Clark Athletic Association, also known as East Newark Clark A.A., 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 sponsored by the Clark Mile End Spool Cotton Company. It spent two seasons in 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 ...

where it was co-champion in 1909.

History

Name

Clark A.A. was established in May 1906 by employees of the Clark Mile End Spool Cotton Company and Clark FNT. The team first took up baseball. After a successful baseball season, Clark A.A., managed by John C. Savage, began playing the soccer season. The team was built around a core of players from the champion West Hudson A.A. Its first game was on September 3, 1906, a 5-0 win against the Bronx Rangers. The team also took part in the

American Cup The American Cup (also known as the American Football Association Cup and the American Federation Cup) was the first major U.S. soccer competition open to teams beyond a single league. It was first held in 1885. In the 1910s, it gradually dec ...

. While the company factory was located in Newark, on the west bank of the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

, the team played at Clark Field located on the east side of the river, an area known as East Newark. This gave rise to the team’s alternate name, the East Newark Clark A.A.

Competition

In 1906, the team entered the

. They lasted only one season, then dropped out, but in 1907, they won a fourth American Cup. This time they were listed incorrectly as Kearny Clark as many sportswriters frequently confused Kearny and East Newark. In 1908, Clark A.A. rejoined the NAFBL, finishing the season tied for first with West Hudson A.A. Clark again withdrew from the league. They finished runner up in the 1909 American Cup final to the

Paterson True Blues Paterson True Blues was a professional U.S. soccer team founded in 1887 and disestablished after 1915. The True Blues, based out of Paterson, New Jersey, are best known as one of the dominant soccer teams of its era and one of the first U.S. so ...

Year-by-year

Honors

:* Winner (1): 1907 :* Runner Up (1): 1909 League Championship :* Winner (1): 1909

External links

National Association Football League

References

{{Reflist Defunct soccer clubs in New Jersey National Association Football League teams Sports in Hudson County, New Jersey 1906 establishments in New Jersey Association football clubs established in 1906 Works soccer clubs in the United States