[Team owner Bob] Darling picked that Bicentennials name in 1975 because 1976 was going to be the American bicentennial, right? I said: ‘What about after 1976? What are we gonna be then? The 19-seventy-seven-tennials?’ It was a terrible name. Not much meaning to it and too long to fit in the headlines. So we became known as the ‘Bi’s’ in the papers, which I didn’t care for because it sounded like the team was bi-sexual.”
The New England Tea Men played three outdoor seasons and parts of two indoor campaigns in the North American Soccer League between 1978 and 1980. Their best season was their debut in 1978, when the Teas won their division, beat the might New York Cosmos twice in the span eight days and produced the NASL’s Most Valuable Player with British import Mike Flanagan. Later years saw the club beset by stadium woes. The team moved to Jacksonville, Florida in late 1980 where it continued to play under the Tea Men named until going out of business in 1984.
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