garcia, Patenaude(2), Gonsalves)
  • January 1 Shamrocks 2-2 Heidelberg (Patenaude, Gonsalves, Lehman(og))
  • January 5 Shamrocks 2-0 Heidelberg (Nilsen, Gonsalves)
  • January 12 Shamrocks 10-2 Chicago Olympia (Gonsalves(3), Patenaude(2), Roe(2), Nilsen(2), Egan) -game postponed from December 25
  • February 23 Shamrocks 3-0 Burke (Patenaude(2), Roe)
  • March 8 Shamrocks 3-0 Pittsburgh Avella

References

  1. ^ a b c St. Louis Soccer Leagues (RSSSF)
  2. ^ "St. Teresas Win Second Place In Soccer League". (March 14, 1910). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.12 col.3
  3. ^ "Four Teams In Soccer League". (October 27, 1909). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.11 col.2
  4. ^ "Soccer Elevens To Settle Title". (March 6, 1911). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.12 col.5
  5. ^ a b "Leos Cop Tenth Flag By Beating I.-A.A.C. Team". (February 19, 1912). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.10 col.2
  6. ^ "Soccer Shots". (December 23, 1912). St. Louis Star, p.10 col.3-4
  7. ^ "Phil Kavanaugh Is Named Referee In Soccer League". (September 14, 1913). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.1S col.3
  8. ^ "St. Louis Soccer League To Play At Cards' Park". (September 16, 1913). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.11 col.2
  9. ^ "Soccer Leagues Will Hold Joint Meeting Tuesday". (February 22, 1915). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.11 col.6
  10. ^ "Mike Whelan's Innisfail's Win". (December 21, 1914). St. Louis Star, p.11 col.1-2
  11. ^ "Leos-Innisfails Bout Is Again Postponed". (April 3, 1915). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.8 col.5
  12. ^ "Innisfails Clinch Second Place In Soccer League". (March 6, 1916). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.8 col.4
  13. ^ "Millers Beaten, But Capture Soccer Title". (March 12, 1917). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.12 col.5
  14. ^ "Officers Elected To Lead Soccer League". (September 1, 1916). St. Louis Star, p.11 col.5
  15. ^ "Professional Soccer Pennant Goes To Ben Millers". (March 11, 1918). St. Louis Star, p.6 col.6
  16. ^ "Millers Win Flag In Soccer League". (March 11, 1918). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.10 col.5
  17. ^ "Scullins Defeat Foley's Men And Win Soccer Title". (March 31, 1919). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.20 col.8
  18. ^ "Scullins Defeat Innisfails In Final Minute Of Game". (March 31, 1919). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.8 col.7-8
  19. ^ "Soccer League's Regular Season Closes With Tie". (March 15, 1920). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.18 col.8
  20. ^ "Millers Win Soccer Title". (March 22, 1920). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.20 col.1-2
  21. ^ "Scullins Defeat Millers 2-0 And Win Soccer Title". (April 4, 1921). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.18 col.8
  22. ^ "Scullins Defeat Millers, 2-0". (April 4, 1921). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.9 col.7-8
  23. ^ "Ben Millers Defeat Scullin Eleven In Final Game Of Year". (March 13, 1921). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.10 col.4
  24. ^ "Millers Win From Scullins". (March 13, 1921). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.9 col.6
  25. ^ "Vespers Upset Scullin Regime In Local Soccer". (April 9, 1923). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.20 col.5
  26. ^ "Buicks And Scullins Get 0-0 Tie". (April 9, 1923). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.15 col.3
  27. ^ "Youngsters Given Chance In Final Soccer Contests". (March 24, 1924). St. Louis Post-Dispatch, p.16 col.7-8
  28. ^ "Buicks And Millers Tie, 2-2". (March 24, 1924). St. Louis Globe-Democrat, p.15 col.7-8
  29. ^ Steve Holroyd. "The Year in American Soccer - 1925". Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  30. ^ "Soccer notes". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. August 18, 1935. p. 5B. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  31. ^ a b c "Soccer League To Open Season Early in October". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. p. 2B. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  32. ^ "Pro soccer race starts again today". St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat. St. Louis, Missouri. 10 Nov 1935. p. 12A. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
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