1978 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1977 season
President	George W. Strawbridge, Jr.
Manager	Gordon Jago
Stadium	Bayfront Center
Top goalscorer	League: All: Derek Smethurst (14 goals)
Highest home attendance	6,410 (Feb. 3 vs. Diplomats) & (March 10 vs. Kicks)
Lowest home attendance	2,600 (May 3 vs. Norwich City)
Average home league attendance	5,641
← 1977 1979 →

The 1978 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the fourth indoor season of the club's existence. Though it had appeared that after the success of an international friendly between Tampa Bay and Zenit Leningrad in 1977^[1] the league was finally poised to sanction a full indoor season for 1978,^[2] the owners ultimately pulled the plug on the idea for the second straight year with a majority "no" vote.^[3][4] The NASL however did not restrict teams from scheduling matches on their own.

Tampa Bay scheduled nine indoor games for 1978, eight of which were played. The Rowdies first match on January 28 against the Washington Diplomats also marked Gordon Jago's debut as Rowdies head coach.^[5][6] What would have been the fourth match was canceled because the roof of the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum, where the Rowdies were scheduled to take on the Rochester Lancers, collapsed under the weight of a heavy snowfall in the early morning hours of January 18.^[7][8] The Rowdies' final match was an international friendly against Norwich City on May 3. All home matches were played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Club

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	Goalkeeper	Hammond, PaulPaul Hammond	England
2	Defender	Quraishi, FarrukhFarrukh Quraishi	England
4	Defender	Auguste, ArsèneArsène Auguste	Haiti
5	Forward	Robb, DavidDavid Robb	Scotland
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	Midfielder	Paddon, GrahamGraham Paddon	England
12	Forward	Smethurst, DerekDerek Smethurst	South Africa
14	Forward	Fink, JoeyJoey Fink	United States
15	Midfielder	Linday, MarkMark Linday	England
16	Defender	Newman, GuyGuy Newman	United States
17	Forward	Eagan, KevinKevin Eagan	United States
18	Goalkeeper	DuBose, WinstonWinston DuBose	United States
19	Defender	St. Lot, FrantzFrantz St. Lot	Haiti
20	Forward	Bandov, BorisBoris Bandov	United States
23	Defender	Crudo, TonyTony Crudo	United States

Competitions

Results summaries

Match reports

Washington Diplomats v Tampa Bay Rowdies

January 28, 1978 1	Washington Diplomats	7–6 (OT)	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Washington, D.C.
8:00 PM	Askew	Report	Smethurst , , , Alston Fink	Stadium: D.C. Armory Attendance: 5,016

Washington Diplomats v Tampa Bay Rowdies

January 29, 1978 2	Washington Diplomats	3–11	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Washington, D.C.
3:00 PM	Welch Garber Steele	Report	Crudo Fink , , Wegerle Quraishi , , Frantz St. Lot Marsh ,	Stadium: D.C. Armory

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Washington Diplomats

February 3, 1978 3	Tampa Bay Rowdies	6–5	Washington Diplomats	St. Petersburg, Florida
	Smethurst , Lindsay , Auguste Crudo	Report	Welch , Askew Steele Darrell	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,410

Rochester Lancers v Tampa Bay Rowdies

February 5, 1978 4	Rochester Lancers	canceled	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Hartford, Connecticut
		Report		Stadium: Hartford Civic Center Coliseum

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Tulsa Roughnecks

February 11, 1978 5	Tampa Bay Rowdies	7–3	Tulsa Roughnecks	St. Petersburg, Florida
	Smethurst McLeod , Fink , Quraishi Wegerle	Report		Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,384

Tulsa Roughnecks v Tampa Bay Rowdies

February 14, 1978 6	Tulsa Roughnecks	6–11	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tulsa, Oklahoma
	Stamenkovic Molnar , , Ferrel McKeown	Report	McLeod Wegerle Smethurst , , , , Fink Lindsay Frantz St. Lot Marsh	Stadium: Tulsa Assembly Center Attendance: 3,250

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Dallas Tornado

February 18, 1978 7	Tampa Bay Rowdies	7–3	Dallas Tornado	St. Petersburg, Florida
	Smethurst , McLeod , Marsh , Fink	Report		Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,399

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Minnesota Kicks

March 10, 1978 8	Tampa Bay Rowdies	11–2	Minnesota Kicks	St. Petersburg, Florida
	McLeod Eagan , , Marsh , Wegerle , Alston , Fink	Report	Willey Vujkovic	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 6,410

Tampa Bay Rowdies v Norwich City

May 3, 1978 9	Tampa Bay Rowdies	10–11 (OT)	Norwich City	St. Petersburg, Florida
	Marsh , McLeod , Robb Fink Paddon Connell Wegerle Bandov	Report	Peters , , , , Ryan , , Suggett , Sainty	Stadium: Bayfront Center Attendance: 2,600

Statistics

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

Player	G	A	Pts
Derek Smethurst	14	4	32
Rodney Marsh	9	11	29
Joey Fink	10	3	23
Wes McLeod	8	0	16
Steve Wegerle	6	4	16
Farrukh Quraishi	4	4	12
Kevin Eagan	3	6	12
Adrian Alston	3	3	9
Mark Lindsay	3	2	8
Boris Bandov	1	5	7
Tony Crudo	2	2	6
Frantz St. Lot	2	1	5
Mike Connell	1	1	3
Arsène Auguste	1	0	2
David Robb	1	0	2
Graham Paddon	1	0	2

See also

• 1978 team indoor stats

References

1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19770311&id=K68pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6341,1965450&hl=en
2. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19770503&id=WGEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nl0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6797,2885848&hl=en
3. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fFlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4763,3078494&dq=indoor+awry&hl=en
4. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LK8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kV0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5596,2564302&dq=soccer+bowl+78+strawbridge&hl=en
5. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19780128&id=qlpQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mVgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3279,3135441&hl=en
6. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19770228&id=IUdQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oFgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2449,2772946/
7. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19780118&id=yG1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sYUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3561,3855095&hl=en
8. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19780201&id=c1ZNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CPsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7106,212415&hl=en