The 1902-1903 American Football Association Cup featured all 12 AAAFL sides and all 9 NAFL sides.  The tournament was expanded to 32 teams again.  11 amateur teams, all from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic filled out the bracket.

The tournament opened with the most shocking upset.  The AAAFL champion Pittsburgh Privateers fell to the lowest seeded Newark Caledonians.  The Caledonians featured a number of players who had been a part of the short-lived 1894 American Association of Professional Football Newark Unions.

In another upset, Cleveland Forest, who had finished in last place in the NAFL, squeaked by their cross-state opponent Cincinnati Scarlets.

Cleveland rolled through the next two rounds, vanquishing New York Fomorians and then St. Louis Mounds.
The Milwaukee Brewmasters also claimed a second round victory over an AAAFL team by downing the Chicago West Side Kicks at the Blatz Platz.

The biggest stories came out Philadelphia as both the AAAFL's Libbies and the NAFL's Sports continued to advance.  The departure of Connie Mack had dominated the Philadelphia newspapers over the course of the season.  The Libbies' surprising second place in the league was being attributed to Mack's exit. Boosters of the Sports squad pointed out that Mack had won the NAFL with a team over which he had full control.  The sports pages eagerly anticipated a Philadelphia derby match for the final.

The hopes were realized when Sports ended the Cinderella run of Cleveland Forest in the semifinal.  Meanwhile, the Libbies had no trouble with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms on the other side of the bracket.

The final was played at the Libbies' home field, Baker Bowl.  Despite being in the City of Brotherly Love, there was no fraternal affection between the two squads.  During warm-ups, an errant pass went from the Sports side to the Libbies, and a plethora of salty language broke out between the two sides.

The first whistle was met with a raucous cheer and both teams pushed hard to get the first goal.  It was the Libbies who struck first, courtest of a looping free kick from Alex Smith.  Reegan Holland rose up above the Sports defenders and headed it home past Edward Barry.

Things looked grim for Connie Mack's squad when Holland struck again, this time weaving his way through the Sports defenders on a magical solo effortin the 25th minute.

With some exhortation from the Sports fans, Mack's boys began to impose their will.  Cross after cross was played into the Libbies' penalty area, forcing goalie Chris Dearborn to come off of his line repeatedly.

Eventually, Dearborn misplayed a floated ball, and Sonny Vaughn swooped in to put the loose ball away in the 39th minute.

Halftime saw the Libbies leading 2-1, but every at the Baker Bowl would agree that the Sports were the better team in the half.

The second half was marked by a brouhaha in the 60th minute when two Sports defenders tackled Holland.  The Libbies forward went down in pain, but both Sports claimed they played the ball first.  The referee was perplexed.  It was clear that the ball had been played, but he couldn't tell which or both of Sports defenders had done it.  In the end, he didn't call any foul, much to the chagrin of the Libbies' fans.

Five minutes later, the two Vaughn brothers - Sonny and Jase - combined with some sharp passing to set up John Kirby for a tap-in goal.

The Libbies now pulled out of their defensive shell and began attacking again.  However, the Sports had too much energy that day.  They absorbed the Libbies' attacks and countered too fast for the Libbies midfield to keep up.  In the 75th minute Sonny Vaughn found his brother on a quick counter, and Jase dribbled from the half-line and then past the hapless Dearborn.

While the Libbies tried to find the equalizer, the Sports were too well-organized on defense now.  Watson and Lang seemed be everywhere in the Sports back line, clearin the ball out of danger.

In the 85 minute, a clearance from Watson found its way to Jase Vaughn.  The Libbies' Pat Wilson tried to pull him down, but the fleet-footed Vaughn would not be denied.  He raced the length of the field and delivered the coup de grace after dribbling by Dearborn.

The final whistle blew and the Sports had claimed the American Football Association Cup over the Libbies.  Sport fans rushed out from the stands and carried off Connie Mack and the players in victory.

Last edited by Goldengoose03 (4/13/2020 12:24 pm)

I'm still getting caught up posting the old material, but there will be new material that has already been created starting with the 1911-1912 season.

After the Week 1 games, President Irwin and American Football Association President Henderson made a surprise announcement.  At the season's end, the AFA would sponsor and the AAAFL would host a tournament featuring the league champions.  Intermittently, there had been a competition between the English and Scottish champions dubbed the "Football World Championship."=13pxIrwin described that the AAAFL was going to make it a true world title.  The AAAFL would charter an ocean liner to transport the English, Scottish, and German champions to America for a tournament.  Negotiations were concluded over transatlantic telegraph with the Football Association, the Scottish Football Association, and the Deutscher Fussball Bund.  In July, England's The Wednesday, Scotland's Hibernian FC, and Germany's VFB Leipzig traveled to Boston to engage in the tournament.

The host Shipwrights made an admirable showing, drawing against all the competitors and coming in second place.  VfB Leipzig beat the other European sides to claim the title.

Last edited by Goldengoose03 (4/18/2020 5:43 pm)

I did create something new for this old post - a booklet for the AFA Cup Final.  The characters on the cover are from kits I built in Pro Evolution Soccer 2018.

Hope to see more of the use of Pro Evolution Soccer in this because that little cover/poster is cool!