January 31 (1887)

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Shamrocks had a busy but fruitful day of soccer on Jan. 30. The Shamrocks began that Sunday morning with a 2-0 defeat of the St. Louis club at Union Park (Jefferson and Cass avenues), then trimmed “the College,” 2-1, that afternoon at the College. (“The College” likely referred to Christian Brothers College, at that time a school for elementary, high school and college males located at Easton and North Kingshighway.) Against the College, “the Shamrocks played one of the best games of the season which was witnessed by a large attendance,” according to the Post-Dispatch. The Shamrocks, one of St. Louis’s major soccer  teams of the mid-1880s, may have been the first local team to train youth players. By 1887, the Shamrocks were giving “youth clinics” to 50-100 boys on Sundays.