The Globe-Times -- Bethlehem
Wednesday, December 19, 1928
CASUALTIES MANY IN BETHLEHEM ELEVEN
Only Nine Players Available at This Time For Clash With Hakoah
CLUB SEEKING RECRUITS

If the Hakoah All-Stars are unable to take advantage of the crippled condition of the Bethlehem team on their invasion of Bethlehem on Saturday afternoon there is little hope that the crack Jewish organization will ever accomplish the feat in the Eastern Soccer League campaigning when the Bethlehem team gets back into normal condition.

Bulletins on the physical conditions of the players hung out this morning reveal the difficulties confronting the management in fielding a club of eleven players for the Saturday game. The list of casualties has grown and included in the bulletin are the following:

Matt Wilson, fullback, injured knee, slowly recovering and not likely to be available for Saturday.

Willie Allen, injured knee, certain to be in the shelf for another week or two.

W. Reid, injured back and cold, confined to his bead and definitely out of the picture for the Hakoah game.

Tom Gillespie, injured knee, slowly recovering but a dead issue insofar as the weekend games are concerned.

Arthur Robertson, injured back, no chance of being considered a Saturday starter.

So after eliminating the above casualties the management finds itself this morning with exactly nine players available for two hard weekend games and naturally eleven men are needed to play the contest.

While the outlook is anything but pleasing the available players and management are not discouraged and every effort is being made to secure talent to fill the vacancies. It may be that Jock Ferguson, loaned to the Philadelphia club may be recalled for the game and if he is the team will probably see two veterans paired off at the halfback position with "Jock" Ferguson again taking his togs off the peg for active service at one of the back positions.

In announcing the above list of casualties it is definitely assured that the only part of the game any of them is likely to play is as rooters on the sidelines. Joe Morrison, Wanderer center forward who displayed the most finish of any of the local players who contributed their services to the team the last weekend, is certain to start in one if not both of the games scheduled for the weekend.

Effort is being made to locate Dugie Campbell, former Bethlehem player who until recently starred on the forward line of the New York Giants. If his services can be secured he will no doubt be a valuable asset for Gillespie's position at wing forward. In an effort to secure several Canadian players to help the club along in the emergency the response to the many telegrams sent out have been anything but encouraging.

As a last resort the club will call upon players who were loaned to Philadelphia. The management is anything but in accord with such a procedure since the "Cents" too have a brace of hard games over the weekend and the club does not want to convey the impression that the team loaned players to Philadelphia as a training farm.

However, assurances are given that when the teams lineup for the kickoff Bethlehem will have a complete team to battle Hakoah.


1928-1929
Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club