Boston Bulldogs (soccer)

The Boston Bulldogs were a soccer club founded in 1996 as the Worcester Wildfire. The team debuted in the USISL and would play in the A-League from 1997 to 2000. Before folding, the team played its final season in the USL D3 Pro Soccer League in 2001.[1]

Boston Bulldogs
Full nameBoston Bulldogs Pro Soccer
Nickname(s)Bulldogs
Founded1996 (as Worcester Wildfire)
Dissolved2001
GroundBowditch Stadium
Framingham, Massachusetts
Capacity5,000
Owner(s)John Curtis (1996)
Tom Bagley
Reidar Tryggestad
LeagueUSISL (1996)
USL A-League (1997-2000)
USL D3 Pro League (2001)

The club played its games at Bowditch Stadium in Framingham, Massachusetts.[2]

History

The first year in the A-League was fraught with financial problems and lack of a regular training facility. The owner was John Curtis from Cape Cod who also owned the Cape Cod Crusaders and the new women's franchise the Boston Renegades. Curtis was forced to sell the club before the start of the second season. The first coach of the A-League Wildfire was Nigel Boulton, a native of Wales. Boulton resigned following the completion of the first year to take up the State Director of Coaching position in Mississippi. He now coaches the men's program at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The Wildfire were the official 'farm team' for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. Notable former players on the Wildfire/Bulldogs roster include Jon Busch (1997) (who played for the US National Team in 2005) and Steve Nicol, both of whom have found success in Major League Soccer.

  • Worcester Wildfire logo used from 1996-1998

Year-by-year
Year Division League Reg. Season Playoffs Open Cup
1996 2 USISL Pro League 9th Northeast Did not qualify Did not qualify
1996/97 N/A USISL I-League Played limited schedule Did not qualify N/A
1997 2 USISL A-League 6th, Northeast Did not qualify Did not qualify
1998 2 USISL A-League 5th, Northeast Did not qualify Third Round
1999 2 USL A-League 6th, Northeast Did not qualify Did not qualify
2000 2 USL A-League 5th, Northeast Did not qualify Did not qualify
2001 3 USL D3-Pro League 1st, Northern Semifinals Semifinals

Coaches
gollark: You underestimate people.
gollark: Anyway, I think some education system is probably good but my preferred ideas are far enough from "school" that it probably wouldn't be sensible to call it the same thing.
gollark: Do they actually work? I thought a big percentage of the US believed in creationism and such.
gollark: "Never used"?
gollark: It does say there it can only measure X-rays/gamma rays.

See also

References
  1. http://www.dansoccerzone.com/SoccerGuide/guide.php?id=13
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-04-19. Retrieved 2010-12-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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