1977 Tampa Bay Rowdies season

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1977 season
Owner	George W. Strawbridge, Jr.
General manager	Beau Rodgers
Manager	Eddie Firmani (resigned July 3) Len Glover (interim) John Boyle (hired July 9)
Stadium	Tampa Stadium
NASL	Division: 3rd Playoffs: First round
U.S. Open Cup	Did not enter
Top goalscorer	Derek Smethurst (19 goals)
Highest home attendance	45,288 (May 29 v. Cosmos)
Lowest home attendance	8,398 (July 6 v. Washington)
Average home league attendance	19,491
Home colors Away colors
←  1976 1978  →

The 1977 season was the original Tampa Bay Rowdies third season of existence, and their third season in the North American Soccer League, the top division of soccer in the United States and Canada at that time.

Overview

The year would see the Rowdies host friendlies against teams from the Soviet Union, Italy and China. The team also took part in the preseason Tournament of Champions, finishing as runners-up. In the NASL season, the Rowdies finished with 131 points and a record of 14–12, which placed them third in the Eastern Division of the Atlantic Conference. The point total qualified them for the playoffs. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Cosmos, 3–0. For the second consecutive season Tampa Bay lost in the playoffs to the eventual champion. For the third consecutive season South African striker, Derek Smethurst lead the club in scoring with 19 goals. ^[1]

Club

Roster

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	GK	Paul Hammond	England
2	MF	Farrukh Quraishi	England
3	MF	Ian Anderson	Scotland
3	DF	Alex Pringle	Scotland
4	DF	Arsène Auguste	Haiti
5	DF	Rino Agostinis	Canada
5	FW	Davie Robb	Scotland
6	DF	Mike Connell	South Africa
7	FW	Steve Wegerle	South Africa
8	MF	Wes McLeod	Canada
9	FW	Adrian Alston	Australia
10	FW	Rodney Marsh	England
11	MF	Len Glover (capt.)	England
12	FW	Derek Smethurst	South Africa
13	DF	Stewart Jump	England
14	FW	Joey Fink	United States
15	MF	Mark Lindsay	England
16	MF	Dennis Wit	United States
17	DF	Kevin Eagan	United States
18	GK	Winston DuBose	United States
19	DF	Frantz St. Lot	United States
20	FW	Boris Bandov	United States
22	DF	Radomir Stefanović	Yugoslavia
23	DF	Tony Crudo	United States

Team management

Eddie Firmani began the season as head coach, but abruptly resigned on June 3, a few days after a 4–2 victory over the Cosmos. The club’s record was 7–3 at the time. ^[2] Team captain, Len Glover, who had been sidelined with an injury at the time, served as interim coach for one match, a loss to Rochester on June 5. ^[3] Retired former Rowdies captain, John Boyle, was hired on June 9. ^[4] Under Boyle the Rowdies record was 7–8, and though Tampa Bay made the playoffs, Boyle resigned to accept a position as the team’s permanent European scout after the season. ^[5] For his part, Firmani re-immerged as the Cosmos coach (just as several of his former players had predicted in early June), ^{[2] [6]} and ultimately eliminated Tampa Bay, 3–0, in the first round of the 1977 playoffs.

• George W. Strawbridge, Jr., owner
• Beau Rodgers, general manager
• Eddie Firmani, head coach (resigned June 3)
• Len Glover, head coach (interim)
• John Boyle, head coach (hired June 9)
• Ken Shields, trainer
• Francisco Marcos, public relations director
• Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager

Honors

Four Rowdies received individual honors following the 1977 NASL season.

• NASL All-Star, First Team: Derek Smethurst
• NASL All-Star, Second Team: Arsène Auguste
• NASL All-Star, Second Team: Rodney Marsh
• NASL All-Star, Second Team: Steve Wegerle

Competitions

Tournament of Champions

The inaugural Tournament of Champions was a friendly two-day tournament hosted by the Cosmos at Giants Stadium on April 2 and 3. Four teams participated: the Cosmos, Tampa Bay, Toronto Metros-Croatia and Victory SC of Haiti. In the opening match the Rowdies and Metros-Croatia played to a scoreless draw, before Tampa Bay won using the NASL’s new shoot-out tiebreaker, 2–1. ^[7] This put the Rowdies into the finals vs. the Cosmos the following day. The Rowdies lost the match, 2–1, and were runners-up. Their lone goal came from Wes McLeod with an assist by Farrukh Quraishi. ^[8]

Series results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
April 2, 1977	Toronto Metros-Croatia	A	0–1 (SO)	7,212
April 3, 1977	Cosmos	A	2–1	11, 098	Wes McLeod

Other friendlies

Tampa Bay hosted three international friendlies in 1977. The first was a, 1–0, losing effort on March 5 versus FC Zenit Leningrad. A crowd of more than 41,000 attended the preseason match. ^[9] The second international was midseason match-up versus A.S. Roma on June 14. They drew with the Italians, 1–1. Adrian Alston scored for the Rowdies on 30-yard free kick. ^[10] The third was played on October 13, and pitted the Rowdies against the Chinese National Team. Boris Bandov scored for Tampa Bay in the, 2–1, loss. ^[11]

The Rowdies also played a postseason friendly versus the Dallas Tornado in Tulsa, Oklahoma five days after the match against China. The game was meant to serve as a test balloon to see if Tulsa would support soccer. Tampa Bay won, 1–0, on an early second half goal by Mark Lindsay. The game drew 11,147 fans. Team Hawaii owner and potato chip magnate, Ward Lay soon moved his club, redubbing them the Tulsa Roughnecks. ^{[12] [13]}

Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
March 5, 1977	FC Zenit Leningrad	Tampa Stadium	0–1	41,680
June 14, 1977	A.S. Roma	Tampa Stadium	1–1	9,203	Adrian Alston
October 13, 1977	China National Team	Tampa Stadium	1–2	14,675	Boris Bandov
October 18, 1977	Dallas Tornado	Skelly Stadium	0–1	11,147	Mark Lindsay

North American Soccer League season

The Rowdies finished the regular season with 131 points placing them in 3rd place in the Eastern Division of the Atlantic Conference, and 7th out of 18 teams in the league overall. After a 7–3 start to the season, which put them at the top of the league standings, Tampa Bay limped home with a 7–9 record the rest of the way for a record of 14–12. The team’s midseason slump coincided exactly with Eddie Firmani’s abrupt resignation as head coach. The club averaged 19,491 fans per game, with three matches surpassing 21,000, one reaching 33,000 and still another topping 45,000.

Regular-season standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, BP = Bonus Points, Pts= point system

6 points for a win, 0 points for a loss, 1 point for each regulation goal scored up to three per game.

 -League Premiers (most points).  -Other playoff teams.

Eastern Division	W	L	GF	GA	BP	Pts	Home	Road
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	19	7	49	29	47	161	11-2	8-5
Cosmos	15	11	60	39	50	140	10-3	5-8
Tampa Bay Rowdies	14	12	55	45	47	131	11-2	3-10
Washington Diplomats	10	16	32	49	32	92	6-7	4-9

Regular season results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
April 9, 1977	Dallas Tornado	A	2–1	15,212	Rodney Marsh
April 16, 1977	Chicago Sting	H	4–0	33,484	Derek Smethurst (2), Adrian Alston (2)
April 24, 1977	Washington Diplomats	A	0–1	9,099	Rodney Marsh
April 30, 1977	Rochester Lancers	H	3–1	21,426	Derek Smethurst (2), Steve Wegerle
May 7, 1977	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	H	1–0	24,753	Rodney Marsh
May 13, 1977	Connecticut Bicentennials	H	4–0	12,759	Derek Smethurst (2), Adrian Alston, Steve Wegerle
May 15, 1977	Connecticut Bicentennials	A	1–4	1,520	Derek Smethurst (2), Adrian Alston, Mark Lindsay
May 20, 1977	Chicago Sting	A	3–4	3,233	Derek Smethurst (2), Adrian Alston
May 22, 1977	Toronto Metros-Croatia	A	4–0	7,649
May 29, 1977	Cosmos	H	4–2	45,288	Steve Wegerle (2), Ian Anderson, Rodney Marsh
June 5, 1977	Rochester Lancers	A	2–0	5,247
June 11, 1977	Vancouver Whitecaps	H	1–2	15,225	Derek Smethurst
June 19, 1977	Cosmos	A	3–1	62,394	Wes McLeod
June 22, 1977	Team Hawaii	H	4–3 (SO)	10,220	Adrian Alston, David Robb, Ian Anderson
June 25, 1977	Seattle Sounders	A	3–0	22,388
June 27, 1977	San Jose Earthquakes	A	1–4	17,612	Derek Smethurst (2), Rodney Marsh, David Robb
July 1, 1977	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	A	3–2	9325	Steve Wegerle, David Robb
July 6, 1977	Washington Diplomats	H	1–2	8,398	Derek Smethurst
July 9, 1977	Las Vegas Quicksilvers	H	4–1	12,123	Smethurst, Auguste, Marsh, Alston
July 13, 1977	Los Angeles Aztecs	H	4–1	16,133	Derek Smethurst (3), David Robb
July 16, 1977	Minnesota Kicks	A	1–0	36,302
July 20, 1977	Portland Timbers	H	3–2 (OT)	14,230	David Robb, Derek Smethurst, Rodney Marsh
July 23, 1977	Toronto Metros-Croatia	H	2–0	17,473	Arsène Auguste, David Robb
July 27, 1977	Portland Timbers	A	4–1	13,328	David Robb
July 30, 1977	St. Louis Stars	H	3–2 (SO)	21,876	Rodney Marsh, David Robb
August 5, 1977	St. Louis Stars	A	1–0	9,158

Playoff results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
August 10, 1977	Cosmos	A	3–0	57,828

Statistics

Season scoring

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

Player	GP	G	A	Pts
Derek Smethurst	21	19	4	42
Rodney Marsh	24	8	11	27
Steve Wegerle	25	5	11	25
David Robb	15	8	1	17
Adrian Alston	17	7	3	17
Wes McLeod	20	1	5	7
Mark Lindsay	20	1	3	5
Arsène Auguste	14	2	0	4
Ian Anderson	11	2	0	4
Len Glover	19	0	3	3
Mike Connell	26	0	1	1
Dennis Wit	7	0	1	1
Paul Hammond	24	0	0	0
Stewart Jump	22	0	0	0
Kevin Eagan	21	0	0	0
Farrukh Quraishi	14	0	0	0
Joey Fink	13	0	0	0
Boris Bandov	5	0	0	0
Frantz St. Lot	5	0	0	0
Winston DuBose	3	0	0	0
Radomir Stefanović	2	0	0	0
Alex Pringle	1	0	0	0
Rino Agostinis	0	0	0	0

Season goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses ^[1]

Player	GP	Min	Svs	GA	GAA	W	L
Paul Hammond	24	2185	174	41	1.69	13	11
Winston DuBose	3	196	22	4	1.83	1	1

Player movement

In

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred from	Fee/notes	Date	Source
5	DF	Rino Agostinis	Vancouver Columbus	none	March 2, 1977	[14]
5	FW	David Robb	Aberdeen F.C.	on loan	May 16, 1977	[15]
3	MF	Ian Anderson	St. Johnstone F.C.	on loan	May 16, 1977	[16]
20	FW	Boris Bandov	Seattle Sounders	no details	July 24, 1977	[17]
22	DF	Radomir Stefanović	HNK Rijeka	arrived July 29, 1977	July 19, 1977	[18]

Out

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred to	Fee/notes	Date	Source
1	GK	Arnie Mausser	Vancouver Whitecaps	sold contract	April 2, 1977	[19]
3	DF	Alex Pringle	Washington Diplomats	sold contract	April 10, 1977	[20]
5	DF	Rino Agostinis	none	released from team	May 2, 1977	[21]

See also

• 1977 North American Soccer League season
• 1977 in American soccer
• Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993)

References

1. "Rowdies stats". Tampa Tribune. August 9, 1977. p. 2-C. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
2. Blankenship, Ken (June 4, 1977). "Firmani's bombshell: a kick in the derriere". St. Petersburg Times. p. 5C. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
3. Henderson, Jim (June 4, 1977). "For Shaken Rowdies, The Show Must Go On". Tampa Tribune. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
4. Mudry, Richard (June 10, 1977). "Boyle, Rowdies singing old tune". Tampa Times. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
5. Henderson, Jim (October 21, 1977). "John Boyle Going 'Over There'". Tampa Tribune. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
6. Blankenship, Ken (June 5, 1977). "Shocked, leaderless Rowdies take on Lancers". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
7. "Rowdies Win; Face Cosmos". Tampa Tribune. April 3, 1977. p. 1-C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
8. "Cosmos hold off Rowdies 2-1, Mausser sold". St. Petersburg Times. April 4, 1977. p. 1C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
9. Henderson, Jim (March 6, 1977). "Russians Go One-Up On Rowdies". Tampa Tribune. p. 1-D. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
10. Blankenship, Ken (June 15, 1977). "Morale boost for Rowdie: Roma tied 1-1". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
11. Tierney, Mike (October 14, 1977). "Chinese nip Rowdies 2–1 for first tour win". Tampa Times. p. 1-C. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
12. "Lindsay Lifts Rowdie". St. Petersburg Times. October 19, 1977. p. 5C. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
13. "Team Hawaii makes it official: Headed for Tulsa". Honolulu Advertiser. November 16, 1977. p. C2. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
14. "Agostinis to complete Rowdies roster". St. Petersburg Times. March 2, 1977. p. 3C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
15. Henderson, Jim (May 17, 1977). "Rowdies To Sign Two Scots, Will Host Rome Club In June". Tampa Tribune. p. 1-C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
16. Henderson, Jim (May 17, 1977). "Rowdies To Sign Two Scots, Will Host Rome Club In June". Tampa Tribune. p. 1-C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
17. Henderson, Jim (July 26, 1977). "The Bull To Dress On Trip". Tampa Tribune. p. 1-C. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
18. Henderson, Jim (July 30, 1977). "An Odyssey Of Red Tape Finally Ends". Tampa Tribune. p. 7-C. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
19. Henderson, Jim (April 3, 1977). "Vancouver Purchases Mausser". Tampa Tribune. p. 1-C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
20. Henderson, Jim (April 11, 1977). "Rowdies Return Minus Pringle". Tampa Tribune. p. 1-C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
21. Mudry, Richard (May 3, 1977). "Agostinis trimmed from Rowdies". Tampa Times. p. 5C. Retrieved April 11, 2020.

• 1977 Rowdies results