The Globe -- Bethlehem
Saturday, January 16, 1926
A Swing Along Athletic Row

Anticiapted Attendance Twenty Thousand
Tell some one in or around Bethlehem that Fall River and Providence will play their first round National Cup competition before a crowd of twenty thousand fans he would be pronounced fit and eligible for a trot up the boardwalk to some bughouse. Nevertheless, that is just about the attendance that can be expected on the playing field of the Marks Brothers at Tiverton, the home grounds of the Fall River gang, when the champions square off with Providence in their first round National cup tie on Sunday afternoon. And these figures are hardly exaggerated for an ordinary game which does not savor of world series importance brings out from eight to twelve thousand fans. Stealing some of the thunder of Levi Wilcox, sports scribe of the Philadelphia Inquirer, whose specialty among other things is soccer, the present record for attendance was established at Fall River, Mass., when 14,375 spectators (paid attendance) witnessed a replay of the second round game between the Fall River and the J & P Coats team. Providence is a natural rival of Fall River, probably as spirited as Bethlehem has been, and therefore it would not be surprising if the attendance record was smashed by several thousand. Providence, runner up in the league race to Fall River, will probably have as many rooters at the game as Fall River.

Shawsheen's Star Fading
Shawsheen burst into the American Soccer League as a new club with a terrific clash, but since then has hardly been more than a ripple. The club is lingering somewhere down among the second division teams. This same Shawsheen Club won the National Cup tie last season, and it might be well to recall that the American League was at strive with the National Association and did not compete its teams in the cup tie. Tomorrow, Shawsheen will have an opportunity to defend that title, and a guess is that the village eleven will be out of the running at the close of the day. New Bedford is the club we pick to stop the Shawsheen crowd. By the pairing in the New England division, no matter which clubs are eliminated, the field of dangerous contenders will be materially reduced. The pairing for the opening round has been very satisfactory.


1925-1926
Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club