1977 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1977 season

President

George W. Strawbridge, Jr.

Manager

Eddie Firmani

Stadium

Bayfront Center

Top goalscorer

League:
All:

Derek Smethurst (5 goals)

Highest home attendance

6,354
(March 9 vs. Zenit)

Lowest home attendance

5,016
(Feb. 27 vs. Strikers)

Average home league attendance

5,685

← 1976

1978 →

The 1977 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the third indoor season of the club's existence. Despite much lobbying from Rowdies owner, George W. Strawbridge, Jr., the league voted not to sanction an indoor season or tournament in 1977.^[1]^[2] As such, Tampa Bay played only two indoor matches that year.^[3] The first one versus the Fort Lauderdale Strikers was played on February 27.^[4]^[5] This marked the first meeting of what would soon become one of the most enduring rivalries in North American soccer, the Florida Derby. The Rowdies' other match was an international friendly against Zenit Leningrad on March 9. At the time Zenit was the reigning champion of the Soviet indoor league.^[6] Likewise, the Rowdies were the defending NASL indoor champs. Both matches were played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Club

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	Goalkeeper	Hammond, PaulPaul Hammond	England
1	Goalkeeper	Mausser, ArnieArnie Mausser	United States
1	Goalkeeper	DuBose, WinstonWinston DuBose	United States
2	Defender	Quraishi, FarrukhFarrukh Quraishi	England
3	Defender	Pringle (capt.), AlexAlex Pringle (capt.)	Scotland
4	Defender	Auguste, ArsèneArsène Auguste	Haiti
5	Defender	Agostinis, RenoReno Agostinis	Canada
6	Defender	Connell, MikeMike Connell	South Africa
7	Midfielder	Wegerle, SteveSteve Wegerle	South Africa
8	Midfielder	McLeod, WesWes McLeod	Canada
9	Forward	Alston, AdrianAdrian Alston	Australia
10	Forward	Marsh, RodneyRodney Marsh	England
11	Forward	Glover, LenLen Glover	England
12	Forward	Smethurst, DerekDerek Smethurst	South Africa
14	Forward	Fink, JoeyJoey Fink	United States
15	Midfielder	Linday, MarkMark Linday	England
16	Defender	Wit, DennisDennis Wit	United States
17	Forward	Eagan, KevinKevin Eagan	United States
19	Defender	St. Lot, FrantzFrantz St. Lot	Haiti

Competitions

Results summaries

Match reports

February 27, 1977 1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	9–8	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	St. Petersburg, Florida
	Lindsay Smethurst , , , Wegerle , Quraishi Alston	Report	Mulroy Sharp , , Nanchoff Ceballos Chadwick Hamlyn	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 5,016

March 9, 1977 2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	7–8	Zenit Leningrad	St. Petersburg, Florida
	Wegerle Marsh , , , Smethurst Glover	Report	Lokhov , Jakimtsev , Orlov Rasputin Davydov Golubev	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,354

Statistics

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

Player	G	A	Pts
Derek Smethurst	5	2	12
Steve Wegerle	3	3	9
Rodney Marsh	4	0	8
Adrian Alston	1	2	4
Farrukh Quraishi	1	2	4
Len Glover	1	0	2
Mark Lindsay	1	0	2
Dennis Wit	0	1	1
Alex Pringle	0	1	1
Mike Connell	0	1	1

References