In 1907, a businessman from Copper Cliff named John Anderson donated a silver cup to be used as the championship trophy for the Algoma and Nipissing club competitions.  The only way a team could keep the Anderson Cup was to win it three times in a row.

Teams from the Algoma and Nipissing districts decided to form a district league in 1911.  Known as the Sudbury and District Football Association (S.D.F.A.), the league included teams from Garson, Espanola, Sudbury, and Copper Cliff.  The Anderson Cup became the championship trophy for the association.

By 1916, a large influx of immigrants to Sudbury served to increase soccer's popularity.  Games were attended by large groups of spectators and the league grew to include three new teams, including another Sudbury team, a Coniston team, and a team from Creighton Mine.

With the popularity of the sport came the intense nationalism of the competing players.  The most notable rivalry was between the British and the Scottish immigrants.  The British dominated the game in Sudbury during this time and it wouldn't be until the era of World War II that the British-Scottish rivalry would become a permanent fixture of local soccer.

During World War I, soccer was put on hold as young men went off to war.  When they returned from the battlefield, they brought back with them more immigrants.  It wasn't long before soccer returned to the competitive level enjoyed prior to the war.

• The Quest for the Ontario Cup