The Brooklyn Wanderers was a U.S.

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 ...

team which was a founding member of the

National Association Football League The National Association Football League (also spelled ''National Association Foot Ball League'') (NAFBL) was a semi-professional U.S. soccer league which operated between 1895 and 1898. The league was reconstituted in 1906 and continued to oper ...

in the late nineteenth century. Later versions joined the original American Soccer League and the reorganized American Soccer League.

Brooklyn Wanderers (1895–1899, 1912–1913)

History

In December 1894 the Wanderers were a key part of the formation of the

. The league suspended operations in 1899. The team's competitive record then becomes difficult to follow as it appears to have operated as an independent club. In September 1901, it lost to the Bayonne Rangers during a

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

sports carnival. In 1906, a member of the Wanderers acted as a referee in a game between Critchleys and Brooklyn Thistle. This rare reference to the Wanderers is significant in that Critchley's outside right

Nat Agar Nathan "Nat" Agar (July 26, 1887 – June 24, 1978) was an English-American soccer player, coach, referee, team owner and league executive. He was part of the formation of the United States Football Association, but later fought it as a team owne ...

(listed as Agot) later owned the Wanderers. In 1912, the Wanderers rejoined the NAFBL, but withdrew only six games into the season. Several of the players then jumped to Brooklyn F.C.

Year-by-year

Brooklyn Wanderers (1922–1931)

History

In 1922, the Bay Ridge F.C. fielded two clubs that fall. One continued under the Bay Ridge F.C. name in the First Division of the amateur

New York State Association Football League New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

and another was a reorganized Brooklyn Wanderers F.C. that was created to play in the newly-formed semi-pro New Jersey State Soccer League. The home pitch for both teams was Hawthorne Field. The Wanderers played a handful of games in the New Jersey State League and three

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 ...

matches from mid-September through the first week of November in 1922. Then, on November 12 at a special meeting of the American Soccer League, the Wanderers were admitted (a month into the season) as the league's eighth club, belatedly replacing the Todd Shipyards F.C. that had left the league and disbanded during the off-season. During its years in the ASL, the Wanderers played at Hawthorne Field, a dedicated soccer stadium owned by Agar. In 1926, Béla Guttmann briefly played for the team. Joseph Siegman (2020)
''Jewish Sports Legends; The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame''
/ref> After the 1925/26 ASL season the Wanderers, 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 ...

and the

New Bedford Whalers New Bedford Whalers was the name of three American soccer teams based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The first Whalers played in the Southern New England Soccer League between 1914 and 1918. The second Whalers played in the American Soccer League ...

joined with four top Canadian clubs to form the one-off

International Soccer League The International Soccer League was a U.S.-based soccer league which was formed in 1960 and collapsed in 1965. The League, affiliated with the American Soccer League, featured guest teams primarily from Europe and some from Asia, South America, C ...

held that summer and early fall. The Wanderers won the season championship, but lost to

Toronto Ulster United Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

in the final of the league's Nathan Strauss Cup. The Wanderers folded after the 1931 Spring season, the first half of the ASL 1931 season.

Year-by-year

Brooklyn Wanderers (1932–1933)

The third Brooklyn Wanderers was also a member of the American Soccer League. The club joined the league before the fall 1932 season and stayed through the disintegration of the league in the spring of 1933.

Year-by-year

Brooklyn Wanderers (1942–1949)

The fourth Brooklyn Wanderers was a member of the reformed American Soccer League. Suffering financial trouble, the franchise was bought by the owners of Hakoah A.C. two games into the 1948/49 season. Hakoah left the National League to join the ASL and carried on from the Wanderers' loss and tie.

Year-by-year

References

{{Reflist Men's soccer clubs in New York (state) Defunct soccer clubs in New York City National Association Football League teams American Soccer League (1921–1933) teams American Soccer League (1933–1983) teams Defunct sports clubs and teams in New York City Sports in Brooklyn Sports clubs and teams in New York City