The 1983–84 North American Soccer League indoor season was the fourth and last in league history. The San Diego Sockers defeated the New York Cosmos for their third straight indoor title, having won the NASL Indoor title in 1981–82 and the MISL title in 1982–83.
Season recap The NASL was struggling for life at this point, and finding teams to play the indoor season would be difficult. While San Diego, the Chicago Sting and the Golden Bay Earthquakes were committed to the league, filling out the ranks would be problematic. With the league making plain their desire to have both an indoor and outdoor element going forward, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers decided to move to Minnesota for the 1984 NASL season due to a lack of suitable arenas in the local area.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies were unsure whether or not they would be able to play, as the previous owners had committed to play in the indoor season and then sold the team. This left the new owners in the lurch. The lack of a suitable arena was also an issue, eventually forcing Rowdies' home games to be split among three sites. The Tulsa Roughnecks were only in the league thanks to a fundraiser that put $65,000 in the team's coffers, even though the team had won the outdoor Soccer Bowl just weeks earlier.
Despite the uncertainty, this would be the largest NASL indoor season ever as a 32-game regular season, a best-of-three semifinal round and a best-of-five championship series were on the schedule. Also, the first (and only) All-Star Game in NASL history took place on February 8 at Chicago Stadium. The hometown Chicago Sting took on an All-Star team of the six other squads. Despite four goals from Chicago's Karl-Heinz Granitza, the All-Stars won 9–8.
Not surprisingly, the teams with steady management performed best through the season. The Sockers averaged over 11,000 for their home games and finished first, overcoming a slow 8-8 start. The hot streak continued in the playoffs as the team won all five of their postseason games en route to the NASL title.
The NASL confirmed plans for 40-game indoor seasons in 1985 and 1986 near the end of the season, but folded for good in March 1985. By then, San Diego, Minnesota, New York and Chicago had joined the MISL. While the Sockers, Strikers and Sting experienced success in the MISL, the Cosmos would start the season but drop out on February 22, 1985.
Teams TeamCity/AreaArenaChicago StingChicago Chicago StadiumGolden Bay EarthquakesOakland, CaliforniaDaly City, CaliforniaOakland–Alameda County Coliseum ArenaCow PalaceNew York CosmosEast Rutherford, New JerseyNew York, New YorkBrendan Byrne Arena (8 games)Madison Square Garden (8 games)San Diego SockersSan Diego San Diego Sports ArenaTampa Bay RowdiesTampa, FloridaSt. Petersburg, FloridaLakeland, FloridaTampa Fairgrounds Arena (8 games)Bayfront Center (5 games)Lakeland Civic Center (3 games)Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa Fairgrounds PavilionVancouver WhitecapsVancouver Pacific Coliseum
Map of clubs
Regular season The 1983–84 regular season schedule ran from November 11, 1983, to March 25, 1984. The 32 games per team was almost double the length of previous NASL Indoor seasons.
W = Wins, L = Losses, GB = Games Behind 1st Place, Pct. = Winning Percentage, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against Final Standings W L Pct. GB GF GA Home Road San Diego Sockers 2111.656 – 19614814–27–9 New York Cosmos 2012.625121919813–37–9 Chicago Sting 2012.625118314812–48–8 Golden Bay Earthquakes 1913.594220619012–47–9 Vancouver Whitecaps 1220.37591872096–106–10 Tulsa Roughnecks 1121.344101662167–94–12 Tampa Bay Rowdies 923.281121772255–114–12
Regular season statistics
Scoring leaders
GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points Player Team GP G A Pts Steve Zungul Golden Bay Earthquakes 32 63 56 119 Karl-Heinz Granitza Chicago Sting 32 59 33 92 Juli Veee San Diego Sockers 28 45 29 74 Carl Valentine Vancouver Whitecaps 32 44 26 70 Chico Borja New York Cosmos 31 29 37 66 Godfrey Ingram Golden Bay Earthquakes 32 38 25 63 Tatu Tampa Bay Rowdies 30 49 11 60 Stan Terlecki New York Cosmos 23 34 23 57 Peter Ward Vancouver Whitecaps 28 42 12 54 Kaz Deyna San Diego Sockers 27 28 24 52
Leading goalkeepers
Note: GP = Games played; Min – Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses Player Team GP Min GA GAA W L Jim Gorsek San Diego Sockers 18 1074 73 4.08 14 4 Victor Nogueira Chicago Sting 32 1873 136 4.36 20 10 Bob Rigby Golden Bay Earthquakes 31 1890 184 5.84 18 13 David Brcic New York Cosmos 26 1570 155 5.92 18 8 Jürgen Stars Tampa Bay Rowdies 26 1506 171 6.81 8 18 Winston DuBose Tulsa Roughnecks 22 1416 161 6.82 7 15
1984 NASL All-Star Game On February 8, the city of Chicago hosted what turned out to be the only All-Star game in NASL history. The Chicago Sting battled a team of All-Stars from the other six teams for the benefit of Chicago Tribune Charities. The starters were voted on by the players, while San Diego coach Ron Newman selected the reserves. The All-Stars outdueled the Sting 9–8 before 14,328 fans at Chicago Stadium, despite an MVP performance by Chicago's Karl-Heinz Granitza. Granitza scored four goals on the night.
All-Star Game starters Position All-Star Game reserves * Alan Mayer, San Diego G David Brcic, New York • Tino Lettieri Vancouver Barry Wallace, Tulsa D Angelo DiBernardo, New York • Frantz Mathieu, Tampa Bay Fernando Clavijo, Golden Bay D Mike Connell, Tampa Bay • Gert Wieczorkowski, San Diego Steve Zungul, Golden Bay F Carl Valentine, Vancouver • ^Stan Terlecki, New York Kaz Deyna, San Diego F Jean Willrich, San Diego • Zequinha, Tulsa Juli Veee, San Diego F Peter Ward, Vancouver *Alan Mayer of San Diego was originally selected as a starter but due to a broken finger was unable to play. Tino Lettieri of Vancouver was named as his replacement.^Stan Terlecki of New York was originally selected as a reserve but due to injury was unable to play. Zequinha of Tulsa was named as his replacement.
Match report
NASL All-Stars During the finals the NASL announced the traditional All-NASL team of All-Stars, as voted on by the players at the end of the regular season.
First Team Position Second Team Victor Nogueira, Chicago G David Brcic, New York Fernando Clavijo, Golden Bay D Dan Canter, New York Gert Wieczorkowski, San Diego D Martin Donnelly, San Diego Kaz Deyna, San Diego M Juli Veee, San Diego Steve Zungul, Golden Bay F Carl Valentine, Vancouver Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago F Pato Margetic, Chicago • Stan Terlecki, New York
Playoffs
Bracket
Semifinals Best of three series Higher seedLower seedGame 1Game 2Game 3AttendanceSan Diego Sockers – Golden Bay Earthquakes 5–2 7–2 x March 29 • San Diego Sports Arena • 10,870 April 1 • Oakland Coliseum Arena • 4,413New York Cosmos – Chicago Sting 4–3 3–7 8–7 March 28 • Brendan Byrne Arena • 2,842March 30 • Chicago Stadium • 15,462 April 1 • Brendan Byrne Arena • 5,420
Championship Series Best of five series Higher seedLower seedGame 1Game 2Game 3Game 4Game 5AttendanceSan Diego Sockers – New York Cosmos 5–2 10–4 7–3 x x April 5 • San Diego Sports Arena • 12,006April 8 • San Diego Sports Arena • 12,696 April 11 • Brendan Byrne Arena • 4,717
Championship match reports
1983–84 NASL Indoor Champions: San Diego Sockers
Post-season awards Most Valuable Player: Steve Zungul, Golden Bay Coach of the Year: Eddie Firmani, New York Finals MVP: Jean Willrich, San DiegoArchived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
Team attendance totals ClubGamesTotalAverageChicago Sting16189,22811,827San Diego Sockers16182,63311,415New York Cosmos1678,3914,899Golden Bay Earthquakes1672,1904,512Tulsa Roughnecks1659,3043,707Vancouver Whitecaps1646,3362,896Tampa Bay Rowdies1643,0652,692OVERALL112671,1475,992
References
External links The Year in American Soccer – 1984