Neilston
Neilston ( sco, Neilstoun, gd, Baile Nèill, ) is a village and parish in East Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the Levern Valley, southwest of Barrhead, south of Paisley, and south-southwest of Renfrew, at t ...
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
) was a
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
inside left
Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...
. During his Hall of Fame career, O'Brien spent eight seasons in the first American Soccer League and another five in the second American Soccer League.
Youth
While born in Scotland, O'Brien's family immigrated to the United States when he was eleven. They initially settled in Newport News, Virginia when his father was hired by the
Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...
. However, the family did not remain in Virginia, but moved to
Kearny, New Jersey
Kearny ( ) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Newark. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 40,684,New York Giants of the American Soccer League signed O'Brien. In 1928, the Giants, along with two other teams from the ASL, were suspended from the league for playing National Challenge Cup matches. The suspension was part of the Soccer Wars which pitted the ASL and the U.S. Soccer Football Association for control of professional soccer in the U.S. When the ASL boycotted the National Cup, the Giants defied the league and played its games anyway, leading to its suspension. USSFA then assisted the three suspended ASL clubs to merge with several teams from the Southern New York Soccer Association to form the
Eastern Soccer League
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
* Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
* Eastern Air ...
. O'Brien and the Giants played the 1928–29 season in the ESL before returning to the ASL in the fall of 1929. However, he also played one game with the New York Nationals. In 1930 the owner of the Giants was forced to sell the club as he also owned
New York Hakoah
New York Hakoah is an American soccer club based in New York City, which takes its name from two earlier, defunct clubs.
''Hakoah'' (roughly translated as "strength" from Hebrew) is a frequent name for sport and social Jewish clubs around the wor ...
, another ASL team. Under the new ownership, the Giants became the
New York Soccer Club New York Soccer Club ( Youth Soccer Team ) was the name of a New York soccer team that, in 1930, played briefly in the American Soccer League.
In 1923, New York fur merchant Maurice Vandeweghe - the father and grandfather of later basketball stars ...
. In the spring of 1931, O'Brien moved to the second New York Giants. This version of the Giants was in no way related to the earlier Giants. This Giants team folded at the end of the 1931–32 season and O'Brien moved to the
New York Americans
The New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks, were a professional ice hockey team based in New York City from 1925 to 1942. They were the third expansion team in the history of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the second to play ...
. The first American Soccer League finally collapsed in 1933, to be replaced by the second ASL. With the change in league, O'Brien left the Americans to sign with the Kearny Irish Americans in 1933. The Irish-Americans won the 1933–34 league titles before becoming known as the Kearny Irish. O'Brien retired from playing professionally in 1938.
Although selected for the United States team to compete in the first World Cup, he had to decline the offer because at that time he was not a U.S. citizen.
O'Brien was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1990.