New England Football League Medal 1890/91

Association football (soccer) was played largely amongst immigrant groups, and therefore, logically, factory mill workers in the 1880s and 1890s, as colleges and mainstream America moved towards American Rugby Football. 

Southeast Massachusetts was home to many such Association football teams, as was bordering northern Rhode Island. Fall River Massachusetts, a mill town, was a hotbed of such teams, one of which was the Fall River County St. Rovers (formed in 1884).

This silver and enamel medal was awarded to a player on the Rovers, who came in second place to the Pawtucket Free Wanderers (RI) in the championship game of the New England Football League for the 1890/91 season. Some 5000 spectators viewed the event.

We research Association football, and the many variants of the game that were an integral part of the development and history of modern day football.

Picked up more recently and added to the blog on July 5, 2017, the Runners-Up medal from the 1991 - 1892 season.