1976 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

The 1976 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the second indoor season of the club's existence. The Rowdies were able to replicate their 1975 outdoor success by winning the North American Soccer League's 1976 indoor championship.

Tampa Bay Rowdies
1976 indoor season
Owner George W. Strawbridge, Jr.
General manager Beau Rodgers
Manager Eddie Firmani
StadiumBayfront Center
NASLRegional: Champion
League: Champion
Top goalscorerLeague:
Clyde Best
(7 goals)

All:
Clyde Best
(11 goals)
Highest home attendance5,787
(March 27 vs. Lancers)
Lowest home attendance4,762
(March 12 vs. Diplomats)
Average home league attendance5,464

Club

Roster

No. Position Player Nation
1 Goalkeeper Arnie Mausser  United States
1 Goalkeeper Bob Stetler  United States
2 Defender Farrukh Quraishi  England
3 Defender Alex Pringle  Scotland
5 Defender Malcolm Linton  England
7 Forward Stewart Scullion  South Africa
8 Midfielder Randy Garber  Canada
9 Forward Clyde Best  Bermuda
10 Forward Rodney Marsh  England
11 Forward Doug Wark  Scotland
12 Forward Derek Smethurst (capt.)  South Africa
14 Forward Joey Fink  United States
15 Midfielder Mark Lindsay  England
16 Defender John Bluem  United States
17 Midfielder Eddie Austin  United States
18 Defender Arsène Auguste  Haiti

Management and technical staff

  • George Strawbridge, Jr., owner
  • Beau Rogers, general manager
  • Eddie Firmani, head coach
  • Chas Serednesky, business manager
  • Francisco Marcos, director of public relations
  • Mike Dolan and Stan Taylor, trainers
  • John Kauzlarich, team physician
  • Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager

Honors

Individual honors

Review

The Tampa Bay Rowdies were the runners-up of the 1975 NASL Indoor tournament in March, and the winners of Soccer Bowl '75 in August, both held California at the home venues of the San Jose Earthquakes. In October 1975 the NASL announced that the Bayfront Center would host both the 1976 Indoor Eastern Regionals and Final Four.[1][2] It was later announced that Tampa Bay would also play a pre-tournament international friendly at the Bayfront Center. This meant that all of the Rowdies indoor matches for 1976 would be played at home.[3]

Friendlies

Billed in media reports as an International Challenge Cup Match,[4] Tampa Bay’s first game was a pre-tournament international friendly versus Santos F.C. of Jamaica, and played on March 6 at the Bayfront Center. The Rowdies easily defeated their guests, who were playing indoor soccer for the very first time, by the score of 11–4.[5]

Eastern Regionals

The winner of the Eastern Regional would gain an automatic place in the Final Four. In their first tournament game the Rowdies battled back from a 4–1 deficit midway through the second period, to score eight straight goals and defeat Washington, 9–5.[6] The following evening Tampa Bay had a much easier time in defeating the Boston Minutemen, 5–3, as they dictated play until the final minutes, when Boston scored two meaningless late goals. Those two victories left the Rowdies as the only undefeated team in the group, and therefore champions of their region for the second straight year.[7] Stewart Scullion was named Regional MVP, with Rodney Marsh and Arsene Auguste joining him on the All-Regional squad.

Regional standings

Pos Team G W L GF GA GD PTS
1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 2 2 0 14 8 +6 4
2 Washington Diplomats 2 1 1 14 12 +2 2
3 Miami Toros 2 1 1 9 15 -6 2
4 Boston Minutemen 2 0 2 9 11 -2 0

Final Four

In the semifinal Tampa Bay held a slim, one-goal lead in the third period over the Dallas Tornado. With less than three minutes remaining the Rowdies broke open the match the by scoring three straight goals in a span of 81 seconds to defeated Dallas, 6–2, and earn their second straight trip to the indoor finals.[8]

On March 27, 1976, the Tampa Bay Rowdies played in their third championship final out of three total competitions in their brief history. This time they would face surprise finalists Rochester Lancers. Unfortunately for Rochester, goalkeeper Jim May was severely injured late in their semi-final upset win over San Jose, and could not play in the final. The Rowdies were without Rodney Marsh for the contest, as he suffered a head injury in the semi-final. In a closely fought match Tampa Bay prevailed, 6–4, on three goals by Derek Smethurst, two by Clyde Best, and one by Mark Lindsay. Smethurst’s game winning, third goal came with 3:18 left in the match. Best was named tournament MVP, with Smethurst and Stewart Scullion joining him on the All-Tournament squad.[9]

Bracket

Semifinals Championship Final
      
M1 Rochester Lancers 6
W1 San Jose Earthquakes 4
M1 Rochester Lancers 4
E1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 6
E1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 6
W2 Dallas Tornado 2

Championship standings

Pos Team G W L GF GA GD
1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 4 4 0 26 14 +12
2 Rochester Lancers 4 3 1 20 16 +4
3 San Jose Earthquakes 4 3 1 35 18 +17
4 Dallas Tornado 4 2 2 20 15 +5

Match reports

March 6, 1976 1. Int’l friendly Tampa Bay Rowdies 11–4 Santos F.C. (Jamaica) St. Petersburg, Florida
7:30 PM (EST) Wark  8:08' (Garber)
Austin  14:11' (Marsh)
Lindsay  17:19' (Marsh)
Best  24:13' (Garber)
Marsh  25:54' (Auguste)
Marsh  26:31' (Bleum)
Best  27:40'
Best  29:23' (Scullion)
Scullion  35:28' (Marsh)
Scullion  51:34' (Marsh)
Best  55:18' (Wark)
Report A
Report B
P. Marston  13:56' (Taylor)
L. Anderson  30:57' (Taylor)
E. Reid  39:29' (Taylor)
McKenzie  41:46' (Blair)
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 5,620
March 12, 1976 2. Regional #1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 9–5 Washington Diplomats St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Scullion  12:49'
Garber  22:47' (Marsh)
Best  25:16'
Pringle  26:09'
Lindsay  27:20'
Smethurst  28:40' (Marsh)
Wark  29:52' (Marsh)
Marsh  41:58' (Best)
Auguste  42:52'
Report on p. 7C Trickovic  10:28' (Kerr)
Trickovic  10:55'
Kerr  16:24' (Trickovic)
Minor  17:58'
Kerr  43:04' (DeLeon)
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 4,762
Referee: Rene Imar (USA)
March 13, 1976 3. Regional #2 Tampa Bay Rowdies 5–3 Boston Minutemen St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Boston Minutemen  og' (3:20)
Best  9:47'
Best  18:43' (Garber)
Scullion  20:44'
Scullion  32:05' (Best)
Report A
Report B
C. McCully  23:51'
Geimer  33:44'
H. McCully  39:41'
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 5,785
Referee: Sumpter / Donahue / Imar / Van Der Vygh
March 26, 1976 4. Semifinal Tampa Bay Rowdies 6–2 Dallas Tornado St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Marsh  2:11' (Scullion)
Fink  29:21' (Pringle)
Scullion  35:21' (Best)
Garber  42:03' (Scullion)
Best  42:56' (Auguste)
Best  43:24' (Scullion)
Report Chadwick  17:50' (Turner)
Pecher  25:00' (Chadwick)
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 5,365
Referee: Sumpter / King / Di’pollito
March 27, 1976 5. Final Tampa Bay Rowdies 6–4 Rochester Lancers St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Smethurst  3:37' (Scullion)
Lindsay  12:43'
Best  20:11'
Smethurst  30:26' (Best)
Smethurst  41:42'
Best  44:58' (Scullion)
Report Garcia  2:31' (Escos)
Escos  9:54'
Silva
Moia  35:43'
Stadium: Bayfront Center, St. Petersburg, Florida
Attendance: 5,787[10]

Statistics

Scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points

Player GP G A Pts
Clyde Best511527
Stewart Scullion56618
Rodney Marsh44715
Derek Smethurst4408
Randy Garber5237
Mark Lindsay5306
Doug Wark3215
Arsène Auguste4124
Alex Pringle4113
Joey Fink1102
Eddie Austin1102
John Bluem1011

Goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses

Player GP Min GA GAA W L
Arnie Mausser4160133.6640
Bob Stetler26553.4610

See also

References

  1. "Indoor Finale Here?". Evening Independent. October 8, 1975. p. 3C. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  2. "Tampa Bay Gets Indoor Finale". Evening Independent. October 9, 1975. p. 2C. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  3. "Santos Rowdies' Indoor Opener". Evening Independent. February 12, 1976. p. 5C. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  4. Gurney, Jack (March 6, 1976). "Rowdies Host Jamaicans Tonight At Bayfront". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. p. 1-D. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  5. "Best Scores Four To Spark Rowdies". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. March 7, 1976. p. 2-D. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  6. Blankenship, Ken (March 13, 1976). "Down 4–1, Rowdies dump Diplomats 9–5". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  7. Gurney, Jack (March 14, 1976). "Rowdies Capture Indoor Regional". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. p. 2-C. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  8. Gulick, Phil (March 27, 1976). "Rowdie Blitz Opens Way For Indoor Title". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  9. Gurney, Jack (March 28, 1976). "Rowdies Win NASL Indoor Crown 6–4". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. p. 1D. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  10. Zier, Patrick (March 28, 1976). "Rowdies Whip Rochester To Win The Indoor Title". Lakeland Ledger. p. 2C. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
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