U.S.-Canada in Kearny
Posted on November 5, 2012 1:06 am
Clark Field in East Newark, N.J., or at least the place that used to be Clark Field, doesn’t have a very athletic look about it today. Most of the block is a parking lot. At one end, there are some row houses. At the other end is a large diner.
The spot was used as an athletic field as recently as the 1960s, but the events with which it made its greatest mark in soccer are much longer ago than that. On Nov. 28, 1885 and Nov. 25, 1886, a soccer team representing the United States played a team representing Canada at Clark Field (in 1885 and 1886, that block was part of Kearny, but it is now East Newark, which split off from Kearny in 1895).
The U.S. Soccer Federation doesn’t recognize the 1885 and 1886 games against Canada as having been full internationals, and with good reason. The American Football Association, which organized the United States team, was really a regional organization, centered in New Jersey, not a national one. Much the same could be said of the Western Football Association, which organized the Canadian team, and which was centered in the Toronto area. In the 1885 game, all of the American players were from New Jersey, and five of them were from a single club, ONT of Kearny, which had won the AFA Cup title earlier in the year. In the 1886 game, nine of the American players were from New Jersey (including six from ONT) and two from New York.
Although Clark Field itself is very different from the way it was in 1885, there is one element of the scene that is unchanged. Looming over the spot today, just as it did in 1885, is a block-long six-story factory building. In 1885, this was the Mile End Spool Cotton mill, part of a complex of facilities in the area owned by the Clark Thread Mill, which sponsored ONT.
The opponents in 1885 and 1886 split those two games. The Canadians were the victors by 1-0 in 1885, but the Americans gained 3-2 revenge a year later. The 1885 game was played the day after Thanksgiving and was accompanied on the Canadian team’s two-week visit to New Jersey and New York by a series of games against club teams, including one against ONT that drew a crowd of 4,000, the largest to that date in American soccer (the U.S.-Canada game was played in front of about 2,000 spectators).
The 1886 game was played on Thanksgiving, and this was a factor in the result. The Canadians were so certain that the game would be called off because of the day’s dreadful weather that they ate their Thanksgiving dinner in early afternoon, proceeded to the field and were surprised to find the American team ready to play. The next day’s Newark Evening News said that “the ground was soft and slippery, and the spot where the spectators stood was a little lake.”
The Canadians took advantage of a steady wind at their backs to score the only goal of the first half, but the Americans had that advantage in the second half, gaining a 3-1 lead before Canada got its second goal near the end. The Newark Evening News used language so formal it sounds silly in referring to halftime, saying: “After a rest, one half of the allotted time for the game having been consumed, the teams reversed position.”
The American teams used 18 different players in the two games, many of whose first names are unknown, or known only by an initial. The captain of the American team in both years was Jack Swithenby of ONT, and the others who played in both years were goalkeeper Patrick Hughes, defender B. Holden and midfielder J. McGurck, all from ONT. Those who played in only one of the two games were Joe Swithenby, George Wright, John Gray, James Lennox, John Hood, Jack Swarbrick, W. Turner, A. Turner, J. Chapman, J. Howarth, F. Cornell, T. Bright, Young and Lucas.
This is a tremendous story, Roger, but it begs a few questions.
The most obvious – the field may be gone, but what’s the name of the diner? Where exactly can one make a pilgrimage to this hallowed ex-field?
Second, what teams did these men play for? Is anything known apart from their participation in these two games?
The diner is called Tops. It’s on Passaic Avenue, between Central Avenue and President Street. It’s about a mile, maybe a mile and a quarter, northwest of Red Bull Arena, a few blocks north of Interstate 280.
On the 1885 American team, five of the players were from ONT, whose home field the game was played on. Three were from Kearny Rangers, two from Paterson Thistles and one from Newark Almas. On the 1886 American team, six were from ONT, two from Newark Almas, two from New York Pilgrims and one from Kearny Rangers. All of those clubs were among the leading teams in the earliest years AFA Cup, and faced each other frequently in that competition and friendlies. In 1885 and 1886, ONT and Kearny Rangers played each other a total of five times.
Tops isn’t so much a diner, but rather an exquisite American food restaurant in a diner-shaped building. The food is spectacular. If it weren’t so far from the ballpark (outside a reasonable walk), it would be a no-brainer pre- and post-game destination. No, this isn’t Yelp, but if you’re in East Newark/Harrison, I can’t recommend this place highly enough.
any photos of the clark soccer field from years ago?
“ONT” was the name of a Clark product: Our New Thread.
That is marvelous.
Did they also have a club that played in Salzburg?
Red Spool Arena?
One day, I’ll have to write an MLS report in the language of the late 19th century. “The spritely Juninho was judged to have tripped Lenhart, a man distinguished by hair that called to mind a discarded mop. The spectators in their masses did protest that Lenhart, having fallen to the ground many times before, had prior fouled the Galaxy midfielder, but the referee dismissed the notion.”
Actually, that sounds pretty similar to modern football reports in the Caribbean.
Why didn’t you just interview the players to get more details?
Come on now Smart Alec. Roger may be older than you and me, but he could not have been much more than a baby when these games were played.
A baby???? if the people in 1886 had about 23 years when those teams played they would be short of 150 years now.. and believe me… That would be an awesome zombie interview!
“After a rest, one half of the allotted time for the game having been consumed, the teams reversed position.”
And if Ian Darke said this on the air today, people would have an orgasm about how great he is.
Well…not counting the people who hate anything any English annoucers say simply because they are English.
Good stuff, as always , el bro.
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