February 28 (1923)

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the professional St. Louis League has voted to wear numbers on their jerseys, a relatively new practice in soccer. Although the newspaper writes that “it will be several weeks before the innovation is put into practice,” one team, the Hoovers, says it will wear numbers the following Sunday in its St. Louis League match with the Ben Millers. Future U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame journalist Dent McSkimming will not mention that the Hoovers wore numbers in his Post-Dispatch game report on March 5. Another St. Louis League team, Scullin Steel, will wear numbers in its National Challenge Cup final on April 1, 1923, against the Patterson (N.J.) Football Club in Harrison, N.J. Jersey numbers are relatively new in soccer in the 1920s. Although historians date the start of the practice to 1911 in Australia, they were not worn in English club soccer until 1928. The amateur Muny League in St. Louis planned to identify players by numbers in the league’s first championship game on March 23, 1913, but no photos that show players wearing numbers in the match are known to exist.