United Soccer Association 1967

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Eastern Division
Washington Whips	12	5	5	2	19	11	15
Cleveland Stokers	12	5	4	3	19	13	14
Toronto City	12	4	5	3	23	17	13
Detroit Cougars	12	3	6	3	11	18	12
New York Skyliners	12	2	6	4	15	17	10
Boston Rovers	12	2	3	7	12	26	7
Western Division
Los Angeles Wolves	12	5	5	2	21	14	15
San Francisco Gales	12	5	3	4	25	19	13
Chicago Mustangs	12	3	7	2	20	14	13
Houston Stars	12	4	4	4	19	18	12
Vancouver Royal Canadians	12	3	5	4	20	28	11
Dallas Tornado	12	3	3	6	14	23	9

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Championship
10.07.1967	Los Angeles Wolves	6	Washington Whips	5 sdet

Note: 2 Pts Win, 1 Pt Draw, 0 Pts Loss; Teams were actually teams from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Italy, Netherlands and Uruguay representing US cities on a Summer Schedule in between their normal Winter Schedules back home. See Below for Teams.

Note 2: After the season Toronto City and New York Skyliners folded, and San Francisco Gales were absorbed by Vancouver Royal Canadians., and the League merged with the NPSL to form the North American Soccer League.

National Professional Soccer League 1967

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Eastern Division
Baltimore Bays	32	14	9	9	53	47	162
Philadelphia Spartans	32	14	9	9	53	43	157
New York Generals	32	11	8	13	60	58	143
Atlanta Chiefs	32	10	9	12	51	46	135
Pittsburgh Phantoms	32	10	7	14	59	74	132
Western Division
Oakland Clippers	32	19	5	8	64	34	185
St. Louis Stars	32	14	7	11	54	57	156
Chicago Spurs	32	10	11	11	50	55	142
Toronto Falcons	32	10	5	17	59	70	127
Los Angeles Toros	32	7	10	15	42	61	114

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Championship
1967	Oakland Clippers	0	Baltimore Bays	1
1967	Baltimore Bays	1	Oakland Clippers	4
	(Oakland won 4-2 on Agg)

Note: 6 Pts Win, 3 Pts Tie, 0 Pts Loss, 1 Pt per Goal Scored up to a Maximum of 3 per Game.

Note 2: After the season Philadelphia Spartans and Pittsburgh Phantoms folded, Chicago Spurs moved to Kansas City, Los Angeles Toros moved to San Diego and the League merged with the USA to form the North American Soccer League.

USA Teams

USA Team	European/South American Team
Boston Rovers	Shamrock Rovers (Dublin, Ireland)
Chicago Mustangs	Cagliari (Italy)
Cleveland Stokers	Stoke City (England)
Dallas Tornado	Dundee United (Scotland)
Detroit Cougars	Glentoran (Northern Ireland)
Houston Stars	Bangu (Brazil)
Los Angeles Wolves	Wolverhampton Wanderers (England)
New York Skyliners	Cerro (Montevideo, Uruguay)
San Francisco Gales	AD) (Den Haag, Netherlands)
Toronto City	Hibernian (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Vancouver Royal Canadians	Sunderland (England)
Washington Whips	Aberdeen (Scotland)

Report

There were two professional soccer leagues in North America in 1967, both attempting at the same time to bring Pro Soccer to USA & Canada. The United Soccer Association was the FIFA-sponsored league and featured teams from Europe and South America guesting as North American teams over a Summer Schedule in between their normal Winter schedules. It included Shamrock Rovers (playing as Boston Rovers) and Glentoran (playing as Detroit Cougars). The other league was the National Professional Soccer League, and after the season the two leagues merged in 1968 to form the North American Soccer League which lasted until 1984.

Among the Rovers players over in Boston were Liam Tuohy, Frank O’Neill, Paddy Mulligan, Davy Pugh ad Tommy Kelly.

The side also included Carlos Metidieri, A Brazilian-born USA International, as gueat player, and his younger brother, Gilson.

After the merger with the NPSL, the Boston Rovers side became the Boston Beacons, a team in its own right, but kept the link with Shamrock Rovers. Paddy Mulligan was loaned out to the Beacons side in 1968 by Shamrock Rovers, but most of the team returned, and the side lost its mainly Irish make-up. [Reference: 4]

Two other Irishmen, Eric Barber & Joe Haverty Chicago Spurs in 1967, and the Kansas City Spurs (After the team moved) in 1968. [Reference: 5-6]

Boston Rovers Roster 1967

No.	Name	Pos	P	G	A	Pts	Born/Citizen
1	Pat Dunne	G	12	0	0	0	Ireland
1	Mick Smyth	G					Ireland
1	John Brookes	M					Ireland
2,5	Ronnie Nolan	M	9	0	1	1	Ireland
2	John Keogh	D					Ireland
3	Patrick Courtney	D					Ireland
4	John Fullam	D					Ireland
4,6	Mike Kearin	M/D					Ireland
5	David Pugh	M	14			0	Ireland
5,6	Patrick Mulligan	M	6	1	0	2	Ireland
6	Sean Core	D					Ireland
4,6,12	Doug Wood	M					Scotland
7,9	Frank O’Neill	F	12	3	4	10	Ireland
7,11	Tommy Kinsella	M	4	0	2	2	Ireland
8	Billy Dixon	F	11			0	Ireland
9	Bobby Gilbert	F	6	1	1	3	Ireland
9	Eric Barber	F					Ireland
8,10	Michael Leech	F	5	2	0	4	Ireland
10,11	Liam Tuohy	F	9	3	0	6	Ireland
11	Carlos Matidieri	F					Brazil
12	Alexander Wood	M
	Orest Banach	G					Germany/USA
	Jorge Benitez	F					Peru
	Tommy Farrell						Ireland
	Gilson Metidieri	F					Brazil

Detroit Cougars [Glentoran FC] Roster 1967

No.	Name	Pos.	P	G	A	Pts	Born/Citizen
1	John Kennedy	G	12	0	0	0	Northern Ireland
1	Sammy Kydd	G	1	0	0	0	Ireland
2	Harry Chreighton	D				0	Northern Ireland
3	Billy McKeag	D	3				Northern Ireland
4	Roy Borne	D					Northern Ireland
10	Tommy Jackson	M				0	Northern Ireland
11	Billy McCullough	D				0	Northern Ireland
12	Walter Bruce	M				0	Northern Ireland
14	Arthur Stewart	M	12	2	0	4	Northern Ireland
15	Billy Sinclair	M	10	0	1	1	Scotland
20	Trevor Thompson	D	4	3	0	6	Northern Ireland
21	Jim Weatherup	F	9	2	1	5	Northern Ireland
22	John Colrain	F	3	1	0	2	Scotland
23	Alan McNeill	M					Northern Ireland
24	Eric Ross	F	7	0	1	1	Northern Ireland
25	Danny Trainor	F	8	2	2	6	Northern Ireland
30	Jimmy Johnston	M					Northern Ireland
31	Sammy Lunn						Northern Ireland
32	Tommy Morrow	F	8	1	1	3	Northern Ireland
33	Maurice Wright						Northern Ireland
	Albert Finaly	G					Northern Ireland

Other Irish Players (Chicago Spurs) 1967

No.	Name	Pos	P	G	A	Pts	Born/Citizen
8	Joe Haverty	F	16	0	3	3	Ireland
20	Eric Barber	F	12	8	2	18	Ireland

Refernces

Bibliography

[1] Jose, Colin “The Complete Record of the North American Soccer League”.

[2] Litterer, David A. & RSSSF (1995/2018) North American Soccer League [Internet] Available from: http://www.rsssf.com/usadave/nasl.html[Accessed 7 February 2020]

[3] Litterer, David A. & RSSSF (1995/2018) North American Soccer League 1967 [Internet] Available from: http://www.rsssf.com/usadave/nasl67.html [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[4] The Wild Geese (2012) Boston Rovers [Internet] Available from: http://irishfootballersineurope.blogspot.com/2012/09/boston-rovers.html [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[5] The Wild Geese (2011) Eric Barber [Internet] Available from: http://irishfootballersineurope.blogspot.com/2011/12/eric-barber.html [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[6] NASL Jerseys (2020) Joe Haverty [Internet] Available from: http://www.nasljerseys.com/Players/H/Haverty.Joe.htm [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[7] NASL Jerseys (2020) Boston Rovers [Shamrock Rovers] Roster 1967 [Internet] Available from: http://www.nasljerseys.com/Rosters/Rovers_Rosters.htm [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[8] NASL Jerseys (2020) Detroit Cougars [Glentoran] Roster 1967 [Internet] Available from: http://www.nasljerseys.com/Rosters/Cougars_Rosters.htm [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[9] NASL Jerseys (2020) Chicago Spurs Roster 1967 [Internet] Available from: http://www.nasljerseys.com/Rosters/Spurs_Rosters.htm [Accessed 7 February 2020]

Images

[10] The Wild Geese (2020) Boston Rovers Team Photo 1967 [Internet] Available from: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sSApbL9Wwx8/UEis7XjGZTI/AAAAAAAAAiM/68xISgaPi68/s320/c88e_1.jpg [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[11] The Wild Geese (2020) Detroit Cougars Team Photo 1967 [Internet] Available from: http://www.nasljerseys.com/images/Cougars/Cougars%2067%20Road%20Team_small.JPG [Accessed 7 February 2020]

[12] Wikiwand (2020) United Soccer Association 1967 [Internet] Available from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/United_Soccer_Association_1967_logo.gif [Accessed 7 February 2020]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Jason Caldwell & Paul Foley.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 7 February 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.