I vote Archers.

I'll put another vote for Archers. Though Sounders isn't too bad a name either.

1950 Champions Cup Final [scoreworm]
Date: August 5, 1950
Location: New York Runty Park, New York, NY
Weather: 72℉ (24℃), Sparsely Cloudy
Wind: Moderate Breeze
Attendance: 35,000

It was a beautiful day for Runty on August 5, 1950. Clear skies, moderate temperature, and a cool breeze made New York Runty Park seem like a dreamland as the Bronx Bears and New York Knights took the field. It was the first time the Champions Cup was being played between two New York teams in the heart of the city, so the stadium was roaring throughout. It was a game that the whole city seemed to stop and watch. At NYRP, the crowd was pretty much split half-and-half between Bears and Knights fans, with little neutral fans in attendance.

The game had a pretty high pace to start. Both teams had some good rushes, and got some shots, though all were pretty easily dealt with by the defenders, rucks and rovers. Victor Kattie had the first Grade-A chance of the game getting a shot from 10 feet in front, but hit the crossbar. The pace died down a little as they neared the halfway mark, and there was still no score. Despite this, it was still pretty entertaining, and the tension was building up towards the game’s first score. Eventually, with just under 9 minutes to go, the Bears’ Ray Paulo punched a cross past Edward L’Estrange, putting the Bronx up 4-0. Off the next rush, they would come right back and get a point, much to the delight of their faithful. However, the Knights would come right back and get a point of their own on the ensuing rush, the third consecutive rush to end with a score. The pace continued to grow for the remainder of the quarter, and there were some more great chances from both sides. Unfortunately for neutral fans, none of those resulted in any further scoring. After 24 minutes, the score was 5-1, with all three scores happening within 49 seconds of each other.

AFTER 1: The Bronx 5-1 New York

The second quarter saw more scoring consistency. 6:26 in, the Knights got their second point of the game, a blazing shot from Kattie. However, Kattie was noticeably frustrated after the score as he was aiming for a game-tying goal. To make matters worse for the Knights, The Bears would kick another goal and point before the halfway mark of the quarter, putting them up 10-2. The Knights would come back with some rushes, but the Bears backline did a good job at not letting them get any super dangerous chances. Eventually, with 6:40 to play in the half, the Bears’ Benoit Peak would score a beautiful goal, grabbing a rolling ball off the ground and smashing a shot past L’Estrange into the top left corner of the goal. This increased the Bears’ lead to 12, and the game started looking like it was gonna be a blowout. The pace to end the half was pretty slow, both teams got some low-danger shots away, but the only score was a point from New York’s Mickey Julien. As the half drew to a close, the Bears were looking pretty comfortable up by 3 goals, since their defense was suffocating the Knights’ 2nd-ranked offense.

AT THE HALF: The Bronx 14-2 New York

Even though the game was looking pretty hopeless for them, the Knights weren’t giving up, and they started the second half with fierce pressure. Two minutes in, they got their first score in almost a quarter, but it was another point, not the goal that they needed to get back into the game. Once again, the Bears made the Knights pay for the minor score by getting another goal, this time from Cedric Ekling. The Bronx was now up 18-3, and their fans were loving every minute of it. On the other side, the Knights were already looking defeated, but they were still trying to get some semblance of hope back. The Bears continued to stand tall, and slowed the game pace down with a partial defensive press. Eventually, the pace would rise back up, and Kattie would finally give the Knights their first goal after 63:49 of play, roughly two-thirds of the game. This gave New York some life, and they got some more chances before the quarter ended, but no further scoring. Heading into the final quarter, it was going to be a tough 11-point hill for the Knights to climb, but they had momentum on their side.

AFTER 3: The Bronx 18-7 New York

The Knights started the fourth quarter hot. Under 2 minutes in, Julien punched the ball into a wide-open net, putting the Knights within 7. The Bears, realizing now that their lead was in trouble, played even tighter defensively, and did well at stopping Knights rushes for the remainder of the first half of the quarter. At the midway point, the Knights would get another point, but the Bears responded quickly to keep it at a 7-point game. Eventually, the Knights would get another point from Kattie, then a penalty goal from fullback Rocky Moss. With 3:29 to play, it was a 2-point game. However, that didn’t last for long, as Benoit Peak just dribbled a shot past L’Estrange to put the Bears up by two scores. The unbelievable action didn’t stop there, as the Knights came right back and got another goal, this time a thunderous kick from RHF Tim Busby. It was a 2-point game once again, with one minute remaining. The Knights won the jump-ball, brought the ball to the Bears’ end, and gave the ball to Kattie. He wound up for a 20-yard shot, but it hit the outside-left post and went out for a goal kick. Jim McConnell kicked back out to midfield, and the final whistle went. Half of the NYRP erupted, while the other half saluted the Knights for a hard-fought game where they fell just short. Despite being outscored 18-5 in the final 36 minutes, The Bronx Bears had survived, and won their first ever Champions Cup. 

FINAL SCORE: The Bronx 23-21 New York


1950 Championship Flag:


There's the 1950 Champions Cup Post! In the next post I'll unveil Manhattan's identity, as well as another (3-team) expansion announcement!

1950-51 NERC Offseason

The 1949-50 NERC Offseason was considered to be the league’s most eventful season by far, but the 1950-51 offseason far surpassed it. Not only did the Manhattan Runty Club unveil their identity, but the league announced further expansion for the 1952 season.

3 new expansion teams from NYRL announced for 1952!

Runty fans were expecting the only big news of the 1950-51 offseason to be Manhattan unveiling their identity, but on November 3, 1950, the NERC caught everyone off guard by announcing that 3 more NYRL teams would be joining in time for the 1952 season. These teams were:

Brooklyn Runty Club
Founded in 1885, the “barber poles” wear black and red. They are considered to be one of the better teams in the NYRL, but still couldn’t hold a candle to Manhattan’s domination. Brooklyn originally inquired about joining in 1951, but Elmer Wilkins only wanted one team joining the league that season. Nevertheless, he was impressed by the team facilities, and granted them the first spot to join in 1952. Brooklyn plays at Atlantic Avenue Park, in the borough.

Columbia Alumni Runty Club
The second spot for 1952 expansion went to a surprising team, the Columbia Alumni. Originally founded in 1891 by current and former students of Columbia University, they were seen as one of the weaker teams in the NYRL. The university itself was originally against the idea of a team made up of their alumni, but they backed off after the club agreed to conditions that they do not wear the school’s official colours, and officially retain the name of “Columbia Alumni”. As time went on the university became closer to the team, even giving them loans. However, they still claim not to be directly affiliated. Columbia wears black and white (the colours of graduation gowns), and play at the NYRP.

Westchester Runty Club
The third addition to the league was another surprise, beating out bids from more popular teams, such as Queens and Newark. Despite this, Elmer Wilkins was thoroughly impressed with how well-run the club was from top to bottom, even going on to say that “It’s as if they are already a professional club of the highest standard”. They didn’t have the best attendance in the NYRL, but the club wasn’t worried, as the draw of playing the sport’s best league was sure to bring more people to games. Westchester wear maroon and white with navy trim, and play at the Yonkers Avenue Links, in Yonkers.

Just like last offseason with Manhattan, I’m gonna ask you guys for suggestions, like an expansion council. Feel free to suggest some names for any of the three teams! If you've suggested a name for a previous team, feel free to suggest that one as well! (I did say that one of the ones suggested for Manhattan would work better for one of these three)

Manhattan Runty Club unveil their NERC identity

Manhattan was originally going to unveil their brand in November, but after the big expansion news, they decided to wait until everything had cooled off in January before finally doing it.

“After an extremely successful name-the-team contest, we have decided on a name.” said team president Dan Robinson. “Please welcome the Manhattan Archers!” He then unveiled a plaque containing two separate paintings; One of the team’s logo and the other of a player wearing their blue jersey.

The team logo was fairly simple. It consisted of a gothic-style M that had been their logo in the NYRL, but now intertwined with an arrow pointed to the right. The team also showed a secondary logo that broke off one of the legs of the M to create an A, also intertwined with an arrow. 

The home jersey was the exact same that they had used in the NYRL, a blue base with a fancy golden stripe across the front and sleeves of the jersey. The away was a simple colour swap of the home. Despite some disappointment about no new jerseys, Robinson stated that he “absolutely wants to create a jersey in the future to represent a new era of Manhattan Runty.”

Darknes wrote:

Westchester Hibernians: Yonkers had the country's first Golf Course in Saint Andrew's Course founded by a Scot.

 That wouldn't make much sense, since Hibernia was Ireland.