Reading United AC is an American soccer team based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1995, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.
The club plays its home games at Alvernia University. The club's colors are white, black, gold, and navy blue. United formerly fielded a team in the Super-20 League, a league for players seventeen to twenty years of age under the United Soccer Leagues umbrella.
Prior to the 2010 season, the team was known as the Reading Rage. On December 21, 2009, the Rage organization announced its agreement with Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union to become their official minor league affiliate, and re-branded as Reading United A.C. with immediate effect.
Reading United is one of only three teams in USL League Two history to reach consecutive league finals - reaching in 2018 and 2019.
More than 130 former players have progressed to professional soccer, earned international caps for their national teams, or been drafted by MLS clubs.
Contents
History
The Reading-American Soccer Club was established in the early 1900s under the name of Germania Soccer Club by a group of German immigrant soccer players and soccer enthusiasts. On April 26, 1926 Germania merged with the Reading Liederkranz (Reading's German-American club), and the Sport Club legally became the Sports Division of the Reading Liederkranz.
Later, under the direction of Germania and Liederkranz members Werner Kraheck and Peter Weiss, the Reading Berks Junior Soccer League was born, providing a foundation for local youth soccer clubs to flourish. The Germania teams were the precursor to the now common “premier” teams. After the Germania program ended in the late 1970s/early 1980s, the premier teams became the Reading Berks Select program whereby each club could send several of their “top players” to participate in tournaments and training but then return them to their club teams. After several iterations, the Reading Berks Select teams became known as Reading Berks United, later RBU, and finally Berks Soccer Academy aka B.S.A. Rage.
Many people in the greater Reading area are surprised to learn that the Reading United A.C. (formerly Reading Rage) is the 2nd longest tenured minor league team in the area (behind the R-Phils). Berks Professional Sports introduced the Reading Rage minor league team 15 years ago with a squad that featured a great blend of local talent and “imported” stars. The Reading Rage would not have begun without the efforts of former Penn State All-American Archie Moylan. Archie was playing professional soccer and featured as a player and General Manager for the Philadelphia Freedom. Archie worked tirelessly to recruit an ownership team and staff. In 1996 his dream took the field. While a lot of the players, staff and even owners of the original team moved on, Archie's dream stayed alive. The Rage teams of the 1990s did well, with Archie leading the team to the playoffs in their 2nd season, and capturing a D3 Pro League (precursor to today's USL2) Mid-Atlantic Division Crown in 1997. Archie Moylan continued to build the Rage brand, and the team was rewarded for his management efforts by being named Franchise of the Year. In 1998 Archie further expanded his roles as he took over as head coach of the 3rd year program. The Rage teams of the 1990s featured a lot of local talent including former Wilson H.S. stars Ed Sep, Matt Wolf, Chris Arthur, and Drew Kauffman; Weiser stars Tom Auchenbach and Steve Thomas; and of course Fleetwood greats Keith Schlegel and former US Men's National Team member Troy Snyder. The team played at Fleetwood H.S. for two years prior to transitioning to Central Catholic Stadium in St. Lawrence, where they played for a number of years before moving to Albright College and finally at Exeter's Don Thomas Stadium.
Name, colors, and badge
The primary colors of Reading United A.C. are black, gold, and navy blue. The black and gold derive from Reading's civic seal and to the colors of the Germania Liederkranz, one of the area's original soccer clubs. Navy and gold represent the traditional state colors of Pennsylvania.
The logo for Reading United A.C. includes a stylized train that alludes to the famous Reading Railroad, which was one of the first railroads in the United States. The train depiction contains a soccer ball encircled by 11 bolts, symbolizing the 11 players on a soccer field. The shamrocks are a tribute to an Irishman named Paul "Archie" Moylan, the Reading Rage's former team captain, general manager, and coach, who died of cancer in 2000.
The secondary logo features a keystone, a symbol used officially by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania alluding to its colonial designation as the "Keystone State."
"United" is a common soccer appellation used in the British Isles and represents its relationship to the Philadelphia Union. The initials A.C. stand for "Athletic Club", which indicates the team's goal of expanding its business to incorporate other sports and fitness programs.
Notable former players
This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.
Honors
1997
D3Pro Mid Atlantic Division Champions
Franchise of the Year
2008
PDL Mid-Atlantic Division Champions
PDL Eastern Conference Regular Season Champions
PDL National Semifinalists
All-League: Adam Gazda
2009
PDL Mid-Atlantic Division Champions
PDL Regular Season National Champions
PDL Player of the Year: Aaron Wheeler
All-PDL: Aaron Wheeler
All-Eastern Conference: Aaron Wheeler, Adam Gazda
All-PDL: Aaron Wheeler
USL Marketing Award
2010
PDL Mid-Atlantic Division Champions
PDL Eastern Conference Champions
PDL National Semifinalists
All-PDL: Matt Hedges
PDL Defender of the Year Finalist: Matt Hedges
PDL Coach of the Year Finalist: Brendan Burke
All-Eastern Conference: CJ Sapong, Luke Mulholland, Matt Hedges
Coaches
Mike Moyer (1996–1997)
Archie Moylan (1998–2000)
Eric Puls (2001–2002)
Seamus O'Connor (2003–2004)
Derek Broadley (2005–2007)
Brendan Burke (2008–2013)
David Castellanos (2014–2015)
Stephen Hogan (2016–2017)
Alan McCann (2018–2020)
Casey Moore (2021–2025)
Richard Kessler (2026-Present)
Stadia
Stadium at Fleetwood High School; Fleetwood, Pennsylvania (1996-1997, 2003)
St. Lawrence Stadium at Central Catholic High School; Reading, Pennsylvania (1998-2002)
Gene L. Shirk Stadium at Albright College; Reading, Pennsylvania (2004, 2012)
Don Thomas Stadium at Exeter Township Senior High School; Reading, Pennsylvania (2005–2011, 2013, 2015–2017, 2021)
Stadium at Oley Valley High School; Oley Valley, Pennsylvania 2 games (2011, 2013)
Gurski Stadium at Wilson High School; Reading, Pennsylvania (2014, 2018–2019)
Stadium at Alvernia University; Reading, Pennsylvania (2022-pres)
Attendances
Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from Kenn.com https://kenn.com/blog/soccer/all-time-usl-third-division-attendance/
https://kenn.com/blog/soccer/all-time-usl-league-two-attendance/
Reading Rage
1996: 1,516
1997: 1,351 Playoffs: NA
1998: 816 Playoffs: 2,016 Overall: 925
1999: 799
2000: 751
2001: 776
2002: 617
2003: 626
2004: 506 (14th in PDL)
2005: 349 (25th in PDL)
2006: 275 (34th in PDL)
2007: 241 (42nd in PDL)
2008: 233 (42nd in PDL) Playoffs: 584 Overall: 303
2009: 374 (28th in PDL) Playoffs: 518 Overall: 390
Reading United AC
2010: 229 (39th in PDL)
2011: 337 (27th in PDL) Playoffs: 300 Overall: 333
2012: 299 (33rd in PDL) Playoffs: 316 Overall: 301
2013: 386 (26th in PDL)