the early history of the team is obscure, but it spent several years in local philadelphia amateur and semi-professional leagues. in 1910, it began winning a string of league and cup titles beginning with the american cup. from 1910 to 1912, they played in the football association of philadelphia, winning two championships. they played the 1913-1914 season in the allied american football association of philadelphia. they then played in the american soccer league of philadelphia in 1915-1916, winning the league title, before moving to the national league of philadelphia for the 1916-1917 season. in 1917, disston a.a. went professional when it entered the national association football league . the loss of players to military service in world war i led to the collapse of several leagues and teams. while disston did not end operations, in 1918 it did leave the nafbl for a season. that year, it also won the philadelphia city championship. disston rejoined the nafbl in 1919 and played the next two seasons. in 1921, the league folded when several teams jumped to the newly established american soccer league. disston decided against joining the asl.