The Fort Lauderdale Strikers played their third season of indoor soccer in the North American Soccer League in 1983.
Club
Roster No.PositionNationPlayer
Coaching staff Head Coach: David Chadwick Asst. Coach: Bill Nuttall
Background The 1983 indoor season was part of the club's seventeenth season in professional soccer. Previously, the NASL indoor season was played during the winter months and running through the new year, such as the 1981–82 season. This year, because five NASL teams elected not to play indoor while three others played in the MISL, the format changed to a round-robin tournament known as the 1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer. In addition to the Grand Prix, the Strikers played two friendlies, the first of which was a farewell of sorts from the briefly defunct Jacksonville Tea Men to their fans.
Review The team's long history of poor showings indoors looked to change this time around, because unlike in previous years most of the Strikers' marquee players decided to participate. The Grand Prix campaign started off ominously with the airline losing the team's uniforms in transit to Tulsa before their first game, and forcing them to borrow kits from their opponents.
The bad luck continued. Going into the third round of the Grand Prix, a total of 10 players were unavailable for the match. Four (Canter, Fowles, Meschbach, Savage) were trying out for Team America. Tony Whelan and Brian Kidd were battling the flu. Ken Fogarty (hamstring) and Thomas Rongen (fractured iliac) were nursing injuries, while Branko Šegota was serving a one-game red card suspension for verbally abusing a referee. Finally, Ray Hudson was in the midst of missing at least five games with a case of the mumps.
Most of this unfortunate situation happened to occur after they'd agreed to loan Keith Weller to the Roughnecks. To make matters worse, the 36 year-old Weller came alive with 8 goals and 7 assists in just six games with Tulsa. With so many line-up changes it made it nearly impossible to play with any kind of consistency. The Strikers finished the Grand Prix in fourth place. They did however reach the finals of the Molson $5,000 Shootout Challenge, which was a side competition held in conjunction with the Grand Prix.
Including friendlies, from 1977 through 1983 the Strikers posted an indoor record of 6–39, losing the final eight in a row. This would be the final year of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers as an indoor team. They sat out the 1983–84 NASL Indoor season and the club moved to Minnesota.
Statistics Goals (worth 2 points), Assists (worth 1 point) Leading scorers*GoalsAssistsPointsBranko Šegota11931Teófilo Cubillas91028Steve Wegerle7620Tony Whelan4210Robert Meschbach419Brian Kidd328Bob Bolitho306Bruce Miller306Andrew Parkinson306Colin Fowles102Alexander Szatmari102Charlie Kadupski022Carl Strong011*includes Grand Prix and friendlies
Competitions
$5,000 Shootout Challenge Semi-finals: Tampa Bay 3–1 Tulsa • Fort Lauderdale 3–1 Montreal Finals: Tampa Bay 2–0 Fort Lauderdale
Grand Prix preliminary round results
Round 1 played at Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma January 21Fort Lauderdale Strikers8–4Tulsa Roughnecks Attendance: 3,522
January 22Montreal Manic8–6Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 4,341
Round 2 played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida February 4Montreal Manic6–3Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 4,450
February 5Tampa Bay Rowdies10–6Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 5,545
Round 3 played at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma February 11Tampa Bay Rowdies7–5Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 2,064
February 12Tulsa Roughnecks5–4 (OT)Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 3,245
Standings G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential, PTS= point system
6 points awarded for a win. Beginning with the fourth goal, 1 bonus point awarded for each goal scored. Maximum of 5 bonus points per game.
PosTeamGWLGFGAGDPTS1*Montreal Manic6423631+5422Tampa Bay Rowdies6423831+7423Tulsa Roughnecks6333337-4334Fort Lauderdale Strikers6153240-820 *Montreal wins top seed based on 2-0 head-to-head edge over Tampa Bay
Match reports
Playoffs rounds
Semi-finals played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec February 18Montreal Manic11–4Fort Lauderdale StrikersAttendance: 6,049
Third place match played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec (1:30 PM EDT) February 20Tulsa Roughnecks9–4Fort Lauderdale Strikers Attendance: 7,895
Final Grand Prix rankings PosTeamGWLGFGAGD1Tampa Bay Rowdies8625141+102Montreal Manic8535140+113Tulsa Roughnecks8444849-14Fort Lauderdale Strikers8174060-20
Transfers DatePositionPlayerFrom club4 February 1983GK Craig ScarpelliSt. Louis Steamers DatePositionPlayerTo club4 February 1983MF Keith WellerTulsa Roughnecks
Non-grand prix matches Before the Grand Prix began the Strikers helped the defunct Jacksonville Tea Men say thanks and goodbye to 5,000 loyal fans in a match at the Jacksonville Coliseum. Five days after the Grand Prix concluded, the Strikers played the Tampa Bay Rowdies in an indoor friendly, in Lakeland, Florida.
Match reports
References