Brooklyn Field Club was an American soccer club based in Brooklyn, New York. The club played in the National Association Foot Ball League (NAFBL) from the 1909–10 season until it disbanded in the fall of 1916. In 1913–14 it won the NAFBL title without a league defeat and then won the inaugural National Challenge Cup, the competition now known as the U.S. Open Cup. The cup final was played on May 16, 1914, at Coats Field in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where Brooklyn defeated borough rivals Brooklyn Celtic 2–1.

The club is the first name on the U.S. Open Cup roll of champions. After that season several of its leading players left for Bethlehem Steel. Brooklyn finished in mid-table in the following two NAFBL seasons and was eliminated early from the Challenge Cup. After an 11–1 loss to New York F.C. in its only 1916–17 league match, the club disbanded. It forfeited its opening-round tie in the 1917 National Challenge Cup.

History National Association Foot Ball League The NAFBL was a professional and semi-professional circuit on the New York–New Jersey–Philadelphia corridor and one of the strongest American leagues before the American Soccer League of the 1920s. Brooklyn F.C. was added to the league before the 1909–10 season. Percy Adamson, later the club captain, was already playing for Brooklyn by November 1910.

Home matches in the cup run were played at Marquette Oval in Brooklyn, a multi-use ground that also hosted baseball and other soccer clubs.

Brooklyn's first NAFBL seasons were modest. The club finished third in 1909–10, then seventh, sixth and last in the three seasons that followed. On December 23, 1912, a club named Brooklyn Wanderers disbanded after six league games and merged into Brooklyn F.C. Newark F.C. took the Wanderers' place in the table. Brooklyn still finished the 1912–13 season with 2 wins, 14 losses and no draws, last of ten clubs.

1913–14 double

Before the 1913–14 season Brooklyn assembled a much stronger side. The Newark Star called the club the "$10,000 team". The roster included Bob Millar, Neil Clarke and James "Bow" Ford, all of whom later played for the United States men's national soccer team. Millar had arrived from Disston A.A. after earlier spells with St Mirren in Scotland. Harry Shanholt, a Columbia University forward and collegiate All-American, also joined the club while still in college.

The 1913–14 NAFBL season was marred by weather, and no club completed a full schedule. Brooklyn still went unbeaten, with 12 wins and 2 draws from 14 matches and 26 points. West Hudson A.A. finished one point behind. The result reversed the previous season, when Brooklyn had finished last.

In the older American Cup, organized by the American Football Association, Brooklyn beat Bridgeport City after a protested first match and then lost 3–1 to Tacony in the quarterfinals. Bethlehem Steel went on to win that cup.

1914 National Challenge Cup The National Challenge Cup was created by the newly formed United States Football Association (now U.S. Soccer) as a nationwide tournament open to amateur and professional clubs. Invitations went to 287 clubs. Forty entered, mostly from the Northeast, with others from Chicago, Detroit and Pittsburgh. G. Randolph Manning, the association's first president, wrote in the 1913–14 Spalding Guide that the cup was meant to produce a true national champion and to help identify players for representative sides.

Brooklyn's path was:

First round, November 2, 1913: 1–0 vs. IRT Strollers Second round, December 21, 1913: 3–0 vs. Brooklyn Rangers Third round, January 25, 1914: 1–0 vs. Bethlehem F.C. at Marquette Oval. Heavy ground suited Brooklyn. The only goal was a penalty. Bethlehem protested the late kickoff, player registration and the goalkeeper's paperwork. The USFA dismissed the protest. Quarterfinals, March 28, 1914: 4–1 vs. Yonkers F.C. at Manhattan Field. Yonkers held the Dewar Trophy as winners of the 1913 American Amateur Football Association Cup, a different competition. Semifinals, April 18, 1914: 2–1 vs. New Bedford F.C. at Coats Field. New Bedford scored first through Freddie Klemm. After a fight left both sides with ten men, Millar equalized before halftime and scored the winner.

Millar led Brooklyn with six goals in the tournament.

Final USFA rules required the semifinals and final to be played on neutral grounds. Five venues bid for the final. Coats Field, the home of J&P Coats on Lonsdale Avenue in Pawtucket, was chosen after a semifinal crowd of 3,637 and lobbying by federation vice president William D. Love. Celtic changed from boat to train after learning that Field Club planned to travel by water.

Celtic kicked off at 3:21 p.m. before USFA president Manning, secretary Thomas Cahill and a film camera in the grandstand. Local papers compared the occasion to the World Series. Admission was 25 cents. The Pawtucket Times described the grandstand and bleachers as full, with spectators standing seven and eight deep around the field and some watching from the baseball scoreboard. Local reports put the crowd at about 6,000. The following year's Spalding Official Soccer Foot Ball Guide, compiled by Cahill, listed 10,000.

Field Club won the toss and took the south goal. Millar set up Adamson for the opening goal in the third minute. Play was rough. Referee Charles E. Creighton warned both sides. In the 27th minute H. W. Matthews brought down Roddy O'Halloran. Thomas Campion scored from the penalty spot. Brooklyn controlled much of the second half. In the 87th minute Millar's attempt was saved. He then found James Ford, who scored the winner. Celtic pressed in the closing minutes but did not equalize. The Pawtucket Times named Millar the outstanding player of the match. He was later inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in its first class of 1950.

Coverage was stronger in New England than in New York. The Pawtucket Times devoted a full column to the match. The Boston Herald and Providence Evening Tribune also gave it substantial space. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran four paragraphs. The New York Times, the New York Sun, the New-York Tribune and the New York Press carried shorter reports.

Brooklyn's lineup was Haughie; Hynds, Drinkwater; Matthews, Clarke, Nichols; Ford, George Knowles, Adamson (captain), Millar and Shanholt. Celtic lined up Frank Mather; James Robertson, Andrew Robertson; David Flanagan, Frank O'Hara, Hugh Kelly; Albert Lonie, Campion, O'Halloran, McGreevey and Paddy Butler. Celtic were without forward Mike King. The winners received the Dewar Challenge Trophy, donated by the distiller Sir Thomas Dewar. The trophy is now in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas.

Decline and dissolution After the 1914 final Millar, Clarke and Ford moved to Bethlehem Steel, which Charles M. Schwab was turning into a professionally paid club. Brooklyn finished sixth in the 1914–15 NAFBL with a 5–6–3 record and went out of the Challenge Cup in the second round to Paterson Rangers. In 1915–16 it again finished in mid-table and lost in the first round of the cup to Yonkers F.C.

The club ended in the fall of 1916. After a single 1916–17 NAFBL match, an 11–1 loss to New York F.C., it disbanded. Splitdorf F.C. was named as a replacement and also folded before playing. Brooklyn's last cup entry was a forfeit to IRT Strollers in the opening round of the 1917 tournament.

Brooklyn Field Club did not join the American Soccer League, which began in 1921 after the NAFBL folded. Later Brooklyn cup winners, including Brooklyn Robins Dry Dock in 1921 and Brooklyn St. Mary's Celtic in 1939, were separate clubs.

Year-by-year Year League Regular season American Cup National Challenge Cup 1909–10 NAFBL 3rd N/A 1910–11 NAFBL 7th N/A 1911–12 NAFBL 6th N/A 1912–13 NAFBL 10th N/A 1913–14 NAFBL 1st Quarterfinals Champion 1914–15 NAFBL 6th Second round 1915–16 NAFBL 5th First round 1916–17 NAFBL Disbanded after 1 match First round (forfeit)

Honors National Association Foot Ball League Winner (1): 1913–14 National Challenge Cup Winner (1): 1913–14

Notable players Players with Wikipedia articles who appeared for Brooklyn Field Club include:

Percy Adamson – captain and scorer of the first goal in the 1914 National Challenge Cup final Neil Clarke – later a two-time cup winner with Bethlehem Steel and a 1916 United States international Charles Drinkwater – outside left in the 1914 final James Ford – scorer of the 1914 cup-winning goal and later a United States international Robert Millar – inside left, six cup goals in 1913–14, later coach of the United States at the 1930 FIFA World Cup and a 1950 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Harry Shanholt – Columbia All-American forward in the 1914 final

See also 1913–14 National Challenge Cup Brooklyn Celtic History of soccer in the United States List of U.S. Open Cup finals Soccer in New York City

Notes

References

External links Brooklyn Field Club coverage at TheCup.us National Association Foot Ball League standings at RSSSF The Year in American Soccer – 1914 at the American Soccer History Archives