The 1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the first indoor season of the club's existence. It also marked the first time the expansion Rowdies participated in any North American Soccer League sanctioned competition.

Original kit The Rowdies' jersey used during the 1975 indoor season was different than later indoor and outdoor years in that the neckline was merely a cuff rather than the full collar style that became so familiar in all of Tampa Bay's later NASL campaigns.Rowdies imageInoor Home Team image Photographic evidence also indicates that the cuff-style jersey saw limited use during the 1975 outdoor season, but by season's end it disappeared altogether.

Club

Roster

No.PositionNationPlayer *amateur player

Management and technical staff George Strawbridge, Jr., owner Beau Rogers, general manager Eddie Firmani, head coach Chas Serednesky, business manager Francisco Marcos, director of public relations Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager

Honors NASL Indoor Tournament: Runners up NASL Indoor, Region 3: Regional champions

Individual honors All-Tournament Team: Doug Wark Regional MVP: Ringo Cantillo (Regional totals: 2 games, 4 goals)

Review In part because of the success of the spring 1974 indoor tour by the Red Army team the NASL decided to hold an indoor tournament of its own. Of the 20 franchises in the league, sixteen participated. Teams were separated into four regional groups of four. The Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, was chosen as one of the Regional venues, with the Rowdies as hosts for Region 3. The San Jose Earthquakes were given the honor of hosting the championship semifinals and finals at the Cow Palace.

Region 3 tournament The winner of the Region 3 would gain an automatic place in the Championship tournament four weeks later in California. In their first tournament game the Rowdies had no trouble with the Washington Diplomats, winning by a score of 7–2. Two nights later Tampa Bay had a tougher task in coming from behind to defeat the Baltimore Comets, 8–6. Those two victories left the Rowdies tied with the Miami Toros in the standings, however the tie-breaker was goal differential. Tampa Bay's plus-7 goal margin narrowly edged out the Toros’ plus-6, and the Rowdies advanced. Ringo Cantillo was named MVP of the Region, edging out Miami's Nico Bodonczy by one vote.

Regional standings PosTeamGWLGFGAGDPTS1Tampa Bay Rowdies220158+742Miami Toros2201812+643Baltimore Comets2021419-504Washington Diplomats202614-80

Championship tournament Tampa Bay was paired up with the New York Cosmos in the semifinals, while the other semifinal had San Jose clashing with the Dallas Tornado. Led by Doug Wark’s record six-goal performance, the Rowdies jumped out to an early 3–0 lead, and never looked back, as they dispatched the Cosmos, 13–5, to advance to the final on Sunday.

On March 16, 1975, the Tampa Bay faced a heavily favored San Jose Earthquakes team in the Rowdies first of what would be many championship finals, against. With the score 6–1 at the end of the first period, and 8,618 fans behind them, San Jose showed exactly why they were tabbed to win the tournament. From there the home team cruised to an 8–5 victory. In addition to the Rowdies’ runner-up performance, Doug Wark was named to the All-Tournament squad and was the second leading scorer in the tournament.

Bracket

Championship standings PosTeamGWLGFGAGD1San Jose Earthquakes4403717+202Tampa Bay Rowdies4313321+113Dallas Tornado4221412+24New York Cosmos4131827-95Miami Toros2201812+6

Match reports

Statistics

Scoring GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points Player GP G A PtsDoug Wark410020Ringo Cantillo45212Bernard Hartze34311Farrukh Quraishi44210Zygmunt Lezak2408Eddie Engerth3306Nick Papadakis3204Mike Connell3113John Boyle4022Lima2022Alex Pringle4011Randy Garber1011Javier Alvarez-000Bob Isaacson-000

Goalkeeping Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses Player GP Min GA GAA W LMike Hewitt 4 210 21 5.25 3 1Bob Stetler 0 0 0 0 0 0

Player movement Since Tampa Bay was a newly formed club, the entire roster was new.

In No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource 3 DF Alex Pringle Clyde F.C. No details available December 1974 1 GK Mike Hewitt Dundee F.C. Contract purchased from Dundee December 1974 7 MF Bernard Hartze Cape Town Spurs No details available December 17, 1974 2 DF Farrukh Quraishi Oneonta State 1st overall pick of NASL college draft January 18, 1975 10 FW Eddie Engerth Philadelphia amateur team Former Hartwick College player January 20, 1975 6 DF Mike Connell Rangers Johannesburg No details available January 20, 1975 11 DF Doug Wark Rochester Lancers Purchased from Rochester January 27, 1975 4 DF John Boyle Orient Obtained release after 5-month pursuit February 6, 1975 9 MF Nick Papadakis none Free agent February 9, 1975 8 MF Randy Garber Penn State 2nd round of college draft February 9, 1975 12 FW Bob Isaacson Hartwick College 3rd round of college draft February 9, 1975 13 DF John Bluem Hartwick College 4th round of college draft February 9, 1975 12 FW Javier Alvarez St. Petersburg Kickers Free transfer March 11, 1975 15 FW Eddie Firmani none Added as an emergency player March 11, 1975 1 GK Bob Stetler East Stroudsburg State No contract, to keep amateur status January 1975

Out none

Loan in No.Pos.PlayerLoaned fromDetailsStartSource5 MF Ringo Cantillo Cincinnati Comets Indoor season loan February 9, 1975 9 MF Lima Club Deportivo Oro Indoor loan with option for transfer March 11, 197513 MF Zygmunt Lezak Polonia NY Indoor loan with option for transfer March 11, 1975

See also 1975 team indoor stats

References