Brooklyn Wanderers

The Brooklyn Wanderers was a U.S. soccer team which was a founding member of the National Association Football League in the late nineteenth century. It later joined the American Soccer League.

Contents

Brooklyn Wanderers I

History

In December 1894 the Wanderers were a key part of the formation of the National Association Football League.[1] 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 sports carnival.[2] In 1906, a member of the Wanderers acted as a referee in a game between Critchleys and Brooklyn Thistle.[3] This rare reference to the Wanderers is significant in that Critchley's outside right Nat Agar (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.[4] In 1922, the Wanderers, now owned by Agar, joined the American Soccer League which had been formed in 1921 by the merger of the NAFBL and the Southern New England Soccer League. During its years in the ASL, the Wanderers played at Hawthorne Field, a dedicated soccer stadium owned by Agar.[5] After the 1925/26 ASL season the Wanderers, the Boston Wonder Workers and the New Bedford Whalers joined with four top Canadian clubs to form the one-off International Soccer League held that summer and early fall. The Wanderers won the season championship, but lost to Toronto Ulster United 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

Year Division League Reg. Season Playoffs National Cup
1895 N/A NAFBL 3rd No playoff N/A
1895/96 N/A NAFBL ? No playoff N/A
1896/97 N/A NAFBL  ? No playoff N/A
1897/98 N/A NAFBL 6th No playoff N/A
1898/99 N/A NAFBL  ? No playoff N/A
1912/13 N/A NAFBL Withdrew No playoff N/A
1922/23 1 ASL 4th No playoff First round
1923/24 1 ASL 5th No playoff Third round
1924/25 1 ASL 3rd No playoff Did not enter
1925/26 1 ASL 7th No playoff Second round
1926 N/A ISL 1st Champion (no playoff) N/A
1926/27 1 ASL 7th No playoff Third round
1927/28 1 ASL 4th (1st half); 8th (2nd half) Did not qualify Quarterfinals
1928/29 1 ASL 2nd (1st half); 5th (2nd half) No playoff ?
Fall 1929 1 ASL 7th No playoff N/A
1930 1 ACL/ASL 9th (Spring); 7th (Fall) No playoff Third round
1931 1 ASL 2nd (Spring) No playoff N/A

Notable players

Brooklyn Wanderers II

The second 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

Year Division League Reg. Season Playoffs National Cup
Fall 1932 1 ASL 5th No playoff N/A
Spring 1933 1 ASL ? ? First round

Brooklyn Wanderers III

The third Brooklyn Wanderers was a member of the reformed American Soccer League.

Suffering financial trouble, the team was sold one game into the 1948/49 season and was renamed the Brooklyn Hakoah by the new management.

Year-by-year

Year Division League Reg. Season Playoffs National Cup
1942/43 N/A ASL 4th No playoff ?
1943/44 N/A ASL 2nd No playoff ?
1944/45 N/A ASL 3rd No playoff ?
1945/46 N/A ASL 4th No playoff ?
1946/47 N/A ASL 2nd No playoff ?
1947/48 N/A ASL 3rd No playoff ?
1948/49 N/A ASL Played one game N/A N/A

Notable players

References