The Boston Bears (former known as Boston 13s RLFC) are a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

football team based in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, U.S. The team plays in the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (formally the US Association of Rugby League, Inc.) is the national governing body for rugby league in the United States. The organization is responsible for running the domestic club competitions and the United State ...

, and were founding members of the former

North American Rugby League The North American Rugby League (NARL) was an unsanctioned rugby league club competition in North America. At launch, the league announced fourteen teams; twelve from United States and two from Canada. An inaugural season was planned for 202 ...

. 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 the national governing body for rugby league in the United States from 1997 to 2014. The organization was responsible for running the domestic club competitions and the United States national rug ...

(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 football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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

in 2021.

History

1998–2008: Foundations

The

had been attempting to establish a team in the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

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 Canton, 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 A C corporation, under Income tax in the United States, United States federal income tax law, is any corporation that is taxed separately from its owners. A C corporation is distinguished from an S corporation, which generally is not taxed separ ...

(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 semifinals before being defeated by the

Jacksonville Axemen The Jacksonville Axemen are a rugby league team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They currently play in the USA Rugby League (USARL). They play their home games at the North Practice Soccer Fields at the University of North Florida. Together ...

. 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

. 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 East Boston. The organisation was established in 2011 and plays its home games at East Boston Memorial Stadium, owned by the city of Boston. The field also hosts American football and bas ...

. 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.

2021–2023: North American Rugby League

In March 2021 the Thirteens resigned from the USARL to become one of the founding teams of the new professional

2024–present: North Sydney partnership and Boston Bears rebrand

In 2024, the Boston Thirteens and

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...

formed a partnership with plans to enter a team in USARL under the Boston Bears name and to provide player exchange and study opportunities.

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 or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

. 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 origin ...

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 England ...

Honors

* AMNRL Championship titles: 0 * USARL: ::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) *

(2022) 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 o ...

(2016)

Other Nations

(

WAL WAL or Wal may refer to: Places * Wał, Lublin Voivodeship, village in eastern Poland * Wał, Masovian Voivodeship, village in east-central Poland Codes * Sierra Leone, country in West Africa, license plate code * Wales, constituent nation of ...

) * George Aroyan ( LEB) * Kane Bentley (

FRA Fra is a title of a friar. Fra or FRA may also refer to: Codes * fra, the ISO 639-2 code for the French language * FRA, the ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 code for France * FRA, the IOC country code for France at the Olympics * Framingham station, Amtra ...

) *

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

( LEB) * Marcos Flegmann ( MEX) * Mikhael Shammas ( LEB) * Ronny Palumbo ( ITA) * Kyle Winter ( IDN)

References

External links

;Official websites
Official website

Boston 13s Twitter

Boston Thirteens
at usarugbyleague.com {{North Sydney Bears American National Rugby League teams Rugby league teams in Boston 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 clubs and teams North Sydney Bears