December 17 (1929)

A crowd of 6,200 sees what is believed to be a first in St. Louis: indoor soccer. The Arena, which opened on Sept. 23, 1929,  plays host to the match, which is the featured game of a doubleheader that opens with a high school football contest. Proceeds benefit a hospital charity. Following East St. Louis High’s 6-0 victory over a St. Louis all-star team in the football game, a squad of all-stars from the professional St. Louis League defeats an aggregation of foreign-born players from southern Illinois, 1-0. The next day’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch describes the soccer and football games as “highly entertaining.” The newspaper lauds the exhibition of short passes, as well as the goalkeeping of the visitors’ Brownie Witunski, in the soccer match. The Post-Dispatch also highlights the biggest issue: too many men on the field. The full outdoor complement of 11 players are on the floor for each team trying to replicate outdoor soccer on the much smaller indoor field. “Many times athletes were cluttered in various spots with nothing to do,” according to the newspaper. “This incidentally aided in tightening the defenses of the two teams and made scoring mighty hard.” The home team bombards Witunski heavily and finally breaks through on a goal by John “Dinty” Moore. Moore knocks in a well-placed cross from Bill Lehman. The newspaper account of the game ends prophetically: “If nothing else, the test showed that indoor soccer, with probably seven men on a team, could be played to advantage during inclement weather.” Almost exactly 50 years later, the St. Louis Steamers of the Major Indoor Soccer League play their first-ever home game at the same facility, playing six-aside soccer, before a sellout crowd of 18,005.