The Globe-Times – Bethlehem
Friday, March 7, 1930
A Swing Along Athletic Row

Echoes From the Hub
Boston is without a major league soccer club this season for the first time since the port was operated on a big business basis. Not without a club by choice but rather forced on the sidelines for the time being due to complicating circumstances involving finance, grounds and players which the magnates have thus far been unable to unravel, Boston has not lost its interest in the booting game and, gleaned from sentiment expressed in and around the city, the Hub fans have seemingly shifted their allegiance to the Bethlehem team. George M. Collins, writing for the Boston Globe, types the following anent the final of the U. S. F. A. cup competition between Boston and Fall River which will be played at the Polo Grounds, New York City, Sunday a week: “Watch out, Fall River soccerites! Bethlehem Steel is headed for another championship. Such is the news handed out by the boys who saw the Steel outfit give Brooklyn its walking papers in the National Cup and there seems to be a feeling among the fans in New York and other stations outside of New England that Fall River will meet its Waterloo when it stacks up against the Lewis team in the Eastern final. The game should be one of the greatest soccer battles of the year. Last time the teams met, at Kinsley Park, the Steelmen lost. However, the Blue and White outfit is now working at its best, say its followers, and will be out to square matters. It will have to be very good indeed as the athletes on the Fall River team are no slouches, and they must be given the same rating, if not a little better one, than the Bethlehem boys.” Play the Game as it Should Be Played
Commenting on the type of soccer dispensed by these two clubs, Mr. Collins continues with: “Soccer should get quite a boost with the great Fall River combination meeting Bethlehem Steel for titular honors. These ambassadors of soccer will have a glorious chance to show their game to the American public in a manner which has been missing in the past few years. The kick and rush game will be missing when these giants of soccer meet. Fraser, Finlayson, and McGregor are quite as clever a defensive trio as Reder, McGill and MacAuley. There will be lots of brainy players in action when these boys get going, and with Reid, Carnihan and Pitt performing at their bets Messrs. Ballantyne, Priestly and McPherson will not have very much of an edge on the trio of halfbacks on the Steel team.” Forward Line is Strong
The Boston scribe has omitted mention of the forward line wherein lies a good deal of the Bethlehem strength. The forwards, as is well known, are the Babe Ruths of soccer, for regardless of how tight a defense might be, nevertheless, it is the goal scoring success of the front liners on which victory depends. Both teams are blessed with an array of talent of the best, players who know their business from the first letter to the last in the alphabet and each with an aggregation that combines speed, cleverness, robust physique and virtually every other requisite of topnotch timber. Bethlehem in the past has always been noted for its strength on the forward line and this season’s quintet with Gillespie, Jaap, Stark, Massie and Dick is no exception.


Bethlehem Steel Soccer Club
1929-1930