The New England Revolution
The New England Revolution – The Revolution That Is Yet To Come
The New England Revolution (also, the Revs) is a professional American soccer club from
Foxborough, Massachusetts. It is a part of Major League Soccer (MLS), being one of its
ten charter clubs; and has competed in the League since its inception, beginning with the
inaugural season.
The current home stadium of New England Revolution is Gillette Stadium. Their home
stadium, since their inception in 1996 to 2001, was Foxborough Stadium (also spelt as
Foxboro Stadium), which was demolished after the 2001 season, causing the Revolution to
shift to the current home stadium. The club also has plans to build a soccer-specific stadium
in Somerville.
The New England Revolution – Its Foundation
The team came into existence on 17th October, 1995. Under the leadership of its owner,
Robert K. Kraft, and his family it was established as one of MLS’s ten original teams. Alexi
Lalas and Mike Burns were among Revs’ founding players.
The New England Revolution – At Its Early Stage
The Revs had a mediocre performance for the first few years. In their first year, even with
players like Alexi Lalas, Mike Burns and Joe-Max Moore, it was one of the only two teams
that failed to make the playoffs of the League. Over the next five years, the team’s best
performance would be making the playoffs in the 1997 and 2000 season.
The New England Revolution – Its Rise
All this changed, however, when Steve Nicol, the Liverpool Great, was appointed as the full
time coach in 2002. Since then, the Revs have failed to make the playoffs only twice, in 2010
and 2011. Even though the team failed to go beyond the first round of the playoffs after the
2008 season, Nicol is revered by New England Revolution’s fans.
Once Nicol joined the team as head coach, the Revs’ performance improved drastically.
They had some notable wins and only failed to make playoffs in the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
In fact, the Revs were runners-up in the MLS Cup in the very year Nicol joined the team;
they matched this performance again in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The Revs were runners-up
again in the MLS Supporter’s Shield in 2005. They won the MLS Eastern Conference multiple
times in both the Regular Season and the Playoff. They were winners in the Regular Season
in 2002 and 2005, and in the Playoff in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The Revs were runners-
up in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2001 and they won it in 2007. They also won the
North American SuperLiga in 2008 and were runners-up in 2010. Since their inception the
Revs have only qualified in the CONCACAF Champions’ League thrice. In 2003 and 2006 they
made the First Round and in 2009 they qualified up to the Preliminary Round.
The New England Revolution – A Change
After the 2011 season, the Revs and their head coach, Steve Nicol, parted after 10 years and
three hundred and one games together. The present head coach of the team is Jay Heaps.
The New England Revolution – Its Club Badge
The club badge of the New England Revolution is a stylized version of the flag of the United
States of America, with some of the stars being made into a soccer ball. This is in keeping
with the spirit of patriotism of the team: the Revolution in New England Revolution is to
denote the important role played by New England in the American Revolution; one of the
team’s fan clubs is called the Midnight Riders in honour of the revolutionary rides of Paul
Revere and William Dawes (patriots of the American Revolution) announcing the departure
of British troops from Boston.
The New England Revolution – Its Rivals
The Revolution’s main rivalry is considered to be with the New York Red Bulls but recently
they have built up rivalries with D.C. United and Chicago Fire and their most intense rivalry
is considered to be with Chicago Fire. In fact, the rivalry between the Revolution and
Chicago Fire even provokes players of both sides into unethical behaviour.
The New England Revolution – Its Supporters
The Revs have three supporter’s clubs: the Midnight Riders, the Rebellion and the
Revolution Army. These three groups together occupy the north stand (nicknamed “the
Fort”, in keeping with the revolutionary and patriotic theme of the team) of the Gillette
Stadium.
Even though the team was one of the ten original teams in MLS, it was only in the twelfth
year of its existence, in 2007, that it won its first trophy, the U.S. Open Cup. The Revs have
never won the MLS Cup or the MLS Supporter’s Shield even though they reached the MLS
Cup finals in four years and had the second best regular season record in 2005.
The New England Revolution has the distinction of being the only team out of the original
MLS to have had every league game it has played televised.
After Steve Nicol left New England Revolution, their performance has gone downhill and it
seems like the ‘revolution’ is yet to come.
Tags: american revolution, chicago fire, foxboro stadium, foxborough stadium, gillette stadium, head coach
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