Once again, I do not know who to thank for the copies of the Boston badge, describing the badge in all its glorious detail as is worn on the lad’s shirts as the reply was unsigned (PIC 1) The badge is similar to that of Plymouth Argyle, except that the club’s colours and name differ, but both have the Mayflower symbol and both have the nickname “The Pilgrims”.
Unlike Plymouth though the Mayflower did not leave Boston for America but the people did. As you may have already deduced Boston, Massachusetts, was named after this Lincolnshire town. Massachusetts began life as the Massachusetts Bay Colony Company in 1629. Its first governor was John Winthrop, and its first Deputy-Governor was Thomas Dudley, who soon after settling in America in 1630, thought that the capital of the colony should be named after their hometown back in England. Around this time about a tenth of the population left Boston, England, to set sail for New England. They would have first had to journey down to Southampton or Plymouth, as Boston is on the wrong side of the country for sailings to America. Boston is thought to have derived its name from St Botolph, a monk from the 7th Century, either from Botolph’s Town or Botolph’s Stone, contracted to Boston. It is likely that Boston started life in the 10th Century as a small Saxon village around a wooden church. The existence of this church was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. St Botolph’s church has grown somewhat from its wooden beginnings and is known locally as the Stump. (PIC 2)
The Stump featured on Boston’s old match day programs. The one pictured comes from the 1970/71 season, and as it was the year of decimalisation it would have soon been changed from sixpence to two and a half new pence. Now they are £5 a pop so you could have got 200 copies for a fiver! (PIC 3) The club itself was founded on the 3rd of July 1933, although footy has been played on the York Street site since the late 1800s. In those days there were two clubs in Boston. Boston Town, who were based at the Coach and Horses, and the Boston Swifts who played out of the Indian Queen, both pubs being used for the clubs’ HQ and changing rooms. A hundred years later in the 2001/02 season, Boston decided to turn fully professional. This paid off as they clinched the conference title and gained promotion to the Football League at the end of the season.
Their celebrations were short-lived, the FA charged manager Steve Evans and former club chairman Pat Malkinson with breaking FA rules over the lodging of players contracts with the FA. Both Evans and Malkinson were banned from football, the club were fined £100,000, and docked four penalty points from their league total before the season had even started. This made for a tense start to the season due to being minus four points before a ball had been kicked. There was no need to worry though as Boston finished a very respectable 15th in their first season in the Football League. The success was short-lived and Boston now plays in the National League North, but I am sure like Arnie they will be back. They are included in this site as they were in the football league at the time of writing and too much effort goes into the research to delete it. York Street holds 6,778 Bostonians’ these days, and local rivals are Hull City, Lincoln City and Scunthorpe United. To find out more on “The Pilgrims” then progress to www.bostonunited.co.uk
