# @clubeleven on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DU_FAzuEaBd
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/57098215-clubeleven-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/340e5391a8.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-02-20T16:01:33.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** CLUBELEVEN (@clubeleven) — https://gondola.cc/clubeleven

## Caption

Ancient soccer history hidden in plain sight 👀 ⬇️

We’re back on the road this year with continental_tire, continuing our journey to uncover the hidden gems of soccer across the US!

On mile 1 of our travels in 2026, we found the spot where the first organized soccer club in America once played its games. 

It all started in the summer of 1862, when a group of 16 students from Massachusetts gathered at Boston Common to play with a leather ball. 

Legend has it that their leader, Gerrit Smith Miller, had come in contact with an early version of soccer (football) when he accompanied his father on a trip to England. Of course, he had to show this new game to his friends back in America, and that’s how the Oneida Football Club was born. 

It was a wholesome start, but the story of the club is not without controversy. For centuries, both American football fans and soccer supporters have fought to claim Oneida Football Club as their own. This is because the Oneidas were known to play a hybrid precursor of both sports, combining rules that allowed a player to kick the ball through a “goal” but also carry and tackle like in rugby. Essentially a common ancestor of the footballing sports we know today.

What’s especially notable about the Oneida Football Club, though, is that they were the first football team of any type in the US to be organized on a continuing basis, week to week, and year after year. They played against university challengers from the area between 1862 and 1865, winning all their games and not even conceding a single goal. 

Later on in 1925, their feats were immortalized when a monument was erected in their honor, right on Boston Common.

Quite infamously, the ball carved at the top of the monument has changed repeatedly over the years, alternating between an egg-shaped one and a round one. Most notably, it was changed to a soccer ball ahead of the 1994 WC before being changed back to an American football in the 2000s.

Either way, the US Soccer Federation recognizes the Oneidas as the first organized footballing/soccer team in America, making this a must-visit spot in Boston.

#roadtrip
#americansoccer 
#ContinentalTireSoccer
#ad
#paidpartnership

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## Tags

continentaltiresoccer, americansoccer, paidpartnership, ad, roadtrip

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