1978 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

Tampa Bay Rowdies
1978 indoor season
Owner	George Strawbridge, Jr.
General manager	Chas Serednesky, Jr
Manager	Gordon Jago
Stadium	Bayfront Center
Top goalscorer	League: ; All: ; Derek Smethurst (14 goals)
Highest home attendance	6,410; (Feb. 3 vs. Diplomats) &; (March 10 vs. Kicks)
Lowest home attendance	2,600; (May 3 vs. Norwich City)
Average home league attendance	5,641
Home colors	Away colors
	← 1977 1979 →

Last updated May 20, 2025

The 1978 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the fourth indoor season of the club's existence.

Overview

Though it had appeared, after the success of an international friendly between Tampa Bay and Zenit Leningrad in 1977,^[1] that the North American Soccer League was finally poised to sanction a full indoor season for 1978,^[2] the owners ultimately pulled the plug on the idea for the second straight year with a majority "no" vote.^[3]^[4]^[5] The NASL however did not restrict teams from scheduling matches on their own.

Tampa Bay scheduled nine indoor games for 1978, eight of which were played. The Rowdies first match on January 28 against the Washington Diplomats also marked Gordon Jago's debut as Rowdies head coach.^[6]^[7] This was followed by two more matches with Washington. What would have been the fourth match of the season was canceled because the roof of the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum, where the Rowdies were scheduled to take on the Rochester Lancers, collapsed under the weight of a heavy snowfall in the early morning hours of January 18.^[8]^[9] The next two matches, both against the Tulsa Roughnecks, marked the Roughnecks' first ever match and first ever match in Tulsa, played on February 11 and 14 respectively.^[10] This was followed by matches against the Dallas Tornado and Minnesota Kicks. The Rowdies' final match was nearly two months later, an international friendly against Norwich City on May 3. All home games were played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Club

Roster

No.	Position	Nation	Player
1	GK	ENG	Paul Hammond
2	DF	ENG	Farrukh Quraishi
4	DF	HAI	Arsène Auguste
5	FW	SCO	David Robb
6	DF	RSA	Mike Connell
7	MF	RSA	Steve Wegerle
8	MF	CAN	Wes McLeod
9	FW	AUS	Adrian Alston
10	FW	ENG	Rodney Marsh (capt.)
11	MF	ENG	Graham Paddon
12	FW	RSA	Derek Smethurst
14	FW	USA	Joey Fink
15	MF	ENG	Mark Lindsay
15	MF	ARG	Luis Papandrea
16	DF	USA	Guy Newman
17	FW	USA	Kevin Eagan
18	GK	USA	Winston DuBose
19	DF	HAI	Frantz St. Lot
20	FW	USA	Boris Bandov
23	DF	USA	Tony Crudo

Management and technical staff

George W. Strawbridge, Jr., owner
Chas Serednesky, Jr., general manager
Gordon Jago, head coach
Ken Shields, trainer
Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager

Competitions

Results summaries

Match reports

January 28, 19781	Washington Diplomats	7–6 (OT)	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Washington, D.C.
8:00 PM	Welch 0:52' (Garber) Welch 3:57' (Pringle) Welch 4:16' Garber 20:18' (Steele) Garber 22:24' (Steele) Garber 55:30' (Steele, Demkowski) Askew 63:04' (Demkowski)	Report	Smethurst 2:11' (Bandov) Smethurst 20:36' (Marsh) Alston 25:15' (Fink) Smethurst 28:14' Smethurst 40:19' (Quaraishi) Fink 41:23' (Smethurst, Wegerle)	Stadium: D.C. Armory Attendance: 3,662^[11]

January 29, 19782	Washington Diplomats	3–11	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Washington, D.C.
3:00 PM	Welch 42:52' Garber 55:47' (Darrell) Steele 57:24' (Welch)	Report	Crudo 10:48' (Marsh) Fink 14:32' (Smethurst) Wegerle 20:25' Fink 21:25' (Quaraishi) Quraishi 30:39' (Crudo) St. Lot 31:26' (Wegerle) Quraishi 36:23' Fink 37:57' Quraishi 40:46' Marsh 46:27' Marsh 59:09' (Eagan)	Stadium: D.C. Armory Attendance: 3,111

February 3, 19783	Tampa Bay Rowdies	6–5	Washington Diplomats	St. Petersburg, Florida
8:00 PM	Smethurst 20:08' (Marsh) Lindsay 25:10' (Quraishi) Lindsay 28:36' (Marsh) Auguste 53:31' (Marsh, Smethurst) Smethurst 54:24' Crudo 57:10' (Alston)	Report	Welch 3:13' Askew 37:20' (Welch) Steele 43:00' Darrell 44:13' (Garber) Welch 48:38' (Fink)	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,410 Referee: Fred Usher

February 5, 19784	Rochester Lancers	Canceled	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Hartford, Connecticut
Cancelled due to roof collapse		Report		Stadium: Hartford Civic Center Coliseum
Note: Cancelled due to roof collapse.

February 11, 19785	Tampa Bay Rowdies	7–3	Tulsa Roughnecks	St. Petersburg, Florida
8:00 PM	Smethurst 4:29' (Lindsay) McLeod 13:58' Fink 26:15' Quraishi 29:59' (St. Lot) Fink 30:29' (Eagan) Wegerle 41:05' McLeod 49:38' (Eagan)	Report A Report B	Dovedon 7:01' García 8:34' (Stamenkovic) Ferrel 11:26' (Molnar)	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,384

February 14, 19786	Tulsa Roughnecks	6–11	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tulsa, Oklahoma
8:00 PM (CST)	Stamenkovic 2:27' Molnár 16:25' Ferrel 25:23' (Stamenkovic) Molnár 46:04' (Dovedan) McKeown 52:25' (Dovedan) Molnár 58:53'	Report	McLeod 7:54' (Crudo) Wegerle 5:17' (Eagan) Smethurst 7:02' Fink 9:05' (Wegerle) Lindsay 13:11' (Wegerle) Smethurst 33:07' (Marsh) Smethurst 34:22' (Connell) Smethurst 41:29' (Bandov) St. Lot 53:34' (Bandov) Marsh 54:51' (Smethurst) Smethurst 56:37' (Lindsay)	Stadium: Tulsa Assembly Center Attendance: 3,250

February 18, 19787	Tampa Bay Rowdies	7–3	Dallas Tornado	St. Petersburg, Florida
8:00 PM	Fink 15:56' (Bandov) Smethurst 29:45' (Marsh) Marsh 42:50' (Eagan) Marsh 43:37' McLeod 45:49' (Bandov) Smethurst 51:49' (Marsh) McLeod 53:14' (Eagan)	Report	Newman 19:37' (Ryan) Newman 23:50' (Ryan) Stahl 41:04'	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,399

March 10, 19788	Tampa Bay Rowdies	11–2	Minnesota Kicks	St. Petersburg, Florida
8:00 PM	McLeod 3:49' (Marsh) Eagan 4:25' (Fink) Marsh 11:22' Eagan 12:46' (Alston) Alston 14:18' Alston 20:40' (Marsh) Eagan 45:00' (Alston) Marsh 52:10' (Fink) Wegerle 56:39' (Quraishi) Wegerle 58:51' (Marsh) Fink 59:57'	Report	Willey 8:10' (Hamilton) Vujkovic 23:46'	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,410

May 3, 19789 Int’l friendly	Tampa Bay Rowdies	10–11 (OT)	Norwich City	St. Petersburg, Florida
8:00 PM	Paddon 11:20' Fink 18:56' (Marsh) McLeod 19:23' (Papandrea) Wegerle 24:45' Bandov 27:40' (Fink) McLeod 39:57' (Fink) Marsh 50:05' (Eagan) Connell 53:48' (Marsh) Marsh 54:07' (Connell) Robb 59:44'	Report 1 Report 2	Sainty 17:55' (Suggett) Sainty 24:16' (Bond) Ryan 25:18' (Sainty) Peters 26:21' Peters 30:45' (Nightengale) Ryan 33:58' Suggett 34:58' Sainty 41:28' Peters 53:14' (Sainty) Suggett 59:32' (Ryan) Peters 63:43' (Suggett)	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 2,384^[12] Referee: Sam Homich

Statistics

Scoring

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

Player	GP	G	A	Pts
Derek Smethurst	6	14	4	32
Rodney Marsh	8	9	13	31
Joey Fink	8	10	6	26
Wes McLeod	5	8	0	16
Steve Wegerle	7	6	4	16
Kevin Eagan	7	3	7	13
Farrukh Quraishi	7	4	4	12
Adrian Alston	4	3	3	9
Mark Lindsay	7	3	2	8
Boris Bandov	6	1	5	7
Tony Crudo	7	2	2	6
Frantz St. Lot	7	2	1	5
Mike Connell	8	1	2	4
Arsène Auguste	7	1	0	2
David Robb	1	1	0	2
Graham Paddon	1	1	0	2
Luis Papandrea	1	0	1	1
Guy Newman	1	0	0	0

Goalkeeping

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

Player	GP	Min	SV	GA	GAA	W	L
Winston DuBose	7	428	111	35	4.91	5	2
Paul Hammond	1	60	11	5	5.00	1	0

Player movement

References

↑ Martz, Ron (March 11, 1977). "NASL considering adoption of indoor season". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
↑ Martz, Ron (March 12, 1977). "Indoor soccer season approved". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
↑ Chick, Bob (March 29, 1976). "Indoor Kicks May Go Awry". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
↑ Tierney, Mike (April 3, 1978). "NASL approves official indoor league in 1979". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
↑ Tierney, Mike (January 20, 1979). "Rowdies want to come indoors". St. Petersburg Times. p. 3C. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
↑ Meyer, John (January 28, 1978). "Diplomatic Debut For Jago". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
↑ Meyer, John (January 30, 1978). "Rowdies' Jago Proves Point". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
↑ "Tons of snow and ice cave in roof of Hartford Civic Center". The Deseret News. January 18, 1978. p. 1A. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
↑ Schneider, Dick (February 1, 1978). "Express Coming To Lakeland May Bring Exhibition Games". Lakeland Ledger. p. 7D. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
↑ Tierney, Mike (February 11, 1978). "Rowdies expected to rough up Roughnecks". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
↑ Marcia Schallert, editor. (1979). 1979 Indoor Tournament match program. Tampa, FL. Tampa Bay Rowdies. p 32
↑ Chick, Bob (February 2, 1979). "Bayfront's Cooking, NASL Is Smelling". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved December 30, 2016.

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[1] Martz, Ron (March 11, 1977). "NASL considering adoption of indoor season". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved September 20, 2016.

[2] Martz, Ron (March 12, 1977). "Indoor soccer season approved". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved September 19, 2016.

[3] Chick, Bob (March 29, 1976). "Indoor Kicks May Go Awry". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved September 19, 2016.

[4] Tierney, Mike (April 3, 1978). "NASL approves official indoor league in 1979". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved January 3, 2017.

[5] Tierney, Mike (January 20, 1979). "Rowdies want to come indoors". St. Petersburg Times. p. 3C. Retrieved January 3, 2017.

[6] Meyer, John (January 28, 1978). "Diplomatic Debut For Jago". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved September 20, 2016.

[7] Meyer, John (January 30, 1978). "Rowdies' Jago Proves Point". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved September 20, 2016.

[8] "Tons of snow and ice cave in roof of Hartford Civic Center". The Deseret News. January 18, 1978. p. 1A. Retrieved September 20, 2016.

[9] Schneider, Dick (February 1, 1978). "Express Coming To Lakeland May Bring Exhibition Games". Lakeland Ledger. p. 7D. Retrieved September 20, 2016.

[10] Tierney, Mike (February 11, 1978). "Rowdies expected to rough up Roughnecks". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1C. Retrieved January 20, 2018.

[11] Marcia Schallert, editor. (1979). 1979 Indoor Tournament match program. Tampa, FL. Tampa Bay Rowdies. p 32

[12] Chick, Bob (February 2, 1979). "Bayfront's Cooking, NASL Is Smelling". Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved December 30, 2016.

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