BOS Nation FC Fans React to Name, Too Many Balls Campaign
"There are men who don't have balls, there are women who have balls, and also you literally need a ball to play soccer."
Theo Pavlich, a Dorchester native who supported the Boston Breakers until they dissolved in 2018, was thrilled that professional women’s soccer was returning to Boston. That was until the name, branding, and marketing campaign was unveiled.
Boston’s National Women’s Soccer League expansion (NWSL) club became BOS Nation FC on October 15th. The name announcement was accompanied by a launch video proclaiming there are “Too Many Balls” in New England sports.
To say this announcement fell flat would be an understatement. In fact, reactions were so negative that the club, as well as Colossus, the creative agency behind the rollout, issued an apology for the campaign and the initial launch video has been deleted from the club’s social media.


“I've been waiting for this team since [the Breakers] folded,” Pavlich said. “I was so excited. I've been at every event so far, and it was as a trans person extremely hurtful seeing how they rolled this out with senseless transphobia. It didn't need to have it and it was completely preventable.”
Pavlich wasn’t alone in disliking the video and name.
The club’s independent supporters’ group, NWSL Boston Independent Supporters’ Group, released a statement expressing disdain towards the name and advertising campaign. A second statement, released after the club apologized for its launch campaign, asks the club to reconsider its name.


“I love that we have an independent supporter’s group that is already thinking about our team,” controlling owner Jennifer Epstein said when asked by The Blazing Musket about the original statement from the NWSL Boston ISA and overall negative sentiment. “Supporters’ Groups, they are vital to our future and we’re really going to work into those relationships.”
Pavlich brought a sign to the event that read “No Home For Transphobia.” They discussed why they brought the sign and what they hoped the team would do in response to the negative response the campaign has received.
“I think the video was really short-sighted,” they said. “There are men who don't have balls, there are women who have balls, and also you literally need a ball to play soccer.”
Pavlich mentioned that they hoped the team would publicly apologize — which, to BNFC’s credit, they did — but the BNFC fan also think it's important for the team to reach out to Quinn, a player for NWSL’s Seattle Reign who is openly transgender. Quinn commented on BOS Nation’s Instagram condemning the campaign. They later posted a second time, stating that their original comment had been hidden.
“The whole intent behind the brand was to be inclusionary, and so we take that very seriously,” Epstein told reporters on Tuesday night. “And I would look forward to talking to that player and thinking through why this made them feel that way.”
Pavlich added that they wanted an apology specifically addressing the trans community.
When reached for comment after the club’s apology, Pavlich stated that they are “cautiously optimistic” but added that an apology needs to come with reparative actions. Pavlich also echoed the need for an apology directly to Quinn.
“Looking forward, I hope they learn from these mistakes, engage with the community, and, this may be a long shot, but I really hope they reconsider the name too,” they said.
If it wasn’t for being reported by CBS Sports reporter Sandra Herrera, Pavlich stated that they would have thought it was a joke.
Pavlich is far from the only fan that hopes BOS Nation FC follows the Racing Louisville FC playbook and reconsiders the original name. Racing was originally set to be called Proof Louisville FC before fan disappointment led to the club becoming Racing Louisville FC.
Geno Anderson, a New England Revolution fan who is a member of The Midnight Riders and also a member of the NWSL Boston ISA. Anderson attended numerous fan events prior to the reveal on Tuesday as he is excited for women’s soccer to return to Boston.
Anderson noted that nation is usually used to refer to a group of fans and also pointed out that the word can carry some nationalistic undertones. Overall, he doesn’t like the name and didn’t like the advertising campaign that was paired with it, even if he enjoyed the events leading up to the reveal.
“I just couldn't get past how bad the name is,” he told The Blazing Musket. “The rollout in general is bad. You have the one trans player in the league saying that your campaign is transphobic. That's an immediate bad look for the team. I think besides the name and that campaign, everything's been pretty perfect.”
Anderson later added that he hopes BOS Nation FC follows in Louisville’s footsteps.
“They have to change the name,” he said. “There's precedent for it and that name wasn't even that bad. This one, I haven't seen any positive words about the team. I haven't seen one person say anything good about the name. So they have to go back to the drawing board and come back with something else. Maybe actually get some input from people who have been around soccer and know what a team should be named.”
The dislike for the name spans a variety of ages. Even some of BOS Nation FC’s youngest fans don’t like the name. Charles Balck, a 10-year-old who plays soccer and idolizes Lionel Messi believes there are better names that could have been chosen.
While Balck doesn’t like the name, he believes the green and pink team colors are cool.
“Most teams have, like, a basic (color scheme), red, blue, black but this one’s unique.”
While there was a lot of negativity, there were some who liked the launch of BOS Nation FC on Tuesday evening. Caitlyn Barrett who has been a soccer fan for over 30 years and was a fan of the Breakers, believes the name will grow on BOS Nation FC supporters’.
“I think the name, people are going to get used to it,” she said. “I’m worried about the stadium.”
It appears that the talk of balls has come to an end but there is plenty of work for BOS Nation FC to do. The club will need to earn the trust of its fans, and either ride out this wave of disapproval towards the club’s name or begin work on a new one.
Women’s soccer is far from what it used to be. It is not just looking to be the anti-men’s sport, it is looking to be considered equal if not a better product than the men’s game.
The U.S. Women’s National Team has historically outperformed the men’s side and the growth of the NWSL cannot be understated. Some of the top players in the entire world call the NWSL home and outside of the United States, the game continues to grow.
Girls everywhere now have players they can look up to that look just like them. Women everywhere now have multiple options domestically or internationally to make playing soccer a career.
Soccer fans in New England are ecstatic to have a professional women’s team back in Boston. Now the organization needs to give those fans a club name and branding of which they can be proud.