The Brooklyn Wanderers was a U.S. soccer team which was a founding member of the National Association Football League in the late nineteenth century. It later joined the American Soccer League.
The origins of the Wanderers is unknown, but in December 1894, they were a key part of the formation of the National Association Football League.[1] The league suspended operations in 1899. The team's competitive record then becomes difficult to follow as it appears to have operated as an independent club. In September 1901, it lost to the Bayonne Rangers during a Labor Day sports carnival.[2] In 1906, a member of the Wanderers acted as a referee in a game between Critchleys and Brooklyn Thistle.[3] This rare reference to the Wanderers is significant in that Critchley's outside right Nat Agar (listed as Agot) later owned the Wanderers. In 1912, the Wanderers rejoined the NAFBL, but withdrew only six games into the season. Several of the players then jumped to Brooklyn F.C.[4] In 1922, the Wanderers, now owned by Agar, joined the American Soccer League which had been formed in 1921 by the merger of the NAFBL and the Southern New England Soccer League. During its years in the ASL, the Wanderers played at Hawthorne Field, a dedicated soccer stadium owned by Agar.[5] After the 1925/26 ASL season the Wanderers, the Boston Wonder Workers and the New Bedford Whalers joined with four top Canadian clubs to form the one-off International Soccer League held that summer and early fall. The Wanderers won the season championship, but lost to Toronto Ulster United in the final of the league's Nathan Strauss Cup.
The Wanderers folded after the 1931 Spring season, the first half of the ASL 1931 season.
| Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1895 | N/A | NAFBL | 3rd | No playoff | N/A |
| 1895/96 | N/A | NAFBL | ? | No playoff | N/A |
| 1896/97 | N/A | NAFBL | ? | No playoff | N/A |
| 1897/98 | N/A | NAFBL | 6th | No playoff | N/A |
| 1898/99 | N/A | NAFBL | ? | No playoff | N/A |
| 1912/13 | N/A | NAFBL | Withdrew | No playoff | N/A |
| 1922/23 | 1 | ASL | 4th | No playoff | First round |
| 1923/24 | 1 | ASL | 5th | No playoff | Third round |
| 1924/25 | 1 | ASL | 3rd | No playoff | Did not enter |
| 1925/26 | 1 | ASL | 7th | No playoff | Second round |
| 1926 | N/A | ISL | 1st | Champion (no playoff) | N/A |
| 1926/27 | 1 | ASL | 7th | No playoff | Third round |
| 1927/28 | 1 | ASL | 4th (1st half); 8th (2nd half) | Did not qualify | Quarterfinals |
| 1928/29 | 1 | ASL | 2nd (1st half); 5th (2nd half) | No playoff | ? |
| Fall 1929 | 1 | ASL | 7th | No playoff | N/A |
| 1930 | 1 | ACL/ASL | 9th (Spring); 7th (Fall) | No playoff | Third round |
| 1931 | 1 | ASL | 2nd (Spring) | No playoff | N/A |
The second Brooklyn Wanderers was also a member of the American Soccer League.
The club joined the league before the fall 1932 season and stayed through the disintegration of the league in the spring of 1933.
| Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 1932 | 1 | ASL | 5th | No playoff | N/A |
| Spring 1933 | 1 | ASL | ? | ? | First round |
The third Brooklyn Wanderers was a member of the reformed American Soccer League.
Suffering financial trouble, the team was sold one game into the 1948/49 season and was renamed the Brooklyn Hakoah by the new management.
| Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | U.S. Open Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942/43 | N/A | ASL | 4th | No playoff | ? |
| 1943/44 | N/A | ASL | 2nd | No playoff | ? |
| 1944/45 | N/A | ASL | 3rd | No playoff | ? |
| 1945/46 | N/A | ASL | 4th | No playoff | ? |
| 1946/47 | N/A | ASL | 2nd | No playoff | ? |
| 1947/48 | N/A | ASL | 3rd | No playoff | ? |
| 1948/49 | N/A | ASL | Played one game | N/A | N/A |
