Talk:Oneida Football Club

Below is a picture I took of the Oneida football club plaque from Boston Common. What I can't figure out is this: Why in the world does it picture a modern soccer ball? This is a design that, depending on where you look, was not invented until at least 1950. Yet the plaque claims it was placed in the 20s, and the club played in the mid-19th century. Is the plaque in fact anachronistic? Note also, that the idea that they played some form of soccer (association football) doesn't really fit with the claim that no one "crossed" their goal line.

If anyone has an idea of what the real story here is, I'd love to hear it. Has this ball been around longer than we think, is the plaque untrue, or is the football club itself a myth?

-Mark Ashton




 * The image on the plaque is anachronistic. The club was founded two years before soccer was officially invented (see The Football Association). Most sources I've read say they were playing games that involved handling the ball. While they may have been using a spherical ball, they weren't playing soccer. Grant65 | Talk 07:23, 18 October 2006 (UTC)


 * This makes me wonder what the story is with the plaque. Was it replaced at some point with a newer plaque? Why does it claim it was placed in 1925? Or was the image added later? --Mashton 17:14, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

They may have been playing cambridge rules.They were in use in the British Isles from 1848 until the Sheffield Rules supereceded them in 1860s. See this article by the author of 'A Encyclopedia of American Soccer History'.Paul Roberton (talk) 03:55, 8 January 2010 (UTC)