The Globe -- Bethlehem
Monday, January 20, 1919
Athletic Chatter

by Fred S. Nonnemacher
"There is nothing to the rumor that Harry Ratican is dissatisfied and that he is negotiating with other clubs in the shipyard leagues," was the reply of William Sheridan, manager of the Bethlehem F. C., in response to press articles stating that Ratican was dissatisfied with local conditions and that likely within a short time Philadelphia fans will see this star in the lineup of a Delaware Shipyard League team.

In speaking of the article, Manager Sheridan said: "I have interviewed Harry and he denied having negotiated with any other team. As for discord among the players or any ill-feeling entertained against Ratican because he remained in St. Louis longer than the other players, I also want to deny that. Bethlehem knows what a player of Ratican's ability is worth to a soccer team and should he elect to leave here it would be with regret among all the members." Continuing he said, "It is apparent to me that ever since Bethlehem struck the championship stride, efforts have been made to agitate a feeling of discord among the members in hopes of disrupting the team. Not only has this agitation been confined to any individual locality but has been general throughout the country. They realize that the only way defeat can be administered to this championship aggregation is by causing trouble among the players and I think that is the purpose of many of these out-of-town critics. This, I believe, is especially true in St. Louis, the former home of Ratican. They realize that probably if successful in causing dissension among the local players, there is a fair chance of Harry returning to his home and signing with one of those teams. They know the strength that Harry would bring to any team and apparently realize the only way to get him to sever his relations with Bethlehem is by causing ill feeling among the players."

In replying to the statements appearing in the St. Louis papers in which Sheridan and Ratican are both quoted, manager Sheridan denies that he made the remarks credited to him and contends that since such was the case with him, Ratican also was misquoted in the statement in which he discredits the ability of the local players.


1918-1919
Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club