Derrick Wall moved to the United States from Dunstable, England, in 1967. In England, Wall played

Derrick Wall moved to the United States from Dunstable, England, in 1967. In England, Wall played soccer from his early teens until he was 28. He was used to children playing soccer in Europe, but noticed the game wasn’t as popular in America.

In 1975, he and two friends, George Hunter and Craig Pick, decided to do something to help promote the game.

They went to Austintown Middle School to find children who wanted to learn. Wall said a class of around 80 students showed up for the first lesson. However, soon that number dropped to only around 40 with serious interest. Wall continued to teach these children the fundamentals of the game.

In 1980, Wall founded the first team of what would later become the Austintown Junior Soccer League. Since there was no competition, Wall’s team would scrimmage each other and other groups of children from other neighborhoods.

In 1981, Boardman, Salem and Hubbard created teams Wall said. With the league growing, Wall and his pupils were running out of room.

“The biggest problem was finding fields to play on,” Wall said. Wall said the league would play at local schools and churches.

Wall purchased a plot of land in 1981 under land contract for the league to use. The soccer complex was originally farmland with a wooded area and even a bog. Wall said that the complex originally had only a few fields, but more have been added.

In 1985, Wall said that 145 players were involved in the league.

The league was split up into teams that represented neighborhoods.

In 1990, Wall opened up the league to allow girls to play.

Today, the AJSL involves more than 900 players who play on the original fields purchased by Wall. They are appropriately named the Derrick Wall Fields.

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