1976 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

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Tampa Bay Rowdies
1976 indoor season
Owner Flag of the United States.svg George W. Strawbridge, Jr.
General manager Flag of the United States.svg Beau Rodgers
Manager Flag of Italy.svg Eddie Firmani
Stadium Bayfront Center
NASL Regional: Champion
League: Champion
Top goalscorerLeague:
Flag of Bermuda.svg Clyde Best
(7 goals)

All:
Flag of Bermuda.svg 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
  1975
1977  

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.

Contents

Club

Roster

No.PositionNationPlayer
1 GK Flag of the United States.svg  USA Arnie Mausser
1 GK Flag of the United States.svg  USA Bob Stetler
2 DF Flag of England.svg  ENG Farrukh Quraishi
3 DF Flag of Scotland.svg  SCO Alex Pringle
5 DF Flag of England.svg  ENG Malcolm Linton
7 FW Flag of South Africa.svg  RSA Stewart Scullion
8 MF Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  CAN Randy Garber
9 FW Flag of Bermuda.svg  BER Clyde Best
10 FW Flag of England.svg  ENG Rodney Marsh
11 FW Flag of Scotland.svg  SCO Doug Wark
12 FW Flag of South Africa.svg  RSA Derek Smethurst (capt.)
14 FW Flag of the United States.svg  USA Joey Fink
15 MF Flag of England.svg  ENG Mark Lindsay
16 DF Flag of the United States.svg  USA John Bluem
17 MF Flag of the United States.svg  USA Eddie Austin
18 DF Flag of Haiti.svg  HAI Arsène Auguste

Management and technical staff

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

PosTeamGWLGFGAGDPTS
1Tampa Bay Rowdies220148+64
2 Washington Diplomats 2111412+22
3 Miami Toros 211915-62
4 Boston Minutemen 202911-20

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

SemifinalsChampionship Final
      
M1 Rochester Lancers 6
W1 San Jose Earthquakes 4
M1 Rochester Lancers 4
E1 Tampa Bay Rowdies6
E1 Tampa Bay Rowdies6
W2 Dallas Tornado 2

Championship standings

PosTeamGWLGFGAGD
1Tampa Bay Rowdies4402614+12
2 Rochester Lancers 4312016+4
3 San Jose Earthquakes 4313518+17
4 Dallas Tornado 4222015+5

Match reports

March 6, 19761. Int’l friendly Tampa Bay Rowdies 11–4 Santos F.C. (Jamaica) St. Petersburg, Florida
7:30 PM (EST) Wark Soccerball shade.svg8:08' (Garber)
Austin Soccerball shade.svg14:11' (Marsh)
Lindsay Soccerball shade.svg17:19' (Marsh)
Best Soccerball shade.svg24:13' (Garber)
Marsh Soccerball shade.svg25:54' (Auguste)
Marsh Soccerball shade.svg26:31' (Bleum)
Best Soccerball shade.svg27:40'
Best Soccerball shade.svg29:23' (Scullion)
Scullion Soccerball shade.svg35:28' (Marsh)
Scullion Soccerball shade.svg51:34' (Marsh)
Best Soccerball shade.svg55:18' (Wark)
Report A
Report B
P. Marston Soccerball shade.svg13:56' (Taylor)
L. Anderson Soccerball shade.svg30:57' (Taylor)
E. Reid Soccerball shade.svg39:29' (Taylor)
McKenzie Soccerball shade.svg41:46' (Blair)
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 5,620
March 12, 19762. Regional #1 Tampa Bay Rowdies 9–5 Washington Diplomats St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Scullion Soccerball shade.svg12:49'
Garber Soccerball shade.svg22:47' (Marsh)
Best Soccerball shade.svg25:16'
Pringle Soccerball shade.svg26:09'
Lindsay Soccerball shade.svg27:20'
Smethurst Soccerball shade.svg28:40' (Marsh)
Wark Soccerball shade.svg29:52' (Marsh)
Marsh Soccerball shade.svg41:58' (Best)
Auguste Soccerball shade.svg42:52'
Report on p. 7C Trickovic Soccerball shade.svg10:28' (Kerr)
Trickovic Soccerball shade.svg10:55'
Kerr Soccerball shade.svg16:24' (Trickovic)
Minor Soccerball shade.svg17:58'
Kerr Soccerball shade.svg43:04' (DeLeon)
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 4,762
Referee: Rene Imar (USA)
March 13, 19763. Regional #2 Tampa Bay Rowdies 5–3 Boston Minutemen St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Boston MinutemenSoccerball shade.svgog' (3:20)
Best Soccerball shade.svg9:47'
Best Soccerball shade.svg18:43' (Garber)
Scullion Soccerball shade.svg20:44'
Scullion Soccerball shade.svg32:05' (Best)
Report A
Report B
C. McCully Soccerball shade.svg23:51'
Geimer Soccerball shade.svg33:44'
H. McCully Soccerball shade.svg39:41'
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 5,785
Referee: Sumpter / Donahue / Imar / Van Der Vygh
March 26, 19764. Semifinal Tampa Bay Rowdies 6–2 Dallas Tornado St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Marsh Soccerball shade.svg2:11' (Scullion)
Fink Soccerball shade.svg29:21' (Pringle)
Scullion Soccerball shade.svg35:21' (Best)
Garber Soccerball shade.svg42:03' (Scullion)
Best Soccerball shade.svg42:56' (Auguste)
Best Soccerball shade.svg43:24' (Scullion)
Report Chadwick Soccerball shade.svg17:50' (Turner)
Pecher Soccerball shade.svg25:00' (Chadwick)
Stadium: Bayfront Center
Attendance: 5,365
Referee: Sumpter / King / Di’pollito
March 27, 19765. Final Tampa Bay Rowdies 6–4 Rochester Lancers St. Petersburg, Florida
8:30 PM EST Smethurst Soccerball shade.svg3:37' (Scullion)
Lindsay Soccerball shade.svg12:43'
Best Soccerball shade.svg20:11'
Smethurst Soccerball shade.svg30:26' (Best)
Smethurst Soccerball shade.svg41:42'
Best Soccerball shade.svg44:58' (Scullion)
Report Garcia Soccerball shade.svg2:31' (Escos)
Escos Soccerball shade.svg9:54'
Silva Soccerball shade.svg
Moia Soccerball shade.svg35:43'
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

PlayerGPGAPts
Clyde Best 511527
Stewart Scullion 56618
Rodney Marsh 44715
Derek Smethurst 4408
Randy Garber 5237
Mark Lindsay 5306
Doug Wark 3215
Arsène Auguste 4124
Alex Pringle 4113
Joey Fink 1102
Eddie Austin 1102
John Bluem 1011

Goalkeeping

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

PlayerGPMinGAGAAWL
Arnie Mausser 4160133.6640
Bob Stetler 26553.4610

Player movement

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.