The New England Colonials entered the Atlantic Coast Football League for the minor league circuit’s final season of 1973. The Colonials shared Schaefer Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts with the New England Patriots and had strong ties to the NFL club. The expansion club won the ACFL title in their debut season of 1973, but the league folded not long afterwards.
The Boston Minutemen were a nomadic North American Soccer League club that played in a half dozen different stadia during their three-season run from 1974 to 1976. At the peak of their ambitions in 1975, the club signed Portuguese superstar Eusebio, ex-Bayern Munich midfielder Wolfgang Sunholz and the brash American goalkeeper Shep Messing. But owner John Sterge’s financial troubles led to a fire sale of these players in 1976 and the club’s eventual bankruptcy and demise following that season.
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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