Nov. 3 (1907)

The St. Louis Soccer Football League plays its first games, beginning a 31-year run of professional soccer in St. Louis. About 2,000 fans watch a doubleheader at Athletic Park, a new facility at Garrison and North Market streets. St. Teresa of St. Louis tops the Thistles, composed mostly of players from Benld, Ill,, 3-0, in the opening match. The other game ends in a 2-2 draw between Innisfails and St. Mathews, both of St. Louis. Innisfails will finish first and St. Mathews will come in second in the 1907-08 season. Soccer leagues operated in St. Louis as early as October 1884, but the St. Louis Soccer Football League pays players out of gate receipts. A good crowd could result in a player making more money than players in England, where wages were capped at four pounds per week. The St. Louis Soccer Football League will experience a mutiny of two teams who will leave to form a new league, also called the St. Louis League, for the 1913-14 season. Confusion reigns for two seasons until the leagues merge into one for the 1915-16 season. The new St. Louis Soccer League, usually with four teams playing Sunday doubleheaders primarily at Sportsman’s Park, will continue until 1938. While amateur leagues will continue to flourish, St. Louis will be without a pro league until the four-team St. Louis Major League (SLML) begins in 1947. Considered a “semi-pro” league, the St. Louis Major League will last until 1953. SLML players were paid “six dollars if we won, four if we tied, and two if we lost,” according to U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Harry Keough, an SLML player.