William Shamus O'Brien (November 29, 1907 in Neilston, Scotland – November 28, 1981 in Bangor, Maine) was a U.S.-Scottish

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 ...

inside left. During his

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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

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when his father was hired by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. However, the family did not remain in Virginia, but moved to Kearny, New Jersey where O'Brien was immersed in one of the country's most productive soccer regions. He began his career with Ryerson Juniors, winning the 1925 New Jersey state cup. He then briefly moved to Hartley before turning professional in the fall of 1925.

Professional

In 1925, 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 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

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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, another ASL team. Under the new ownership, the Giants became the New York Soccer Club. In the spring of 1931, O'Brien moved to the second

. 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 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 The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a private, non-profit institution established in 1979 and currently located in Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The Hall of Fame honors soccer achievements in the United States. Induction ...

in 1990.

References

External links

National Soccer Hall of Fame profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Shamus 1907 births 1981 deaths People from Neilston Scottish footballers American soccer players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players New York Giants (soccer) players New York Nationals (ASL) players New York Soccer Club players New York Giants (soccer, 1930–1932) players New York Americans (soccer) (1933–1956) players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Scottish emigrants to the United States Kearny Irish players National Soccer Hall of Fame members People from Kearny, New Jersey Scottish people of Irish descent Association football forwards Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate footballers Sportspeople from East Renfrewshire