Andy Stevens (born in England) was an English-Canadian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

center forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring Goal (sport)#Association footbal ...

who began and ended his career in Canada but also spent six seasons in the American Soccer League. He was a two time league leading scorer with the ASL and was a member of the

Canada Soccer Hall of Fame The Canada Soccer Hall of Fame honours people and institutions for their contributions to Canadian soccer. It was founded in 1997 by the Ontario Soccer Association and was originally located in Vaughan, Ontario. As of 2019, the Canada Soccer Hal ...

's 2006 Team of Distinction, the 1933 Toronto Scottish. In 2017, as part of the "Legends Class" he was elected to the Hall of Fame as an individual player.

Professional career

Stevens, born in north-east England, came to Canada in 1905. In 1920, he left Canada to sign with

Pullman F.C. Pullman F.C. was one of the dominant American soccer teams of the early twentieth century. Established in 1893 as the Pullman Company team, it was an inaugural member of the Chicago League of Association Football before moving to the Association ...

in Chicago. By 1923, he was back in Canada where he briefly played for Toronto Willys Overland and Toronto Scottish before joining Detroit F.C that year. In 1924, he Stevens signed with the

Boston Soccer Club The Boston Soccer Club was a member of the American Soccer League. They were renamed the Boston Bears for the Fall 1929 ASL season. In 1925, the ASL and the St. Louis Soccer League (SLSL) boycotted the National Challenge Cup, now known as the ...

of the American Soccer League. Boston transferred him to the New Bedford Whalers just over halfway through the season. Stevens led the ASL in scoring twice: 1925-1926 (44 goals) and 1927-1928 (30 goals). Stevens remained with the Whalers until 1928–1929 season, but left the team after fifteen games to sign with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

of the Eastern Professional Soccer League. With the merger of the ESL and ASL in 1929, several teams from the ESL petitioned for entry into the new league. New York Hispano, of the ESL, moved to

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

under the new name Bridgeport Hungaria. The team ownership hired Stevens to coach the team. In March 1930, Hungaria folded ten games into the season. Stevens then moved to the New York Nationals for the last few games of the season. The Nationals folded at the end of the season and Stevens returned to Canada where he joined Toronto Scottish. He won the Canadian championship in 1932 with Scottish. On June 11, 1933, Toronto Scottish met Stix, Baer and Fuller F.C., the reigning

National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

champion in a one time North American Soccer Championship. Toronto took the game 2–1. Stevens served in the Canadian Army in World War Two.

Managerial career

In 1947 he became coach of Toronto East End Canadians in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

and in 1950 of Toronto Oakwoods.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Andy British emigrants to Canada Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Toronto Ulster United players Toronto Scottish players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Boston Soccer Club players New Bedford Whalers players Bridgeport Hungaria players New York Nationals (ASL) players Eastern Professional Soccer League (1928–29) players New York Giants (soccer) players 1968 deaths 1901 births Canadian National Soccer League players Men's association football forwards