USL A-League (1999-2000)
USL D3 Pro League (2001)
Tombstone
Born: 1999 – The Worcester Wildfire relocate to Framingham, MA
Folded: Postseason 2001
First Game: April 16, 1999 (W 3-1 @ Jacksonville Cyclones)
Last Game: August 24, 2001 (L 2-1 vs. Greenville Lions)
USL Championships: None
Stadium
Bowditch Field (5,600)12002 United Soccer Leagues Media Guide
Marketing
Team Colors: Red, White & Black22002 United Soccer Leagues Media Guide
Ownership
Owners: Tom Bagley & Reidar Tryggestad
Attendance
Background
The Boston Bulldogs were a 2nd Division professional soccer team that briefly served as a minor league farm club for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. The Bulldogs played at Bowditch Field on the campus of Framingham State University in the Boston suburbs. Prior to arriving in Framingham in 1999, the franchise was located in Worcester, Massachusetts and known as the Worcester Wildfire from 1996 to 1998.
Toiling In Obscurity
The Bulldogs struggled mightily in Boston’s outer suburbs. Bowditch Field was a no-frills concrete bowl with no alcohol sales and Port-A-Potties for bathrooms. There was little reason for area soccer fans to spend $10.00 to see the Bulldogs when they could watch the Revolution play at Foxboro Stadium for virtually the same price. In 2000, the Bulldogs averaged 662 fans per match, which was 24th out of the 25 clubs in the USL A-League. The Bulldogs’ total attendance for 14 matches in 2000 (9,269) was less than the per game average of their division rivals, the Rochester Raging Rhinos.
Despite the lack of interest, team owners Tom Bagley and Reidar Tryggestad had big ambitions for the club and ran the team in first class fashion. The team traveled to Norway for pre-season training and exhibitions in 2000. There were even (fruitless) negotiations with Brandeis University to partner on development of a soccer specific stadium. But the Bulldogs suffered staggering financial losses in two seasons of 2nd Division soccer in the USL A-League. It was clear there was no appetite for the team in the Boston suburbs. The Bulldogs dropped into the 3rd Division USL D3 Pro League for one final campaign in 2001 and then folded.
Players & Coaches
The Bulldogs attracted a handful of top flight players during their brief existence. John Kerr, Jr., the 1986 Hermann Trophy winner as American’s best collegian player and a former U.S. National Team member, served as player-coach in 1999.
Liverpool legend and former Scottish World Cup team member Steve Nicol arrived as a player in 1999. He would take over player/coach duties in 2000-2001. Nicol would use the team’s relationship with the New England Revolution to catapult into that club’s head coaching job in 2002. Nichol went to coach the Revs for 10 seasons from 2002 to 2011, setting a Major League Soccer for coaching longevity with one club.
Trinidadian defender Avery John was likely the Bulldogs’ best all-around player. John went onto play 81 games in MLS for the Revolution and D.C. United between 2004 and 2009.
Crusaders & Renegades
The owners of the Bulldogs also operated two other teams under their Massachusetts Professional Soccer (MPS) corporate umbrella. The Cape Cod Crusaders were a men’s third division team, one step below the Bulldogs. Players flowed freely back and forth between the Bulldogs and the Crusaders.
The Boston Renegades women’s team competed in the USL W-League and were one of the best women’s amateur clubs in the United States in the late 1990’s. They were actually the best box office attraction of the three teams operated by MPS. The Renegades shared Bowditch Field with the Bulldogs and sometimes drew over 2,000 fans for their matches in their early years. However, the amateur Renegades were made instantly irrelevant by the 2001 formation of the big-budget, fully professional Women’s United Soccer Association and the arrival of the Boston Breakers franchise. The Renegades puttered along until 2009. But they never again drew crowds of more than a few hundred soccer campers and their parents.
Aftermath
Although the pro teams were a flop, MPS built a profitable and well-regarded camp and academy program. The corporate entity that operated the Bulldogs, Renegades and Cape Cod Crusaders changed its name to Global Premier Soccer (GPS) and grew into one of the largest elite youth soccer clubs in the United States. GPS was owned by former Bulldogs player Joe Bradley and his brother Peter Bradley, the former coach of the Renegades women’s team.
GPS declared bankruptcy and went out of business in 2020.
Links
###
3 Responses