The New England Tea Men were an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team based in Greater Boston. They played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1978 to 1980. Their home venues for outdoor play were Schaefer Stadium (shared with the NFL's

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

) in

Foxborough, Massachusetts Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, about southwest of Boston, northeast of Providence, Rhode Island and about northwest of Cape Cod. Foxborough is part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 18,618 at ...

, and Nickerson Field near Boston University. They also played one season of

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

in the NASL, using the Providence Civic Center for home games. The Tea Men were originally owned by Unilever's

Lipton Lipton is a British brand of tea, owned by Ekaterra. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, later sold to Argyll Foods, after which the company sold only tea. The company is named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, who fo ...

subsidiary and given their unusual name as a nod to both the company's product line and the Boston Tea Party. The Tea Men won their division in 1978 and made a further playoff run in 1980. However, the team struggled for financial solvency in Massachusetts. Right at the start of the 1980–81 indoor season they relocated to Jacksonville, Florida and became the Jacksonville Tea Men.

History

Led in its initial season by former

Charlton Athletic F.C. Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

striker Mike Flanagan, the Tea Men won their division to much public acclaim, with Flanagan winning the league MVP award. Subsequent seasons proved not as successful for two important reasons. First, Flanagan, contracted to Charlton, remained in England (an attempt to secure him via a transfer failed, reportedly over endorsement rights). Second, the team was temporarily evicted from Schaefer Stadium in

when the owners of

Foxboro Raceway Bay State Raceway, later known as New England Harness Raceway, Foxboro Raceway, and Foxboro Park was a harness racing track located in Foxborough, Massachusetts, United States that operated from 1947 until 1997. It stood next to Foxboro Stadium and ...

– located next door – claimed that the Tea Men's matches were causing traffic problems on racing dates. After spending one unhappy season at Nickerson Field on the campus of Boston University, the team reached an accord with

to play in Foxboro, but not on racing dates. As a result, the Tea Men had to play many Monday night matches, which caused attendance to dwindle. At one home game during the 1980 season, only 254 fan attended a game, an all time low for the NASL. After leaving New England, the team moved to Jacksonville, Florida and became the Jacksonville Tea Men.

Year-by-year

Honors

Division Champions (1) *

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Southern Division NASL Most Valuable Player * 1978 Mike Flanagan U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame * 2003 Arnie Mausser All-Star First Team Selections * 1978 Gerry Daly, Mike Flanagan,

Kevin Keelan Kevin Damien Keelan MBE (born 5 January 1941) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent the majority of his career with Norwich City, though he also played for Aston Villa, Stockport County, Wrexham, New E ...

, Chris Turner All-Star Honorable Mentions * 1978 Dave D'Errico * 1979

Artur Correia Artur Manuel Soares Correia (18 April 1950 – 25 July 2016) was a Portuguese footballer who played as a right back. Nicknamed "Ruço", he amassed Primeira Liga totals of 234 games and four goals during 12 seasons, representing Académica, Ben ...

& Gerry Daly

Staff

* Derek Carroll – President * Bill Alex – Play-by-Play Announcer * Steve Glendye – Color Commentator on Northeast Sports Network

Coaches

* Noel Cantwell – Head Coach * Dennis Viollet – Assistant Manager

References