OUR Full STORY 

1857 to 1957

A.E. “Tiny” Thombs – Born: Henley, England, 1882.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, September 30, 1957.  Forward. Tiny, as he was always known, was a star in Hamilton soccer during the early years of the 1900s. While still living in England he received some flattering offers from some of the professional clubs to play for them, but chose to come to Canada and Hamilton where he played most of his career with the great Westinghouse team.  For many years Thombs was without equal in Canada as an outside left and he played for Hamilton against the Pilgrims in 1905, Corinthians in 1906 and the Corinthians again in 1911, scoring in all three games. He also played for Ontario and for a Canadian all-star team against a Scottish F.A. team in Montreal in 1921. If there had been a Canadian national team in those days he would almost certainly have played for Canada.  Tiny was a member of the Westinghouse team that won the Ontario Cup in 1911, 1912 and 1920 and also the Canadian championship in 1920. In 1924 the City of Hamilton showed it’s appreciation by staging a testimonial game in his honour.

Herbert Pogson – Born: Leeds, Yorkshire, England, 1896.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, November 17, 1949.  A member of the Canadian national team that toured New Zealand in 1927 Pogson played at first for the Hamilton Independent Labour Party team which later changed its named to Hamilton City.  Herb Pogson came to Hamilton at the age of 17 and served with the 173rd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War, winning the Military Medal for bravery in action .  In World War Two he was with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders with the rank of sergeant-major. An employee of the Eaton Knitting Company for 30 years. Pogson won Hamilton Spectator Cup medals in 1922 with Independent Labour Party and in 1928 and 1929 with Hamilton City.  An inside or centre forward he played for Hamilton All-Stars against a touring English F.A. team in 1926.

Joseph “Joe” Campbell Newton D.C .M. – Born: Alexandra, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, 1887.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, January 15, 1944. Centre Half.  Joe Newton emigrated to Canada at the age of 19 and came to live in Hamilton and had played for Dumbarton Oakdale before coming to Canada.  He was a member of the great Westinghouse team that won the Ontario Cup in 1911 and 1912 and lost in the final of the 1909 competition. He also helped Westinghouse win the Spectator Cup in 1908, 1909, 1911 and 1912.  Joe was said to have been a fearless a powerful player and a fine tackler. He was a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War One and was recommended for the Victoria Cross for crawling to within 12 yards of the front line and carrying a badly wounded officer back to his own lines.  His bravery was recognized by the awarding of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The same act won for him the Montenegrin medal, one of those awarded by the King of Montenegro for bravery amongst allied troops. For the last 20 years of his life he was employed in Hamilton by the Tuckett Tobacco Company.

Arthur Wilfred Cartwright – Born: England, 1893.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, August 12, 1944.  Arthur Cartwright came to Canada in 1923 and played centre half for Canada against the United States in Brooklyn, New York in 1925.  He played his club soccer for Hamilton Independent Labour Party in 1923 and Hamilton City in 1924 and 1925. He was killed at Dofasco when he was struck by an iron block attached to a crane and died before medical attention could be summoned.

Dr. Henry Hampton Pirie – Born: Dundas, Ontario, 1864.  Died: Dundas, Ontario, December 13, 1943.  A graduate of Arts and Medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, he played soccer in his college days and also played for Canada against the United States in East Newark, New Jersey in 1886.  He also toured the British Isles with the great Canadian team of 1888 playing against Scotland in Glasgow. After graduating from Queens he served as a medical practitioner in Costa Rica for many years, before returning home to Dundas, where he engaged in such sports as lawn bowling, golf and curling.  During the depression in the 1930s, Dr. Pirie served his community well in connection with the administration of relief.

Courtesy of  Colin Jose – Colin has been researching the history of the game in Canada and the United States by working with the micro-film of old newspapers.

Administrators

Arthur Arnold – Born: Wolverhampton, England.  Died: Burlington, Ontario, February 16, 1969. One of the longest serving administrators in Canadian soccer history. Secretary of Hamilton City in 1929 and not long after began a long association with the National Soccer League, becoming president in 1935 and again in the 1950s, while at the same time president of the Ontario Football Association (OFA).  Appointed by the Dominion of Canada Football Association (DCFA), todays Canadian Soccer Association, in 1948 to the Ontario Soccer Commission, with the task or re-organizing soccer in Ontario following World War Two.  He did such a good job that he became President of the Ontario Football Association from 1951 to 1957 in the turbulent years following the war. In declining the nomination to the presidency at the 1958 OFA meeting he told the delegates “no man was more attacked or belittled than I was and I just couldn’t go on for another 12 months.  Later in the meeting the delegates made him a life member. However, he went on to become president of the Football Association of Canada (FAC) in 1957-58, an honour denied him the previous year. Arthur Arnold owned and operated a steel fabricating plant that used to be located at 154 McNab Street South in Hamilton. He was known to everyone in the Hamilton soccer community as “Pop” Arnold.

William Edward Dean – Born: Westbury-on-Severn, England, 1872.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, November 27, 1944. President of the Ontario Football Association in 1921, 1923, 1924 and 1925.  A life member of the Ontario and Canadian Football (Soccer) Associations. Refereed the game between a Canadian All-Star team and a Scottish F.A. touring team in Montreal in 1921.  President of the Hamilton and District Soccer Association in 1933, 1934 and 1935. Owned and operated a shoe store in east end Hamilton for 30 years.

Samuel Clarke – Born: England, 1873.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, December 12, 1947.  President of the Ontario Football Association 1916-17. Popular former Alderman in the City of  Hamilton from 1929 until 1934 and from 1941 to 1943. Came to Canada from England in 1906 and in 1916 took over as manager of the Hamilton Spectator Branch No 4, Barton Street, East.  President of the Hamilton and District Soccer Association in 1916, 1917, 1918 and 1919. His store became a rendezvous for people from the British Isles and he sold British newspapers.  For many years he also wrote a soccer column for the Spectator.

Herbert Hall – Born: Manchester, England, 1877.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, January 10, 1941.  President of the Ontario Football (Soccer) Association from 1931 to 1936 and the Hamilton and District Soccer Association in 1928, 1929 and 1930.  A printer by trade he served an apprenticeship for seven and a half years working under his father at the Manchester Evening News. In 1902 he was in South Africa, and enlisted in the British Army for service in the Boar War.  However peace was declared immediately after his enlistment. He came to Hamilton in 1904 and worked for three different Hamilton papers, the Times, the Herald and the Spectator. He was a charter member of the Hamilton Lions Club and served as president in 1936 and 1937.

William Donaldson – Born: Stevenston, Scotland, 1873.  Died: Hamilton, Ontario, January 7, 1942.  President of the Ontario Football (Soccer) Association 1918-19 and first vice-president in 1917, 1918 and 1919. Secretary-Treasurer of the Hamilton and District Soccer Association from 1917 to 1936.

The years between 1920 and the outbreak of World War II in 1939 are often referred to as the Golden Years of soccer in North America. In both Canada and the United States the game blossomed as never before or since. With the end of the first World War, immigrants from Britain poured into Canada bringing with them their love of the game. Teams sprang up everywhere, some formed by returning soldiers who had fought in the famous battles of Vimy Ridge on the Somme and at Ypres.

The decade of the 1920’s started off with a bang as a team comprised of some of the most famous players in Scotland toured Canada from coast to coast and then ended up playing in the United States. Hamilton, as was the custom, was one of the stopping off points on the tour. On May 26, 1921 the touring Scots easily defeated a team made up of the best players in Hamilton 6-0, with the great Andy Wilson scoring four goals for the Scots as 8,0000 Hamiltonians looked on.

Later that year the Inter-Cities league, made up of teams from Hamilton and Toronto, was formed and began play in 1922. Westinghouse, Independent Labour Party, Thistles and Tigers were the teams from Hamilton admitted to the league. Soon after the Independent Labour Party team changed its name to Hamilton City.

The National League was a professional league and for a while Thistles changed its name to Hamilton Pro’s. Later Hamilton City were admitted to the league along with a team known as the Corinthians.

In 1926 Hamilton received a visit from a team representing the English Football Association. A crowd of 8,999 were on hand to see the game in which the Football Association team won 3-0.. One year later the Scottish F.A. team was back for the second time and won 6-1 with ‘Rocky Munro scoring Hamilton’s lone goal.

That same year brought a visit from the famous Vienna Hakoah team made up entirely of  Jeswish players. Champions of Austria in the 1924-1925 season, this team had caught the imagination of soccer fans in the United States the year before and set a record attendance for a soccer game south of the border when 46,000 showed up to see them play in New York. Playing in Hamilton on their second tour Hakoah were held to a 2-2 tie by a Hamilton all-star team. In that same year, the famous American club Bethlehem Steel also played in Hamilton and defeated the All Stars 3-4.

There were 40 soccer teams operating in Hamilton in 1928. In addition, there was a league in the separate schools as well as in the public schools. The schoolboys also played ‘internationals’ against one another as the seniors had been doing for many years. In these games players on English, Scottish and Irish ethnic background played against one another, while those who were born in Canada formed their own team. As a result of the number of teams and games the availability of suitable grounds became a problem and to overcome this problem double-headers were staged.

During these years the standard of the game and interest in the game was at an all-time high and there is no doubt that the school systems were producing some excellent players. One in particular caught the eye and was to become one of the most famous sportsmen that this city has ever produced. Robert McDonald learned the game in the school system and in the junior teams of the Thistles club, before graduating to the senior ranks. In 1928 he was signed by the world famous Scottish team Glasgow Rangers. McDonald went on to make a name for himself in Scotland winning numerous Scottish F.A. Cup and League Championship medals.

Not to be outdone by the English and the Scots, the Welsh Football Association sent a team to tour Canada in 1929. As usual one game was scheduled to be played in Hamilton. This turned out to be a very close encounter with the Welshmen winning by a narrow margin of 1-0. As a result of the Welshmen agreed to play a second game in Hamilton on their return from the west coast.

The second game turned out to be just as close as the first and was decided on a penalty kick and an own goal to give Wales a  2-0 win. However, Bob Reyburn writing in the Hamilton Spectator credits the spectacular goalkeeping to Gray in the Welsh goal for keeping Hamilton of f the score sheet..

There was also one notable and unfortunate incident in this game that is recalled in history books around the world and it involved the famous Welsh full back Moses Russell. Reports claim that near the end of the first half Russell kicked George chambers, the Hamilton centre forward, who fell as if badly hurt. Reyburn takes up the storey. “The next instant hundreds of wild-eyed fans invaded the field. It was hard to tell what happened during the milling,. but it was apparent that someone had either kicked or struck Russell for he had to be carried off the field, as also had Champers”.

Russell did not return, Champers did and in the days when there were no substitutes Wales played with ten men throughout the second half. However, reports of the incident in Welsh publication tell a different story. In a book titled “100 Years of Welsh Soccer” by Peter Corrigan, it is stated that. “… at one stage the crowd invaded the pitch to surround Moses Russell. It was not a situation that would have daunted the formidable Moses but even he backed away when one of the crowd drew a pistol from his belt”.

Later in 1929 events that had nothing to do with soccer were to have a major impact on the game during the 1930’s. The infamous Wall Street Crashes that led to the Great Depression was to have far reaching effects on soccer, no only in Hamilton, but also in the United States where it killed the flourishing professional league.

At first it had little effect in Hamilton where in 1930 two Scottish First Division teams, Glasgow Rangers and Kilmarnock both paid a visit.. Rangers, captained for the day by McDonald, met his old club Hamilton Thistles, captained by his brother “Red”. Rangers were never extended and won 3 0 . On the other hand Kilmarnock, who followed Ranges into the city, defeated Hamilton City 6-0 and Thistles 4-1., Thistles meanwhile won the Ontario Cup defeating Toronto Scottish in the final.

On the local scene ,Thistles and City dominated, the one (Thistles) essentially a Scottish club the other (City) mainly English. The sometimes bitter rivalry started in the early 1920’s and continued up until the outbreak of war in 1939. Between 1926 and 1939 City won the Spectator Cup eight times and Thistles three times, but more often than not the two National League teams clashed in the finals. The only real opposition locally came from the Branford Cockshutts, who were members of the Hamilton and District Association, and from the team run by the Steel Company of Canada.

The Football Association of England sent a team to tour Canada for the second time in 1931 and by this time the effects of the economic depression were being felt as only 3,000 fans showed up to see the Englishmen demolish the local all stars by a score of 8-0.

The procession of British teams to Canada had been broken in 1927 by the visit of Vienna Hakoah. It was broken again in 1933 when the Chilean First Division club, Audax Italiano from the capital city of Santiago, paid a visit. On a long tour which had taken them up through South and Central America and then into the United States, the team often played twice in one day.

Once again Bob Reybyurn takes up the story. Commenting on the visitors he writes. “In midfield play they were much superior to the local all-stars .Crisp, short and accurate ground passes – always the hallmark of excellence –  featured the visitor’s play, but in this regard the Hamilton boys sowed they were not so very far behind”. The game ended in a 1-1 tie which is said to have flattered Hamilton.

By now the depression was seriously affecting the lives of millions of people and in Hamilton many of the better player left the city to work in the one place there seemed to be work, the mines around Subdury and Timmins. Amongst them was Matt Dunn, who had been the key to the Thistle club for some years. Dunn signed for Kirkland Lake.

 Once again Reyburn’s comments describe the situation in the Hamilton Spectator of December 15, 1934. “No sport has been harder hit by the depression that soccer. It was among the first to feel the blow that send hundreds of players and officials to join the ranks of the unemployed. There was no comparison between 1929, the peak year, and 1934. Soccer took a back seat to no summer sport five or six years ago, and long before that”,

The bright spot in the summer of 1935 was the visit of another team representing the Scottish F.A. This star-studded aggregation included such legends of the game as Davie Meiklejohn and Tommy Walker and the party included McDonald, once again captain for the day. This team ran rings around the local boys winning 10-1 before 3,253 fans.

In 1936, Thistles won the league championship of the Western Division of the National League, thus becoming the first Hamilton team to do so. As the wase clouds were gathering in 1939, Hamilton City won the Ontario Cup defeating Toronto Scottish in the two-game final. The championship of Ontario, dominated for the most part by Toronto teams, had been won in 1920 by Westinghouse, in 1930 by Thistles and then in 1939 by City.

This win marked the end of an era and led into the turbulent was years which saw hundreds of allied airmen arrive at Mount Hope for training. Most of them were British and naturally they formed soccer teams, the RAF Blues and Golds, who both competed in the local league. The Blues carried off the Spectator Cup in 1942 and 1943 and appeared in the final in 1941.

The 1940’s also saw the passing of three men who had played major roles in the administration of soccer in Hamilton for many years. Billy Donaldson had been secretary-treasurer of the Hamilton and District Association for 20 years, the president of the Ontario Football Association in the 1918-19 season and the Ontario delegate to the Dominion of Canada Football Association in 1923, 1924 and 1925.

Billy Dean, a former city alderman in Ward Eight , had refereed the game between the touring Scots and a team representing Canada in Montreal in 1921. He had also been President of the Ontario Football Association in that same year and from 1923 to1925. Sam Clarke had also been a city alderman in Ward Seven and owned and operated a store on Barton Street that sold British newspapers. At times, he also wrote a soccer column for the Spectator. Sam was President of the Ontario Football Association during 1916-17 and involved in the administration of soccer in Hamiloton for many years.

As time went by the Inter-Cities admitted two teams from Montreal and the name of the league was changed to Inter-Provincial. By that time only thistles and Hamilton City remained in the loop. When the National League came into being in 1926. Thistles were admitted and City were not.

The beginning of the 1960’s saw a Hamilton team enter the newly formed Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League (ECPSL). This venture, beginning in 1961, was the first serious attempt to form a top-class professional soccer league in Canada. In addition to the Hamilton team, known as the Steelers, the other teams in the ICPSL were Toronto City, Toronto Italia, and Montreal Cantalia. Toronto City were the league’s glamour franchise importing such famous players as English internationals ‘Sir’ Stanley Matthews and Johnny Haynes, Irish international Danny Blanchflower and Scottish international Jackie Mudie, for part of the season.

The opening game of the season between Toronto City and Toronto Italia drew a crowd of 16,509 to Toronto’s Varsity Stadium, while 8,000 showed up at the then Civic Stadium on June 4 for Hamilton’s home opener against Toronto City. The average wage for imported players in that season was said to be $125 a week with the star players like Matthews earning $400 per week. The average ticket price was $1.50.

President of the league was Harold Ballard, later to become the owner of the Toronto Maple Leaf hockey club. Later in that first season, on September 6, 1961, Ballard is quoted in the Toronto Globe and Mail as saying: ‘ We are in big-time soccer and I believe in the next five years soccer will become the major summer sport in Canada’. Unfortunately, Mr Ballard was wrong. Oddly enough, Steve Stavro, who owned the Toronto City franchise, took over from Mr Ballard as the top man at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Steelers remained in operation in the ECPSL from 1961 to 1964 before the franchise was sold and changed its name to Hamilton Primos for the 1965 and 1966 seasons, after which the ECPSL, like so many of its predecessors, folded in a flood of red ink. However, before that time the Primos reached the ECPSL final in 1965 losing to Toronto Italia. After the collapse of the ECPSL. Primos carried on for one more season, playing in, and winning the National Soccer League regular season schedule.

Two members of the Primos,goalkeeper Dick Howard and winger Johnny Kerr, were later to make names for themselves with the Canadian national team and in the North American Soccer League, Howard with the Rochester Lancers and Toronto Metros and Kerr with Detroit Cougars and Washington Darts. Kerr later headed the NASL Player Association.

A Hamilton referee of that era, Alex Weir, was named to the Canadian list of FIFA referees, the highest honour an official can attain. Weir was then chosen to the panel of referees who would handle the Pan American Games held in Winnipeg in 1967.

Through the 1960’s and 1970’s the ethnic makeup of the local game shows in the winners of the Spectator Cup. Croatia Sports Club, Superga Alemannia, Italio-Canadians and Serbians all won the Cup along with Burlington United and Hamilton Legion. A key member of the Superga team when it won the Spectator Cup in 1966 was Frank Donlavey, who’s playing career had also included a spell with the famous New York Cosmos of the NASL,. Donlavey later went on to make a name for himself as coach of the national youth team.

The first serious attempt at forming a coast-to-coast professional soccer league across North America took place in 1967. The National Professional Soccer League and the United Soccer Association were in opposition to one another, but eventually merged to form the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1968. Neither of the three leagues included a Hamilton team.

Growth in interest in the professional game, spurred by the ECPSL and the NASL, brought with it a corresponding growth at the grassroots level. Minor soccer boomed and for the first time since the 1920’s Canada started producing top-class players of its own. Among them were Hamilton’s Kevin Grant and John McGrane.

Early in the 1980’s Hamilton was one of the cities hosting games in what was known as the Red Leaf Cup, the firal between the Italian club Ascoli and Glasgow Rangers being played at Ivor Wynne Stadium, with Ascoli winning 2-0.

The second edition of the Hamilton Steelers was formed in 1981 by Mario DiBartolemeo and won the National Soccer League championship in the team’s first year before joining the disastrous Canadian Professional Soccer League in 1983. The CPSL did not complete its season and the league lasted about three months.

But by this time another power had appeared in local soccer , Dundas United. The Valley Town, with its long soccer history dating back to the early 1800’s had placed one player H Pirie on the Canadian team that toured Britain as far back as 1888. Dundas, in the modern era, won the spectator Cup in 1979, 1980, 1986 and 1989 and the Ontario Cup in 1984. Dundas’ great rivals in the 1980’s were Hamilton Serbians, but it was United who became the third local team to reach the final of the national championship.

Unfortunately , Dundas who qualified for the nationals final after winning the Ontario Cup, had to travel the 4,500 kilometres to Victoria, B.C. to compete in the national playoffs. Their semi-final opponents were Dartmouth Oland, who they beat 2-1, but in the final they faced Victoria West for whom it was a home game and were narrowly beaten 1-0.

 Two years later it was the Steelers who reached the national finals played in Rock Hill, Sherbrooke, Quebec. The field was a disgrace, but the Hamilton team overcame the conditions to defeat Vancouver Croatia 1-0 on a late goal by Billy Johnstone and bring the championship to Hamilton for the first time since 1920.

The following year the Steelers entered the newly-formed Candian Soccer League. Playing in the same league were Galgary Kickers, Edmonton Brickmen , North York Rockets, Ottaswa National Capital Pioneers, Toronto Blizzard, Vancouver 86’ers and Winnipeg Fury. The Steelers reached their final only to lose 2-1 to Calgary to Calgary.

It proved the start of a very familiar pattern as the Steelers reached the final in each of the next three seasons only to lose each time. Hamilton were beaten by Vancouver 86’ers in 1988 (4-1), 1989 (3-2) and 1990 (6-1). All three finals were played on the 86’ers home field in Burnaby, a right they won by finishing with the league’s best record.

 Among the many outstanding Canadian players who represented Hamuilton during those great years were Paul James, Alex Bunbury, Billy Domazetis, John DiPasquale, Lucio Ianicro, Iain Fraser, Cosimo Commisso, Guido Boin, Billy Johnstone, Colin Miller, Paul Doilan, Drew Ferfuson, Gary Morrow, Gerry Graty, Grian Rosenfeld, Geoff Aunger, and Mark Watson. Notable imported players were Zeljko Akzic, Amadeo Gasparinim, Brian Quinn and John Kerr Jr.

Part of the World University Games were staged in Hamilton in July 1993. The main competition took place in Buffalo, N.Y., but the women’s soccer tournament was played in Hamilton featuring some of the finest women players in the world. Games were played at Brian Timmis Stadium and McMaster University with the final between the United States and China being staged at McMaster. China upset the favoured Americans. The Hamilton part of the competition was considered a great success.

Soccer in Hamilton has struggled ever since the CSL folded at the end of the 1992 season. A Scottish festival did bring Glasgow Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts of the Soittish Premier League and Montreal Impact of the American Professional Soccer League to the city in 1995 but poor attendances, with the exception of the games played by Celtic, were the order of the day.

In the meantime, another Hamilton product, Iain Fraser has become a regular with the national team at fullback. He now has 15 full international appearances to his credit. Last season, Hamilton had a team in the National Soccer League (now renamed the Canadian National Soccer League) for the first time since 1986. Hamilton White Eagles made their home debut against Scarborough Astros at Brian Timmis Stadium in early June, but struggled throughout most of the season. This year, the White Eagles have moved to the Puma League formed in Toronto in 1995.

Through it all, the highlights and the disappointments, the venerable Spectator Cup, which is one of the oldest team sport trophies in continuous competition in North America, has lived on . 1996, Hamilton Star won the Spectator Cup for a record sixth consecutive year by defeating Slovenia 3-1 at Sackville Hill Park on September 9. On August 17 1996, at Mohawk Park, a special Hamilton and District Soccer Association champion was crowned. – a Centennial champion – as the Spectator Cup prepares for its second century of competition.