1897 American Cup
Football tournament season / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1897 American Cup was the thirteenth edition of the soccer tournament organized by the American Football Association. The Philadelphia Manz won this edition defeating defending champions Paterson True Blues after four attempts to complete the final. The committee for this season was H. Goldberg as president, W. Turner as vice president, William Robertson as Secretary, and Hugh Wilkie as Treasurer. The Amateur Athlete was made the official publication of the association. The 'Victor ball' by the Overman Wheel Company was chosen as the official football for use in cup games. The association originally intended to have a league series and a cup tournament. They later dropped the league idea in favor of having each team play home and away games for the cup ties. If each team won a game, then the managers of each contesting team would flip a coin to see where the third game would take place. Players had to be registered 14 days before a game to be eligible to play.