"You're the Stuff" -- Canada 1 USA 0, Newark 1885

Last night saw American and English flags unfurled at Toronto's BMO Field for the 2008 MLS All-Star game, with nary a sight of the red and white until after our guests' anthems had been played. The home crowd, unaware of this odd little 'arrangement', vented at first by booing, then by singing the Canadian anthem over-top those of the visiting nations.

I personally don't think anthems should be played at all at games that aren't full internationals, and certainly booing foreign anthems is never a good idea, but by having the "Star Spangled Banner" follow "God Save the Queen," the MLS sent the message that MLS is all-American, a curious statement considering the rumours flying around about further Canadian expansion. I, along with many other Canadians at BMO Field last night, was angered by the event, but it serves North Americans to remember we have a long and shared soccer-playing heritage.

In late Novermber 1885, David Forsyth (of Galt FC and 1888 British tour fame) led a contingent of Canadian internationals to play a series of matches in Newark New Jersey. While some of the games were 'rink' matches, sort of an old-fashioned version of five-a-side indoor soccer, the game played on November 28 against an All-American team, was a full international, and the first to be played outside of the British Isles.

The NY Times Take on the Game

The game itself appears to have been an absolute dirge; while Forsyth's characteristic preparation paid off with the Canadians getting the lead after ten minutes, the Globe newspaper reported scenes of violence ("both sides made up their minds not to be beaten"), and accusations that the American referee didn't know the rules in addition to making partial calls. A fight appeared to have stopped play at some point before the first half, with University of Toronto freshman Walter Thompson getting kicked and retaliating by "shouldering" his opponent "in true British style." When play did resume between the fights, Canadian goal keeper J. N. McKendrick shone as the most valuable player on the pitch, stopping shots so well that a young onlooker called him 'the best goalkeeper in the world.'

Nonetheless, passions on the field did not mar festivities off it. The Canadians were treated as royalty, in particular by the popular Newark mayor Joseph Haynes, described in reports as a strong Democrat in a Republican city, and many curious on-lookers admired their skill -- although one can hardly take the Globe on it's word that passerbys said things like, "Ain't they just lightning," "You take the cake," and my own favourite, "You're the stuff." Such mutual goodwill, and the spontaneous praise from ordinary Americans for the skill of Forsyth's Canadian team, seems odd today, and that is a real shame.

The Globe's Take on the Game

The tour was such a success that it was repeated the next year, with the Americans winning 3-2...but 1885 reminds us that football was alive and well in North America very soon after its blossoming in the Isles -- and in Walter 'Watty' Thomson, we had our own 'wannabe' hooligans on the pitch over one hundred years ago.