The Association Foot Ball League was a

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 ...

league based in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, that existed from 1890 until 1910.

History

In 1889, several St. Louis teams banded together to form a citywide league formed under the name of the St. Louis Foot-Ball Association."Foot-Ball Association". (November 1, 1889). ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', p.2 col.5 The Kensingtons were the surprise winners of the first two league titles. Most of the Kensington players were local high school players, but the brilliant play of goalkeeper Jumbo Trimble led the team to victory. In 1892, Blue Bells, composed mostly of Scottish railroad workers emerged as the team to beat. In 1893, the Sodality League emerged as a rival league. Composed of teams formed from local Roman Catholic Sodalities, this league included the first St. Teresa club. In 1894 and 1895, the champions from both leagues played for the city title. St. Teresa won both years. In 1895, the Sodality League merged with the Association Foot Ball League, bringing in St. Teresa which promptly won the league title. In 1897, violent play on the part of St. Teresa led to a one-year suspension from the league. In 1907, the

St. Louis Soccer League The St. Louis Soccer League was based in St. Louis, Missouri and existed from 1915 to 1938. At its founding, it was the only fully professional soccer league in the United States. The league was founded from two teams from the St. Louis Soccer F ...

was established as a rival to the AFBL. In 1908, the best players in the AFBL moved to the SLSL, but the AFBL continued to operate as a lower level, amateur league until 1910.

Champions

External links

St. Louis City Champions

References

{{Soccer in St. Louis, state=collapsed Soccer in St. Louis Defunct soccer leagues in the United States