1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies season

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President

George W. Strawbridge, Jr.

Head coach

Eddie Firmani

StadiumTampa Stadium

NASLDivision: 1st
Playoffs: Champions

Tampa Bay Rowdies

1975 season

President

George W. Strawbridge, Jr.

Head coach

Eddie Firmani

Stadium

Tampa Stadium

NASL

Division: 1st
Playoffs: Champions

U.S. Open Cup

Did not enter

Top goalscorer

League:

Derek Smethurst (18 goals)
All:

Derek Smethurst (21 goals)

Highest home attendance

22,710
(Aug. 16 vs. Miami)

Lowest home attendance

5,281
(May 28 vs. Denver)

Average home league attendance

12,064

Home colors

Away colors

Third colors

← first season

1976 →

The 1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies season was the first season of the club's existence.

During the outdoor campaign occasionally a random Rowdies player could be seen wearing the collarless jersey^[1] used by all players during the 1975 indoor season earlier in the year, but by season's end the full-collar style that would become so familiar in all of Tampa Bay's later NASL campaigns eventually took over.^[2] The striping sequence on the sleeves was also different. Tampa Bay would not wear a cuff-style collar again until the 1986–87 American Indoor Soccer Association season.^[3]

Club

Roster

No.	Position	Nation	Player
1	GK	ENG	Paul Hammond
1	GK	SCO	Mike Hewitt
1	GK	USA	Bob Stetler
2	DF	ENG	Farrukh Quraishi
3	DF	SCO	Alex Pringle
4	MF	SCO	John Boyle (capt.)
5	DF	ENG	Malcolm Linton
6	DF	RSA	Mike Connell
7	MF	RSA	Bernard Hartze
8	MF	USA	Randy Garber
9	FW	BER	Clyde Best
10	FW	SCO	Stewart Scullion
11	FW	SCO	Doug Wark
12	FW	RSA	Derek Smethurst
13	DF	ENG	Stewart Jump
14	FW	ENG	John Sissons
15	MF	ENG	Mark Lindsay
16	DF	USA	John Bluem
17	FW	USA	Eddie Austin
18	DF	HAI	Arsène Auguste
18	MF	ITA	Eddie Firmani

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

The Rowdies received eight individual honors following the 1975 NASL season.

Soccer Bowl Man of the Match: Stewart Jump
NASL All-Star, First Team: Farrukh Quraishi
NASL All-Star, Second Team: Stewart Jump, John Boyle, Stewart Scullion
NASL All-Star, Honorable Mention: John Sissons, Clyde Best, Derek Smethurst

Review

The 1975 North American Soccer League season was the Tampa Bay Rowdies first outdoors. The expansion Rowdies had only recently completed a successful debut in the 1975 indoor tournament, by finishing as runners-up. With Eddie Firmani as coach and John Boyle as team captain, they opened outdoor play by splitting a pair of preseason friendlies versus the San Antonio Thunder.

Tampa Bay's first regular season match was played at Tampa Stadium against the Rochester Lancers before 12,133 paying customers (and another 3,000-plus, who were there for free). Their first ever goal was scored by Derek Smethurst in the opening half. The first goal conceded by the Rowdies occurred at the 27:59 mark when Tommy Ord put one past Tampa Bay goalie Mike Hewitt. The game remained tied 1–1 at the end of 90 minutes. At 3:45 of golden goal overtime, second-half substitute, Alex Pringle, recorded the teams' first ever game-winning goal. The game also saw Firmani (age 41) insert himself into the lineup with about one minute remaining in regulation. This was because several players had been delayed in Europe, causing the Tampa Bay roster to be a bit thin for the match.^[4]

The Rowdies success carried on as they went on to record winning streaks of six and seven games during the regular season. Tampa Bay finished the year tied with the Portland Timbers for the best record in the league with a mark of 16–6. The winning ways continued into the playoffs as they did not concede a single goal in any round. They defeated Toronto Metros-Croatia, 1–0, in the quarterfinals. That was followed by a 3–0 dismantling of 1974 league runners-up, and Florida Derby rival, Miami Toros in the semifinal, which sent them into the Soccer Bowl.

The Soccer Bowl '75 championship match featured the two teams with the best records in the NASL, the Rowdies and Portland. Coincidentally both squads were also expansion teams. Behind a stingy defense and a pair of second half goals by Arsène Auguste and Clyde Best, Tampa Bay came away the victors, 2–0. Defender Stewart Jump was named man of the match. This would be the Rowdies only outdoor NASL championship.

February 8, 1975 1	South Florida Bulls	1–3	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Tampa, Florida
12:00 P.M.		Report	Hartze ,	Stadium: USF Soccer Stadium

April 11, 1975 2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2–1	San Antonio Thunder	Tarpon Springs, Florida
7:30 P.M.	Boyle 65' Smethurst 75'	Report p. 3-C	Marotte 89:30'	Stadium: Tarpon Springs High School

April 13, 1975 3	Tampa Bay Rowdies	1–3	San Antonio Thunder	Winter Park, Florida
1:30 P.M.	Forteis 40:32' (o.g.)	Report p. 3-C	Wolf 9:16' (pen.) Hylkema 16:35' Didi 76:10'	Stadium: Sandspur Field Attendance: 2,000

May 19, 1975 4	Hartwick/Oneonta All-Stars	1–2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Oneonta, New York
	Napolitano	Report	Wark (Lindsay) Smethurst (Lindsay)	Stadium: Oneonta State Field Attendance: 1,000 (est)

December 21, 1975 5	USSF All-Stars' Coaches	0–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Orlando, Florida
		Report	Garber (Mausser)	Stadium: Tangerine Bowl Attendance: 250 (est)

1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies season

Club

Roster

Management and technical staff

Honors

Review

Competitions

Friendlies

NASL regular season

Division standings

Overall League Placing

Match reports

NASL Playoffs

Bracket

Match reports

References

Related Articles

Pos	Eastern Division	GP	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	22	16	6	46	27	+19	135	NASL Playoffs
2	Miami Toros	22	14	8	47	30	+17	123	NASL Playoffs
3	Washington Diplomats	22	12	10	42	47	−5	112
4	Philadelphia Atoms	22	10	12	33	42	−9	90
5	Baltimore Comets	22	9	13	34	52	−18	87

Pos	Club	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Portland Timbers	22	16	6	43	27	+16	138
2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	22	16	6	46	27	+19	135
3	Seattle Sounders	22	15	7	42	28	+14	129
4	Miami Toros	22	14	8	47	30	+17	123
5	Boston Minutemen	22	13	9	41	29	+12	116

April 26, 1975 1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2–1(OT)	Rochester Lancers	Tampa, Florida
	Smethurst 13:51' (Sissons) Pringle 93:45' (Boyle)	Report	Ord 27:59' (Jijon)	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 12,133

May 3, 1975 2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	1–0	New York Cosmos	Tampa, Florida
	Scullion 7:46'	Report		Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 8,378

May 9, 1975 3	Washington Diplomats	3–0	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Washington, D.C.
	Ingram 6:17' (Pillinger) Horton 16:17' (DeLeon) Horton 18:52' (Barry)	Report		Stadium: Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Attendance: 10,340

May 14, 1975 4	Tampa Bay Rowdies	3–1	Boston Minutemen	Tampa, Florida
	Smethurst 28:55' (Jump) Best 71:49' (Sissons) Best 74:44' (Scullion)	Report	Wooler 81:28'	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 6,117 Referee: Don DeSalvador

May 17, 1975 5	Connecticut Bicentennials	1–3	Tampa Bay Rowdies	New Haven, Connecticut
	Travljanin 78' (H. McCully)	Report	Smethurst 30'^[5] Boyle 53' (Smethurst) Best 82' (Quraishi)	Stadium: Yale Bowl Attendance: 3,410

May 21, 1975 6	Baltimore Comets	1–2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Baltimore, Maryland
	Henderson 5:36' (Aqui)	Report	Boyle 53:56' (Smethurst) Smethurst 81:15' (Sissons)	Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 3,648

May 28, 1975 7	Tampa Bay Rowdies	3–2	Denver Dynamos	Tampa, Florida
	Scullion 3:35' (Sissons) Ntsoelengoe^[6] 42:32' (o.g.) Scullion 60:21' (Best)	Report	Dawes 17:31' (Flater) Flater 22:28' (Dawes)	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 5,281 Referee: Larry King

May 31, 1975 8	San Antonio Thunder	0–4	Tampa Bay Rowdies	San Antonio, Texas
		Report	Smethurst 20:22' (Scullion) Best 65:55' (Wark) Garber 70:34' Hartze 74:58' (Austin)	Stadium: Alamo Stadium Attendance: 4,619 Referee: Robert Evans

June 21, 1975 13	St. Louis Stars	1–1 (3–5 p)	Tampa Bay Rowdies	St. Louis, Missouri
	Geimer 11:41' (Burnett)	Report	Smethurst 41:33' (Connell)	Stadium: Francis Field Attendance: 7,731
	Penalties
	Burnett Hawley Matteson Trost		Smethurst Pringle Jump Connell Scullion

July 29, 1975 19	Philadelphia Atoms	0–1(OT)	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
		Report	Smethurst 90:56'	Stadium: Veterans Stadium Attendance: 4,517

August 6, 1975 21	Tampa Bay Rowdies	0–3	Chicago Sting	Tampa, Florida
		Report	Hill 11:54' (Griffiths) Hill 37:59' Allen 88:00' (May)	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 12,761

August 9, 1975 22	Toronto Metros-Croatia	3–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Toronto, Ontario
	Vieri 10:30' Ferreira 69:30' (Polak) Polak 77:15' (Coyne)	Report	Smethurst 11:30' (Best)	Stadium: Varsity Stadium Attendance: 8,248

June 6, 1975 9	Miami Toros	0–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Miami, Florida
		Report	Smethurst 56:14' (Boyle)	Stadium: Miami Orange Bowl Attendance: 14,259

June 11, 1975 10	Tampa Bay Rowdies	0–2	Miami Toros	Tampa, Florida
		Report	David 49:11' (Archibald) Jordan 79:36' (David)	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 18,654 Referee: Gino D'Ippolito

June 13, 1975 11	Philadelphia Atoms	1–2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
	McLaughlin 74:45' (pen.)	Report on p. 1-C	Best 45:55' (Scullion) Scullion 84:41'	Stadium: Veterans Stadium Attendance: 5,819

June 20, 1975 12	Dallas Tornado	0–0 (4–2 p)	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Irving, Texas
		Report		Stadium: Texas Stadium Attendance: 4,179
	Penalties
	Ley Gore Moore Chadwick		Smethurst Garber Connell Boyle

June 28, 1975 14	Tampa Bay Rowdies	6–1	Baltimore Comets	Tampa, Florida
	Sissons 8:45' (Lindsay) Scullion 13:25' (Sissons) Sissons 34:40' (Scullion) Smethurst 71:50' (Sissons) Sissons 78:53' (Hartze) Scullion 79:20' (Best)	Report	Henderson 26:59'	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 8,610

July 12, 1975 15	Tampa Bay Rowdies	4–0	Baltimore Comets	Tampa, Florida
	Sissons (Scullion) Smethurst (Boyle) Smethurst 84:38' Lindsay 89:20' (Smethurst)	Report		Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 13,400

July 19, 1975 16	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2–1	Philadelphia Atoms	Tampa, Florida
	Smethurst 3:33' (Best) Smethurst 17:26' (Scullion)	Report	Bahr 16:32'	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 10,103

July 23, 1975 17	Tampa Bay Rowdies	5–1	Miami Toros	Tampa, Florida
	Best 19:12' (Sissons) Sissons 57:40' (Scullion) Connell 66:50' Smethurst 72:57' Smethurst 87:35' (Lindsay)	Report	David 89:57'	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 11,415

July 26, 1975 18	Tampa Bay Rowdies	3–1	Washington Diplomats	Tampa, Florida
	Scullion 36:25' Smethurst 72:51' (Best) Boyle 85:45'	Report	Barry 56:36' (Ingram)	Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 11,153

August 2, 1975 20	Washington Diplomats	3–1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	Washington, D.C.
	Horton 21:23' (Ingram) Ingram 27:58' (Barry) Horton 40:13' (Darrell)	Report	Smethurst 5:35'	Stadium: RFK Stadium Attendance: 2,415

August 13, 1975 Quarterfinals	Tampa Bay Rowdies	1–0	Toronto Metros-Croatia	Tampa, Florida
	Best 49:42' (Lindsay)	Report		Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 16,111

August 16, 1975 Semifinals	Tampa Bay Rowdies	3–0	Miami Toros	Tampa, Florida
	Scullion 54:33' (Best) Smethurst 66:58' (Sissons) Boyle 88:40' (Sissons)	Report		Stadium: Tampa Stadium Attendance: 22,710

August 24, 1975 Soccer Bowl '75	Tampa Bay Rowdies	2–0	Portland Timbers	San Jose, California
	Auguste 66:00' (Smethurst) Best 87:40'	Report		Stadium: Spartan Stadium Attendance: 17,009

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