I'm not complaining... check me off as pleasantly surprised. It's cool they could be bringing back some history. (even if nobody remembers it directly) I know people will say a D3 team doesn't do the name justice, but honestly what other scenario would allow for the name to be revived? If not this situation it would always remain a thing of the past. *waits for NASL Fans to clamor in*
Sorry I hope you are not interpreting my post as making fun of you or anyone else. It just had to be done, you understand. With that said, I think its a great story and a great way to bring back a fantastic PA/USA/soccer history. By the way, if you haven't watched it, see the MLS video about BSFC.
No, what doesn't give Bethlehem Steel justice is that it will be run by the Philadelphia Union. I can not think of a worse organization (well, maybe the Impact) to put your faith to run a team with dignity. With the Union FO in charge I can only think their interest in Bethlehem, or the Lehigh Valley, is to sell their cheap knockoff tribute 3rd jerseys. Nothing more. The name Bethlehem Steel FC should be placed in history and be a special place in US soccer history, not turned into some frankenstein lower division team to hock jerseys and memorabilia (*ahem* Cosmos). If they want to tribute the Steel, but reserve the name for the historical club, then name the team after Steel's original name: Bethlehem FC. Use the same colors of the Steel and have a patch on the back of the neck as tribute. End story.
A Cosmos vs Bethlehem Steel in the USOC doesn't sound that bad on paper; but that is my nostalgia talking, and yes, nostalgia only goes so far. Lets change New York Cosmos B to Brookhattan while we are at it lol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookhattan Is there any steel manufacturing in the Lehigh area?
It's an 80+ year old brand and story that most people are forgetting. Even a Union run minor league team will rejuvenate interest and pay homage to those that went before.
Actually, it doesn't look at all like what they wore back then, for several reasons. 1. This logo is some sort of a funny knock off, which you probably already realize. The lettering is a different font from the real Bethlehem Steel logo, the words in the real Bethlehem Steel logo are curved and the beam in this logo is a normal I-beam (the real Bethlehem Steel logo has the patented "Bethlehem beam" or "Grey beam," with wide flanges, that was a key part of the company's success). 2. Number 1 is really a moot point, because the Bethlehem Steel soccer team never wore the famous Bethlehem Steel logo anyway. The earliest use I've ever found of that logo is in 1937, seven years after the soccer team was disbanded (the addition of the letters "FC" to the logo was done by a T-shirt company in recent years). 3. It's not clear to me what colors the Bethlehem Steel soccer team wore, but it's by no means certain that they wore red, white and black. My first guess would be blue and white. I've seen hundreds of photos of the Bethlehem Steel team, but never a color photo.
I grew up in Bethlehem and it was not a forgotten entity. While I'm not going to try and convince you that it was a household knowledge, it was far from some long forgotten story. I learned about Bethlehem Steel FC as a teen and I HATED sports, with a hate that only a teen that was not involved in sports could muster. I don't care that people outside of the Valley have forgotten about Bethlehem Steel FC, that team was not for them. It was our team. Even if it was 85 years since they last played. They were not forgotten. I left the Lehigh Valley around the time Bethlehem Steel was really beginning to ramp down for closure. It was a dagger to the heart to many people. We all saw the end coming, and powerless to do anything about it, but the final word of closure still hurt the same. It was a large sense of pride in that area. We were, for quite a while, the center of the industrial world. Bethlehem Steel was for a long time the largest and most powerful corporation in the world. We manufactured war ships at Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Corp. We innovated building construction with the I beam. On top of all of that, we had arguably one of the best soccer teams in the world. There is something about the people of eastern Pennsylvania: they have very long memories. Unusually so. Maybe it is the heavy German influence, like the Amish, I don't know. It is part of the stubborn nature of the area too. Memory is held until it is long past time to forgive and forget. But there it is. I will admit, since the time of my leaving, there has been a big change in the area. I blame the Millennials. My time growing up in the Valley you would never have seen acceptance of being subservient to Philadelphia. We felt kinship but we would never play second fiddle to them. Now there is the IronPigs (AAA baseball) and the Phantoms (AHL). It just wasn't in the character of the Valley to accept something like that, but now I guess it is. The times have changed and not in a good way. It is now bent at the knee to novelty and no true respect of history. My main issue with all of this is that it will be run by truly shitty organization. The care and respect that should couple with a recreation of a historic team such as Bethlehem Steel FC will be completely devoid here. I have zero respect for the FO of the Union and their ability to do something right.
While no color photos but I had seen a few very rare physical jerseys. I had seen a few back in '85 from an old gentleman who owned them that lived in South Bethlehem in was the old area for steel workers. I'm not positive, but I do think he said he played with the team when it's focus was still more as a community team and not taken professional in 1914. It was his personal collection, a collection that had no outside interest then the history of Bethlehem. Sadly he had passed away I believe his family mostly threw away his possessions. I was not of an age to care of such things, but now I wish I had a sense of what that loss was. Historically the wore black shirts with white shorts. The shirts had the white B on the chest, but you can see in historical photos that it varied, even on the same team, if it was on the side over the heart or center of the chest. The socks tended to be gray, but many times it was black. It went back and forth. I don't think they cared during those days, they just cared they had socks. There wasn't the marketing brand notion back then that we have in today's sports world. From my research the socks tended to be gray.
It's funny, I thought of Chicago after I posted that comment. Chicago use to be so good, so sad to see them in the pit they are in now.
This whole conversation sounds very similar to the resurrection of the old NASL Roughnecks name in Tulsa. Die hard soccer fans were pissed at the thought of "tainting the legacy" with a cheap division 3 imitation. Casual fans loved it & it won the public vote.
Your analogy may be correct in many cases, but I know that there are exceptions to it, being one myself, and I'm sure that there are lots of others. I've studied the old Bethlehem Steel soccer team in quite a lot of detail. I don't mind this new Bethlehem team at all, as long as they make no attempt to pretend that they are the same team (and, unlike what's being done with the NY Cosmos, I've seen no sign of that). I've made a lot of trips to Bethlehem over the years, and expect to make more next season.
Tulsa decided to pretend that they are the same team. They are selling '83 Soccer Bowl Championship shirts on their website right now... The brand new 2015 Zombie Roughnecks Supporters Group even chants about good ol' 1983 when they won the cup. And a link to audio versions of their chants... http://www.tulsaroustabouts.com/chants/
Atreat nearly went out of business so they aren't going to be the shirt sponsor. I would bet on one of the local Heath networks like Lehigh Valley or Sacred Heart. Maybe Air Products or Olympus go for it. Crayola, Just Born and Martin Guitar for dark horse candidates.
Well I was giving local company candidates. PP&L would be a Union sponsor that could be a fit too. They recently spun out a company called Talen Energy that might be looking to promote its name as well.
Bimbo US HQ is only about an hour from Bethlehem... so it wouldn't be TOO much of a stretch if your looking at the local angel.
Ironic that you feel this way considering it was two OKC groups fighting over the rights to the Roughnecks name in 2013... I believe you even boasted about voting for Roughnecks in the Tulsa World's Name the Team contest along with the entire Energy FC front office.