Friday, May 29, 2015

Boston Irish SC

The Boston Irish, like many teams in the early days, were founded by European immigrants who came to America looking for work. The team started playing at Nickerson Field in 1934, the first year of the reorganized American Premier League. Their classic green and white hoops became a iconic in the 60s with the growth of color TV. Oh, and how good Boston was. The Paddys won their first league title in 1964, then repeated the next year. The same group of players would go on to win 4 of 5 US Open Cups starting in 1968. The team also went on to win the treble in 1972 with the US Open, League title, and CONCACAF Champions Cup. Ten years later, the team won back to back titles in 82 and 83. They got approved to build a new 33k seat stadium on the banks of the Charles River near Boston University and Fenway Park after these titles. This was the last time the team won a trophy for some time with the new playoff format being installed in 1984. In 1996, for the first time in league history, the team was relegated to the American League 2 on a last day goal by Milwaukee United, boosting them out of 17th spot on the final day. The stay was short lived, as they won the promotion playoffs in 1997. The team finally broke the 20 year curse in 2007, on the same night the Red Sox won the World Series over the Rockies. Their clash has been yellow and green for the majority of the last 40 years, inspired by a player from Norwich that they brought over.

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