The Globe -- Bethlehem
Thursday, June 30, 1921
PLAN RECEPTION FOR SOCCER TEAM
Scottish Team, Guests of City on July 13, to be Royally Entertained
GAME IN TAYLOR STADIUM

On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 13 the Scottish All Star soccer team will arrive in this city as the guest of the Bethlehem Steel Company eleven, and also for the purpose of staging the first international soccer contest ever held in this city, or for that matter, in this section of the country. The visitors will bring with them a squad of men that represent the pick of the soccer stars of the Scottish league of Scotland, and to all accounts, the strength of the aggregation is all that the name implies. At present time the All Stars are touring Canada where they have had marked successes, and have played to unusually large crowds, the Stadium at Toronto being packed to capacity the attendance being estimated at over 15,000 people.

Taylor Stadium, Lehigh University, will to all intents be secured as the scene for this great international soccer classic, and according to plans divulged at a conference of soccer officials of the Bethlehem Steel Company yesterday, it is planned to make the occasion of the visit of the invading Scots, one of the greatest sporting events in the history of the city. A systematic and far reaching campaign of advertising is about to begin, which will take in not only the larger cities of this section, but every town and village within a radius of thirty miles. A thorough canvass of the shops of local industrial plants and business houses in the Lehigh Valley will also be made in the near future. Secretary A. H. Buck of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce will also lead the cooperation of that body, by requesting all business men to close their establishments an hour earlier than usual in order to allow employees to witness the game which will start at 5:30 p.m.

It was also decided to request that Mayor Johnston be present at the stadium on the morning of the arrival of the All Stars and bid them official welcome; a ceremony that was accorded the local team on their visits to cities in Canada and on their trip abroad. Immediately following their arrival the team will be escorted about on sight seeing tour of the city in automobiles while at 12:15 p.m. both teams will repair to the Kurtz, where they will be guests of the local Rotary Club.

For some reason or other, soccer has not taken a place in the hearts of local fans, as the Steel Company officials had hoped it would, and the attendance at the game for the past few years has never quite come up to expectations. The coming event, however, should be different, for it is given a far more colorful appearance by the presence of the invaders from across the sea, who see the only stumbling block to their victorious progress in the shape of the Bethlehem Steel soccer club, that for so many years has ranked with the foremost elevens in the country. One of the primary objects of the tour of the Scottish All Stars is to arouse greater interest in the sport and to give the devotees of this country a fair idea of the superior style of game used in Scotland and Great Britain. The coming battle should be a great test, and will go a long way in deciding which nation has the right to claim the soccer supremacy.

At the conference yesterday afternoon, W. L. Lewis acted as chairman while others present were William Sheridan, J. V. Dippery, George T. Fonda, Harry Carpenter and George Vary. The above group comprises a committee that will arrange to have the Bethlehem Steel Company band render music at the game in addition to a number of other interesting events that will be conducted at Taylor Stadium before the game and in the intermission between the halves.


1921-1922
Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club