Massachusetts Pirates


The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena League.
The Pirates are the third indoor/arena team to call Worcester home, following the Massachusetts Marauders of the Arena Football League and the New England Surge of the Continental Indoor Football League

History

After numerous speculation beforehand, the Pirates were officially announced as members of the NAL on November 15, 2017. The team began play in the 2018 season. The Pirates won their inaugural game, played at the DCU Center on April 7, defeating the Maine Mammoths 51–24. They were led most of the season by quarterback Sean Brackett until the second-to-last regular season game where he was injured for the remainder of the season in a 46–35 loss to the Jacksonville Sharks, who then took over the top seed in the NAL. Darron Thomas started the following week in 67–7 win over the win-less Lehigh Valley Steelhawks; following a Sharks loss to the Mammoths the Pirates secured the top seed and a home game in the 2018 playoffs. The team finished their inaugural season with a regular season record of 11–5 but lost the semifinal playoff game to the Columbus Lions 50–36. After the season, inaugural head coach Ameer Ismail was hired as the head coach of the San Diego Strike Force expansion team in the Indoor Football League, but then joined the NAL's Carolina Cobras instead.
For the 2019 season, offensive coordinator Anthony Payton was named the head coach. The team finished in third place with an 8–6 record and qualified for the playoffs. They lost the semifinal game to the Carolina Cobras 30–26.
Following the 2019 season, the NAL announced it was creating a new league via a merger with Champions Indoor Football. The Pirates announced it did not agree with the merger and withdrew from the league. Head coach Payton then left to become head coach of the Carolina Cobras. Two weeks after the announced merger, it was dissolved and the Pirates rejoined the NAL.

Personnel

Current roster

Management

  • Hassan Yatim – Owner
  • Jawad Yatim – Owner and president

    Statistics

Season-by-season results

Head coaches

Note: Statistics are correct through the 2019 National Arena League season.