National Professional Soccer League (1967)
North American Soccer League (1968)
Independent (1968-1969)
Tombstone
Born: 1967 – NPSL founding franchise
Folded: June 4, 19691ASSOCIATED PRESS. “Clippers Give Up, Blame US Setup”. The Bee (Sacramento, CA). June 5, 1969
First Game: April 16, 1967 (T 3-3 vs. Pittsburgh Phantoms)
Final Game: June 1, 1969 (W 4-2 vs. Fiorentina of Italy @ Kezar Stadium)
NPSL Champions: 1967
NASL Championships: None
Stadia
1967-1968: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (53,000)
Opened: 1966
1969: Kezar Stadium
Opened: 1925
1969: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Opened: 1923
1969: Spartan Stadium
Opened: 1933
Marketing
Team Colors: Blue & Gold
Ownership
Owners: Joseph O’Neill, H.T. Hilliard & William Brinton
Background
The Oakland Clippers were one of ten founding franchises in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) of 1967. The league featured investors from Major League Baseball and the National Football League and was one of the first efforts at launching a true top flight soccer league in the United States. The team was initially known as the California Clippers when the NPSL kicked off in the spring of 1967, then switched to the Oakland Clippers moniker midway through the season.
1967 Championship Season
With a roster full of Yugoslavs, the Clippers were the class of the NPSL in 1967. They compiled a league-best 19-8-5 record and went undefeated at the Oakland Coliseum. Serbian midfielder Ilija Mitic led the squad in scoring with 13 goals and 3 assists.
The Clippers faced the Baltimore Bays in the two-game NPSL championship series in September 1967. After dropping the 1st leg on the road in Baltimore, the Clippers took the title with a commanding 4-1 victory over the Bays in Oakland on September 9, 1967. Midseason pick-up Dragan Djukic put the game away with a first half hat trick.
The End
The NPSL merged with the rival United Soccer Association to form the North American Soccer League in 1968. The Clippers fielded another outstanding squad and finished tied for the most wins in the 17-team league with an 18-8-6 record. They also scored the most goals in the NASL in 1968 (71). But thanks to the league’s preposterous and restrictive points system, the Clippers were left out of the league’s four-team playoff and not able to defend their 1967 title.
The NASL’s postseason Best XI in 1968 featured five Clippers players: goalkeeper Mirko Stojanovic, defenders Momcilo Gavric and Mel Scott, midfielder David Davidovic and Mitic at forward.
The NASL all but collapsed following the 1968 season. The league shrank from seventeen to five clubs. With no other West Coast clubs committed to the NASL in 1969, the Clippers dropped out as well with the intention of staging an exhibition schedule against international competition instead. During the 1968 season, the Clippers drew large crowds for international friendlies against Manchester City of England (25,237) and Santos of Brazil (29,161).
Under the name “California Clippers”, the club played a series of fifteen exhibitions at stadiums all over the state in late 1968 and into the spring of 1969. The club remained strong, posting a 7-6-2 record against the likes of Dynamo Kiev (USSR), Guadalajara (Mexico), Fiorentina (Italy) and others. But the crowds were now in the 5,000 range instead of the big draws against Manchester City and Santos the previous summer. The Clippers’ final match was a 4-2 victory over Fiorentina of Italy at San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium on June 1, 1969. Clippers officials closed the doors on the team three days later.
Oakland Clippers Shop
Editor's Pick
Rock n' Roll Soccer
The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League
by Ian Plenderleith
The North American Soccer League – at its peak in the late 1970s – presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans.
The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport’s tremendous popularity in America today.
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California Clippers Video
Clippers vs. Dynamo Kiev friendly at Kezar Stadium. February 23, 1969.
Downloads
July 1968 Clippers to Host Santos FC of Brazil & Pele at the Coliseum on August 4th Press Release
July 1968 Clippers to Host Santos FC of Brazil & Pele at the Coliseum on August 4th Press Release
9-3-1967 Clippers @ Baltimore Bays NPSL Championship Series Roster
Links
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2 Responses
I’m trying to find any information about an ex Oakland Clippers player.He signed from a team i support in the UK.
Team name. BRENTFORD F.C.
Players name. MEL SCOTT.
Any info regarding this player would be gratefully received.
I would like to hear from anybody who knew an ex player from the Oakland Clippers the players name was MEL SCOTT. He signed from a football club I support in the UK. The club was BRENTFORD FC.