1977 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

Overview

Despite much lobbying from Rowdies owner, George W. Strawbridge, Jr., the North American Soccer League voted not to sanction an indoor season or tournament in 1977. As such, Tampa Bay played only two indoor matches that year. The first one versus the Fort Lauderdale Strikers was played on February 27. 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. Likewise, the Rowdies were the defending NASL indoor champs. Both matches were played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Longterm cultural significance

Not only was this brief indoor season the flash-point for one of the longest running soccer derbies in North America as previously mentioned, but it was significant for another reason. When Ed Tepper approached Earl Foreman about starting a fully professional indoor-only league, he used a videotape of the 1977 Rowdies–Zenit Leningrad match to show not only the game's potential, but also the crowd's enthusiastic responses to the end-to-end action. By October 1977 the pair announced the formation of the Major Indoor Soccer League. That league would grow to become the sport's standard bearer for many years, even gaining a regular slot in the ESPN line up, before finally folding in 1992. Today, though most popular in North America, indoor soccer is played throughout the world, with its own FIFA-like governing body. The World Minifootball Federation, based in the Czech Republic, is the international federation dedicated to promoting the sport.

Statistics

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