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
OwnerUnited States George W. Strawbridge, Jr.
General managerUnited States Beau Rodgers
ManagerItaly Eddie Firmani
StadiumBayfront Center
NASLRegional: Champion
League: Champion
Top goalscorerLeague:
Bermuda Clyde Best
(7 goals)

All:
Bermuda 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 →

Club

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Roster

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

Management and technical staff

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  •   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

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Individual honors

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Review

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Scoring

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

Player GP G A Pts
Clyde Best 5 11 5 27
Stewart Scullion 5 6 6 18
Rodney Marsh 4 4 7 15
Derek Smethurst 4 4 0 8
Randy Garber 5 2 3 7
Mark Lindsay 5 3 0 6
Doug Wark 3 2 1 5
Arsène Auguste 4 1 2 4
Alex Pringle 4 1 1 3
Joey Fink 1 1 0 2
Eddie Austin 1 1 0 2
John Bluem 1 0 1 1

Goalkeeping

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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 Mausser 4 160 13 3.66 4 0
Bob Stetler 2 65 5 3.46 1 0

Player movement

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See also

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References

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  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.