Six championships, the league’s best quarterback of all time, and a plane ride organized by Robert Kraft. No, it’s not the New England Patriots, it’s the Boston Renegades.

Boston is the city of champions, but its most successful team is unknown to most fans. The Boston Renegades are the reigning champions of the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA). They have won three titles in a row, and six overall since the league’s founding in 2009. An astonishing 65 teams play in the WFA, separated into three divisions of play; the Renegades play in Division I.

Winning six championships in eleven years is no small feat in its own right, but the way the Renegades have won is even more impressive. In their seven games last year, the Renegades were unstoppable. They’ve never scored less than forty points, and only gave up double-digit points once. They dominate their opponents all year long. What is even more incredible than easily knocking off many of the world’s best female football players is that each player on the Renegades has another full-time job.

Most professional sports leagues pay their players but, that is not the case for the WFA. In fact, on average, Renegades players pay $750 a year to play in the league. That doesn’t include their equipment or travel accommodations for road games. Add a grueling football season to full-time jobs, and you have quite an incredible feat.

That is why getting to fly on the New England Patriots private plane to their championship game this past spring in Canton, Ohio was such a big deal for the Renegades. They finally got to experience what life was like when they could focus on football. And they made no mistakes, defeating the formerly undefeated Minnesota Vixen 42-26, taking home their third straight championship.

Star Quarterback Allison Cahill, MVP of both the regular season and the championship game, told NBC News, “I often get caught up in just trying to be a good quarterback and a good teammate and I don’t often pause to think about the significance of what we’re doing in terms of that idea of breaking barriers.”

Cahill was a standout basketball player in high school at Uxbridge High School in Massachusetts. She went on to play basketball at Princeton University, where she was a team captain, and a member of the 1,000 point club. She has been playing football ever since, although not always with the Women’s Football Alliance. Cahill’s story showcases just one example of the phenomenal athletes that don the Renegades jersey every spring.

The Renegades will resume play again this spring, playing their home games at Harry Della Russo Stadium in Revere, Massachusetts. It is time to bring these athletes and the Boston Renegades into the Boston sports spotlight.

This piece also appears in our November 2021 print edition.