Sept. 24 (1905)

The first visit by an English team to St. Louis severely wounds local pride in how St. Louisans play the game. For the second day in a row, the Pilgrims, a team of British amateurs, obliterate the St. Louis Association Football Players, 6-0, at League Park (later renamed Robison Field), Natural Bridge and Vandeventer. The Englishmen smashed the same St. Louis all-stars, 10-0, the day before at the same stadium. Both games are played immediately following Cardinals’ baseball games before 10,000 fans on Sept 23 and 28,000 on Sept. 24. The crowds witness the visitors’ skillful play overwhelm the physical style typical of St. Louis soccer. “People who saw yesterday’s game now have an improved idea of the sport and how it should be played,” F.S. Codding writes in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the day after the 10-0 shellacking. The crowds also watch one of the top players of the early 1900s, the Pilgrims’ Vivian Woodward. Woodward, an amateur throughout his career, will score 29 goals in 23 appearances for England’s National Team from 1903-1911 and will tally 91 goals in 237 matches for Tottenham and Chelsea from 1901-1915. The Pilgrims’ team is organized strictly to popularize soccer in the United States during tours in 1905 and 1909. The Pilgrims will return to St. Louis in 1909 and will leave with similar results to their two games in 1905: They will win all four of their games in 1909 by a combined score of 31-2. The most important result of the Pilgrims’ two visits will be that many St. Louis teams will adopt the Pilgrims’ skillful playing style and will rely far less on physical antics.