The year 1912 places Chattanooga in the soccer history books as the site of the first inter-city match in the south.
The Chattanooga eleven played the Atlanta Crackers on Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. on the grass at Chamberlain Field. Advance ticket sales were brisk, and reduced prices of 15 cents for children helped produce a large crowd. The “cool and raw” weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the sports fans for what was for many an introduction to the “national game of Great Britain.”
A Chattanooga Times article on the day of the event helped give people a basic understanding of how the game was played. It touted soccer football “as an amateur sport it is unexcelled. Business man, school boy, workingman alike can play it. It requires the extreme of physical development to play it in its highest form, but its nature is such that the man of smallest stature and least strength can develop into a star with the proper amount of attention and practice.”
Local mechanical draftsman, Archibald S. McLundie, was instrumental in arranging for the match with Atlanta. He learned the game in his native Scotland, and after arriving in the U.S. played on teams in Brooklyn, N.Y., St. Louis, and Chicago.
He did his best to round up a team of veterans to participate in the Chattanooga match. Players for Chattanooga included: A.S. McLundie (Capt.), C. Boyce, H. Lavery, W.D. Campbell, C. Thiele, T. Johnston, S. Hall, B. Barclay, S.A. Glendenning, H. Greer, F. Howard and H.J. Sims (linesman).