Boston Thirteens
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|
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Boston 13s Rugby League Football Club, Inc. |
| Nickname(s) | 13s, Thirteens, B-13s, B-One-Three |
| Colours |
British Racing Green Metallic Gold |
| Founded | Friday, 13th February, 2009 |
| Current details | |
| Ground(s) |
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| CEO | Mikhael N. Shammas |
| Coach | Robin Peers |
| Captain | Dustin Cooper |
| Competition | USA Rugby League |
| 2015 | 1st |
| Records | |
| Premierships | 1 (2015) |
| Runners-up | 1 (2012) |
The Boston Thirteens (officially written as Boston 13s) are a semi-professional rugby league football team based in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. The team currently plays in the USA Rugby League.
The Boston Thirteens were founded in 2009 as an expansion team of the American National Rugby League (AMNRL). The league had been attempting to form a rugby league team in Boston for several years, due to the comparatively strong presence of rugby union in the area. The Thirteens played in the AMNRL from 2009–2010, going to the league semi-finals in their inaugural season. In 2010 they became one of seven teams to depart from the AMNRL in order to found a new governing body: the USA Rugby League (USARL).
The American National Rugby League had been attempting to establish a team in the Boston area for years, hoping to gain a foothold for rugby league in an area with a comparatively strong rugby union presence. The Boston Storm competed in the first season of American domestic competition in 1998, but folded after a single season.
In 2005 overtures by the AMNRL and rugby league supporters drew the interest of some local rugby union players, and a local union club, the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, fielded a rugby league side that joined the AMNRL on a trial basis. The Wolfhounds played an abbreviated two-game exhibition schedule to build interest in the sport in Boston, with the intention of playing a full schedule for the 2006 season. The next year the team ended its association with the Wolfhounds, adopting the name Boston Braves. They played through the 2006 season, winning only one game; they suspended operations at the end of the year.
In 2009 a new leadership group led by Mikhael Nizam Shammas established a new team, which was named the Boston Thirteens. The club was incorporated as a C corporation (under the name of the "Boston 13s RLFC, Inc.") on Friday, February 13, 2009, and began play in the 2009 AMNRL season. They went to the playoffs that year, advancing to the semi-finals before being defeated by the Jacksonville Axemen. They failed to qualify for the playoffs in the 2010 season.
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