Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: Risky Business
Chapter Two: 1967 Part I—Whip It Good: The United Soccer
Association Season
Chapter Three: 1967 Part II—The NPSL: Bay City Rollers
Chapter Four: Press Play
Chapter Five: California Clippers: Barnstorming on the Bay
Chapter Six: Dallas File
Chapter Seven: Scenes and Sketches from the American Frontier,
1968-69
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Dennis J. Seese is a journalist, writer, and research librarian based in Washington, DC.
Soccer has had a foothold in the US since the late 19th century.
By the mid-1960s, the United Soccer Association (USA) and the
National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) were battling for
control of American soccer. Their bitter legal struggles and
merger, as Major League Soccer (MLS), is Seese's subject.
The popularity of the 1966 FIFA World Cup and the growing
financial influence of television sport played a part. Seese
discusses all this and elaborates on associations predating USA and
NPSL, the many franchises that rose and fell, and key figures
(owners, coaches, players). In chapters replete with
statistics, game reports, facts, anecdotes, and interviews, the
author looks at underlying problems: the ignorance of millionaire
businessmen (many owners of other sport franchises) in soccer
matters; failed marketing efforts; lack of sympathy for existing
(ethnic) groups and clubs; crude attempts to ‘Americanize’ the
game; the subversive language, in the Cold War era, of an
antagonistic press given to stereotyping, cliché, racism,
xenophobia, and religious bigotry; substandard playing fields and
officials; and poor attempts at fan identification. Despite
the success of the 1967 merger and the increased popularity of
soccer, some racial, social, and class problems still exist,
especially the perception that soccer is being marketed as a sport
for white, middle-class suburbia. Summing Up: Recommended.
Upper-division undergraduates and above.
*CHOICE*
Not many people take a deep look into the history of American
soccer, but Dennis J. Seese does it remarkably well in The Rebirth
of Professional Soccer in America. . . .This book is a great
compilation of research, some of which can’t be found anywhere else
and some of which is well-known. His analysis and commentary on
David Wangerin’s research is world-class. . . .Seese is a great
storyteller, someone who gives the whole story and everything
surrounding it without getting bogged down in the extraneous
details. This is a great story for those that want a quick recap of
American soccer history or those that are deep scholars of the game
already. Everyone can find something that makes this worth the
read. Remember history repeats itself and it is hard to understand
where you are if you don’t know where you came from. That is
certainly the case with the beautiful game here in America.
*International Soccer Network*
This book leaves no stone unturned in tracing the footsteps of the
sport’s history in the USA. . . .Seese’s in-depth research uncovers
an evident reluctance from the government, public and established
‘American’ sports to take to the game. Whether it be issues with
race and identity or a perceived threat to the country’s capitalist
ideals, this book drags up a past which seems a million miles away
from the MLS, which now attracts the likes of Kaka, Steven Gerrard,
Frank Lampard and David Villa to its league on the promise of
better competition, competitive wages (for marquee players) and a
burgeoning fan base.
*Sport 360*
Dennis J. Seese’s supremely detailed and well-researched history of
two 1960s professional soccer leagues . . . makes The Rebirth of
Professional Soccer in America: The Strange Days Of The United
Soccer Association a great addition to the canon of US soccer
scholarship. . . .The book is both immensely readable and immensely
detailed. The notes, sources, and references are comprehensive and
it is clear from his allusions to other scholar’s work that he is
extremely well-read in the subject matter. . . .[This book] has
filled a gap in US soccer scholarship and is recommended to all who
have an interest in US soccer history or in the history of US sport
in that era.
*Sport in American History*
Seese’s discussions and research on the 1967 season for the two
leagues are exhaustive. He explores and utilizes countless
historical primary source documents that have been little examined
by past soccer historians. The book is filled with specific game
results, number of spectators at a given match, notable moments of
a game, and fervor among the fans. It is not just the voice of the
players and managers but that of fans, business people, FIFA, and
other soccer organization officials that fill every part of the
work. The book, however, achieves more than just retelling a
detailed history of a tumultuous season. Examining the politics
around the leagues, the author successfully unearths the meaning of
soccer in American society…. Many books—both popular and
scholarly—now exist about soccer in the United States. The Football
Scholars Forum lists dozens of such works. But no other books in
the past have examined the conflict between the NPSL and the USA in
addition to the days before and after the chaotic season. This
detailed work is a valuable addition not only for soccer and sports
historians but also for American historians, immigration
historians, and sports business scholars.
*The Journal of Popular Culture*
Seese’s book not only works as a solid piece of academic sports
history/studies, but as something that can be used in later-year
and master’s sports studies courses of various stripes: it is an
historical monograph which is conversant with marketing,
management, and development, and utilises media content analysis
and theory. It adds another layer to the way in which academics and
practitioners can analyse the uniquely American experience of
soccer, a ubiquitous feature of many an American childhood that is
still largely referred to as a new kid on the block.
*Idrottsforum.org*
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