1979–80 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season


The 1979–80 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the sixth indoor season of the club's existence.

Overview

The 1979–80 indoor season was the Tampa Bay Rowdies' sixth season of existence, and their sixth season of indoor play. As in previous years, all home games were played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was the first fully sanctioned indoor season in the North American Soccer League’s history and Tampa Bay lost only once at home. The Rowdies finished second in the Eastern Division, and qualified for the playoffs with an 8–4 record. They won five of six matches in the playoffs en route to winning the Eastern Division crown, the NASL indoor championship, and a 13–5 overall finish. Yugoslavian, Petar Baralić led the club with 21 goals in the regular season, and 23 across all competitions.

Playoffs

The Rowdies completely dismantled Detroit in the first round with a 12–1 victory. In the Eastern Division championship series they swept top-seeded Atlanta, 7–3 and 6–5. In the Championship finals Memphis took the first game, by a count of 5–4. Tampa Bay stormed back on the return leg, 10–4, to set up a tiebreaker. Peter Anderson scored the only goal of the deciding mini-game to give the NASL indoor title to the Rowdies. South African, Steve Wegerle led the team in the postseason with 11 goals. While presenting the championship trophy to Rowdies captain Jan van der Veen, NASL commissioner Phil Woosnam said, “It was only fitting, because Tampa Bay was instrumental in the development of indoor soccer.”

Club

Roster

*trialist player

Management and technical staff

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, GB = Games Behind 1st Place, % = Winning Percentage, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Avg Att = Average Home Attendance
Eastern DivisionWLGB%GFGAAvg Att
Atlanta Chiefs102.83370465,069
Tampa Bay Rowdies842.66775645,910
Detroit Express753.58370693,937
Fort Lauderdale Strikers397.25058651,724
New England Tea Men2108.16752813,249

Results

Playoffs

Bracket

Results

Playoff scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
PlayerGPGAPts
Steve Wegerle611729
Óscar Fabbiani69927
Wes McLeod65616
Peter Anderson64311
Perry Van der Beck63410
Petar Baralić6259
John Gorman6248
Mike Connell6317
Farrukh Quraishi6113
Sandje Ivanchukov6022

Statistics

Season scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points, Pen = Penalty Minutes
PlayerGPGAPtsPen
Petar Baralić122110512
Wes McLeod121312382
Peter Anderson11711251
Jan van der Veen877214
Óscar Fabbiani467191
Steve Wegerle1156162
Doug Wark862140
John Gorman1235112
Mike Connell1126106
Perry Van der Beck92266
Farrukh Quraishi121468
Arsène Auguste122154
Sandje Ivanchukov120220
Željko Bilecki120222
Tommy Maurer60000
Timothy Collins50000
Winston DuBose10000
Kevin Clinton10000

Season goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses
PlayerGPMinSvsGAGAAWL
Željko Bilecki12683173544.7484
Kevin Clinton13013612.0000
Winston DuBose115114.0000

Player movement