The 1976

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

indoor season was the second

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

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.

Club

Roster

Management and technical staff

* George Strawbridge, Jr., owner * Beau Rogers, general manager *

Eddie Firmani Edwin Ronald "Eddie" Firmani (; born 7 August 1933) is a former professional football player and manager. A former forward, he spent most of his career in Italy and England. Born in South Africa, he represented the Italy national team internat ...

, 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

*NASL Indoor Tournament:

Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...

*NASL Indoor, Eastern Regional: Regional champions *International Cup: Champions ''(friendly)''

Individual honors

*Tournament MVP:

Clyde Best Clyde Cyril Best, MBE (born 24 February 1951) is a Bermudian former football player. He was one of the first black players in First Division football in England, scoring 47 goals as a striker for West Ham United between 1968 and 1976. Early ...

''(Tournament totals: 4 games, 7 goals, 4 assists)'' *All-Tournament Team:

, Stewart Scullion,

Derek Smethurst Derek Smethurst (born 24 October 1947, in Durban) is a retired South African soccer forward who played professionally in South Africa, England and the United States. Biography Born into a sporting family, both his father Norman and brother P ...

*Regional MVP: Stewart Scullion ''(Regional totals: 2 games, 3 goals, 1 assist)'' *All-Regional Team: Stewart Scullion,

Rodney Marsh Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English former footballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. A forward, he won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal. Brought up in the ...

, Arsene Auguste

Review

The Tampa Bay Rowdies were the runners-up of the

1975 NASL Indoor tournament In early 1975, the North American Soccer League hosted its first league-wide indoor soccer tournament over the course of seven weeks. All but four NASL teams participated. Overview Though the Dallas Tornado had won the NASL's 1971 Hoc-Soc Tourna ...

in March, and the winners of

Soccer Bowl '75 Soccer Bowl '75 was the championship final of the 1975 NASL season, played between the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Portland Timbers. The match took place on August 24, 1975 at Spartan Stadium, in San Jose, California. It was the first North Ameri ...

in August, both held California at the home venues of the San Jose Earthquakes. In October 1975 the NASL announced that the

Bayfront Center Bayfront Center was an indoor arena located in St. Petersburg, Florida that hosted many concerts, sporting and other events. Depending on the configuration, it could hold up to 8,600 people. The arena was opened in 1965 and demolished in 2004. It ...

would host both the 1976 Indoor Eastern Regionals and Final Four. 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.

Friendlies

Billed in media reports as an International Challenge Cup Match, 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.

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. The following evening Tampa Bay had a much easier time in defeating the

Boston Minutemen The Boston Minutemen were an American professional soccer team based out of Boston that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1974 to 1976. Their home fields included Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Schaefer Stadium ...

, 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. Stewart Scullion was named Regional MVP, with

and Arsene Auguste joining him on the All-Regional squad.

Regional standings

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. 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

, two by

, and one by

Mark Lindsay Mark Lindsay (born March 9, 1942) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders. Early life Lindsay was born in Eugene, Oregon, and was the second of eight children of George and Esther Ellis Lindsay. The ...

. 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.

Bracket

Championship standings

Match reports

Statistics

Scoring

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

Goalkeeping

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

Player movement

References

{{Tampa Bay Rowdies seasons 1976 indoor Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) seasons

Sports in St. Petersburg, Florida