The Boston Minutemen are an American professional soccer team based out of Boston that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1974 to 1976. Their home fields included Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy and Sargent Field in New Bedford.

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (April 2022)

Boston Minutemen

Full name	Boston Minutemen
Founded	1974
Chairman	John Sterge
Manager	Hubert Vogelsinger
League	NSL
Home colors Away colors

Portuguese legend Eusébio played for the Minutemen in 1975 as did famed American player Shep Messing.

The Minutemen started well, winning the Northern Division title in their first season and drawing over 9000 fans a match to Alumni Stadium, good for 5th highest in the league. They lost in the playoffs to eventual league champion Los Angeles Aztecs. When Eusébio came to Boston in 1975 (by which time the team had relocated to Nickerson Field) it seemed as though things would continue to look up. Though the team would win the Northern Division title again for the second time in as many seasons, attendance curiously fell to around 4000 – half of what it had been. In the playoffs the Minutemen lost to Miami in extra time.

For the 1976 season, team owner John Sterge announced the Minutemen would relocate again, this time to Harvard Stadium, but that deal collapsed before the start of the season and the team ended up playing in a hodge-podge of grounds throughout Massachusetts: Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Quincy, and Sargent Field in New Bedford. By this time Sterge was having financial difficulties (which ended in action by the Securities and Exchange Commission) and was compelled to sell off many of his players, including Eusebio, who went to the eventual champions Toronto Metros-Croatia. Attendance plummeted, the Minutemen lost their last 12 matches, and after the season they folded.

Relaunch

In 2022 English soccer agent and entrepreneur Scott Michaels registered the clubs trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and plans to relaunch the team in the National Soccer League [1]

Former players

• Shep Messing (1975)
• Mickey Cohen (1976)
• Bert Bowery (1976)
• John Coyne (1974)
• Geoff Davies (1975–76)
• Paddy Greenwood (1974, 1976)
• Eusébio (1975)
• Ian McKechnie (1974)

Year-by-year

Honors

NASL Division Titles

• 1974: Northern Division
• 1975: Northern Division

NASL Leading Goalkeeper

• 1975: Shep Messing (0.93 goals against avg.)

All-Star Selections

• 1974: Ade Coker (second team)
• 1974: Paddy Greenwood (honorable mention)
• 1974: Ian McKechnie (honorable mention)
• 1975: António Simões (first team)
• 1975: Wolfgang Sühnholz (honorable mention)
• 1976: Shep Messing (indoor All-Regional)

Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame members

• 2019: Shep Messing[2]

See also

• Boston Rovers
• Boston Beacons
• New England Tea Men

References

На других языках

[ru] Бостон Минитмен