The appeal of the Hakoah All Stars, famous Jewish soccer team, now in South America, for readmission to the United States, originally denied, is now being reconsidered by the United States department of labor, it was announced here today by Peter F. Snyder, assistant to the secretary of labor, who stated that a decision would be reached within the next few days.
The Hakoahs, who won the American soccer championship, last year, are now completing a triumphal tour of South America. For the coming season they had leased Hawthorne Field and had made arrangements to again contest for the American championship. After they had purchased tickets for the trip back to the United States difficulties developed in obtaining the department of labor’s approval.
The approval was not forthcoming because of a decision reached some months ago by the department of labor to discontinue the waiving of the contract labor clause of the immigration law which is necessary in the case of foreign professional athletes. The department at that time ruled that there were enough professional soccer players in the United States.
While the department of labor is now considering the possibility of waiving this clause for the Hakoah, the Jewish team is not the only one affected by the ruling, as many other foreign players on various American soccer teams brought over from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia are also held to be unduly competing with American players. The department of labor officials admitted that a St. Louis soccer team, said to be the one that lost the American championship to Hakoah, had objected to the continued stay in America of the Hakoah players.
The Hakoah players, who first came here in 1926, returned in 1927 and 1928 by means of legal stays from the department of labor. When the request was made for another stay it was declined. Representatives of the Hakoah All Stars have enlisted the support of United States Senator Wagner of New York.
A delegation of Hakoah representatives and officials of the United States Football Association and the American Soccer League went to Washington to protest the refusal of a stay to the Hakoahs. The original appeal for the new stay was made on behalf of the Hakoahs by Representative Hamilton Fish.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
