A Soccer Christmas Story, written by David Lange, details the historical events surrounding the growth of soccer in St. Louis and the first international soccer match to occur in the United States. Canada scheduled Lange also notes that it would be the first international match outside of England known during that time. I knew that soccer was not a popular game in the United States during the late 19th century, but I had not realized it was quite popular among immigrant groups in cities across the country. St. Louis had five major soccer teams by the mid–1880s. The Irish-American Hibernians and Shamrocks, the Scottish-American Thistles, the St. Louis Football Club and the German-American Westerns. The Canadians scheduled three games in St. Louis on Dec. 25, 27 and 28. I also had not realized that the Canadians were quite skilled in soccer. Lange wrote, “The Canadians demolished the Thistles, 9-0, on Christmas Day and defeated a team formed from the Thistles and another local club, the Hibernians, 5-3 on Dec. 28.”
Lange also details the beginnings of soccer in Canada. “Any discussion of soccer in Canada begins with David Forsyth. “The Father of Canadian Soccer” arrived in Canada less than a year after his birth in Scotland in 1852. “Forsyth not only initiated every significant soccer happening in the first 20 years or so of soccer’s birth in Canada, he participated in most of those milestone events,” Les Jones wrote in 2013’s Soccer: Canada’s National Sport.” This marked soccer’s initial small rise in popularity in the U.S., as it grew in St. Louis.
While the Canadians beat the teams from St. Louis, their character and sportsmanship were noted during their victory. They spoke highly of the two defeated American teams, and Forsyth announced a prediction that soccer was sure to grow in size after these games. Lange does a great job detailing the scores and circumstances surrounding the games, which leads to a very informative piece of media surrounding the beginning of international soccer in North America.
