The Boston Thirteens (officially written as Boston 13s RLFC) are a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and sk ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football team based in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. The team previously played in the USA Rugby League, before turning fully professional in 2021 and becoming a founding member of the North American Rugby League. The Boston Thirteens were founded in 2009 as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

of the

American National Rugby League The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

(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 Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

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), before moving onto the North American Rugby League in 2021.

History

1998-2008: Foundations

The

had been attempting to establish a team in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

area for years, hoping to gain a foothold for

in an area with a comparatively strong

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 The Boston Irish Wolfhounds Rugby Football Club (also known as BIWRFC) is a rugby union team based in Boston, Massachusetts, US. The club competes in, and is governed by, the New England Rugby Football Union (their LAU), the Northeast Rugby Union ...

, 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.

2009-2011: Thirteens and entry to AMNRL

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 The 2009 AMNRL season was the 12th season of the American National Rugby League (AMNRL). The Boston Thirteens joined the league as an expansion team, bringing the number of teams to eleven. The New York Knights (rugby league), New York Knights won ...

. They went to the playoffs that year, advancing to the semifinals before being defeated by the Jacksonville Axemen. They failed to qualify for the playoffs in the 2010 season.

2011-2020: USARL

On January 12, 2011, the Thirteens became one of seven teams to depart from the AMNRL to found the new USA Rugby League. The new league began in 2011. The Thirteens finished their first season in 6th place, not qualifying for the playoffs. They only achieved two victories, both over their Boston rivals

Oneida FC Oneida FC (Oneida Football Club) is a soccer club based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The organisation was estabished in 2011 and plays its home games at East Boston Memorial Stadium, owned by the city of Boston. The field also hosts American footb ...

. Boston made the Grand Finals in 2012 before falling in a close contest to the Jacksonville Axemen. In 2015, Boston won their first National Championship defeating the South Conference champion Atlanta Rhinos 44–12.

2021-present: North American Rugby League

In March 2021 the Thirteens resigned from the USARL to become one of the founding teams of the new professional North American Rugby League.

USARL season summaries

Logo and colors

The team was named the 13s reflecting the 13 original colonies of America, the thirteen players on the field in rugby league, plus the fact that the club is the thirteenth RLFC to be founded in the United States. For their inaugural season they adopted the colors of black and gold, and white and gold, with a logo incorporating the number 13 and a stylized Metatron's cube in the shape of a

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

. In 2010, and in conjunction with the re-branding of the American National Rugby League logo and those of all affiliated clubs, the Thirteens adopted a new logo which depicted the numeric symbols of "1" and "3" merged to form the letter "B" for

. Additionally, the color of

British racing green British racing green, or BRG, is a colour similar to ''Brunswick green'', ''hunter green'', ''forest green'' or '' moss green'' ( RAL 6005). It takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of the United Kingdom. This origina ...

was added to the existing colors of white and gold, reflecting the Boston area's strong Irish heritage.

2022 squad

* * * *

Staff

* Scott Rosner, D.C *

Peter Lupton Peter Lupton (born 7 March 1982) is a professional rugby footballer who plays and coaches rugby league for the Boston Thirteens in the North American Rugby League competition. Lupton began his career playing rugby league as a , or in Engla ...

Honors

AMNRL The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

Championship titles: 0 *

USARL The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six ...

: ::Winners (1): 2015, ::Runners up (1): 2012,

International representation

USA Hawks

* Shane Begin (2014) * Mike Elias (2017) * Marcos Flegmann (2015-2016) * Lance Gaines (2009) * Curtis Goddard (2015) * Tyler Ierardi (2016) * Urban Iyo (2016) * Matt Shipway (2013, 2017) Coaching Staff *

Robin Peers Robin Peers (born 18 January 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who went on to be head coach of the Boston Thirteens in the USARL, and interim Head Coach of the USA Hawks National Team. He played 13 years for his ...

(2016)

Other Nations

( WAL) * George Aroyan ( LEB) * Kane Bentley (

FRA A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the o ...

) *

Mike Elias Michael Elias (born December 28, 1982) is an American baseball executive. He is the executive vice president and general manager for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). Career Elias graduated from the Thomas Jefferson High Sch ...

( LEB) * Marcos Flegmann ( MEX) * Mikhael Shammas ( LEB) * Ronny Palumbo (

ITA Ita or ITA may refer to : Places and jurisdictions * ITA, ISO 3166-1 country code for Italy * Ita (Africa), an ancient city and former bishopric in Roman Mauretania, presently a Latin Catholic titular see * Itá, Paraguay People * Ita (pr ...

) * Kyle Winter ( IDN)

References

External links

;Official websites
Official website

Boston 13s Twitter

Boston Thirteens
at usarugbyleague.com {{Massachusetts Sports American National Rugby League teams Boston rugby league clubs USA Rugby League teams Rugby clubs established in 2009 Irish-American culture in Boston Irish-American culture in sports 2009 establishments in Massachusetts Rugby league in Massachusetts Proposed sports teams