Minnesota Strikers

North American Soccer League (1984)
Major Indoor Soccer League (1984-1988)

Strikers Stuff

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Strikers MISL Logo T-Shirt

The Strikers arrived in Minneapolis in 1984 to play summertime outdoor soccer in the NASL, but played only a dozen matches at the Metrodome before the NASL died.

So ultimately the Strikers are best remembered as an indoor club in the Major Indoor Soccer League, sharing the Met Center with the Minnesota North Stars on chilly winter nights in Bloomington.

This colorful tee features both Strikers and MISL logos and is available in sizes Small through XXXL from Old School Shirts.

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Background

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977-1983) of the North American Soccer League moved to Minneapolis in December 1983. Strikers owner Elizabeth Robbie wanted a city with a suitable building for indoor soccer. She likely hoped to rekindle the tremendous fan support generated by the NASL’s Minnesota Kicks (1976-1981) during the late 1970’s. The Robbie family had deep pockets – patriarch Joe Robbie also owned the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

The Kicks averaged over 30,000 fans per match in 1977, making the club one of the most popular in the history of American professional soccer. But that was at the old outdoor Metropolitan Stadium, which closed in 1981 shortly after the Kicks went out of business. The Strikers would play their “outdoor” soccer indoors, in the much maligned Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. The Strikers drew an average of 14,263 for twelve outdoor (ahem) matches in the summer of 1984. That was the second best figure in the floundering NASL, but a far cry from the glory years of the Kicks.

Move to the MISL

In August 1984, the Strikers accepted an invitation to switch to the Major Indoor Soccer League, along with the three other NASL clubs.  The NASL folded a few months later. The Strikers were now an indoor soccer-only club. They would play in the wintertime at The Met Center, home of the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars.

The Strikers high point came in the spring of 1986, when the club made a run to the MISL championship series.  A bandwagon formed during the team’s playoff run. The team briefly became a hot ticket in the Twin Cities, packing large crowds into the Met Center during the postseason. The Strikers ultimately lost the championship series to the MISL’s dynasty club, the San Diego Sockers.

Indoor soccer really never drew in Minnesota. The Strikers lasted in the MISL for four seasons, but the team was perennially among the league’s worst box office performers.  The Robbies publicly considered folding the club on several occasions. They finally pulled the plug in June of 1988.

Tino & Ozzie

Much of the Strikers’ national publicity during their Minnesota years came thanks to eccentric goalkeeper and bird enthusiast Tino Lettieri.  Lettieri, who also played for the Kicks from 1977 to 1981, owned quite a few real parrots. But he was best known for “Ozzie” (pictured with Tino at right). Lettieri kept the stuffed toy parrot tucked inside his goal during games, first outdoors in the NASL and later indoors in the MISL.

The tradition continued until 1985, when an otherwise entirely forgettable MISL Commissioner named Francis Dale earned the league national headlines by banning Ozzie from the league’s nets.

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Strikers Hoodie from Extra Time Vintage Soccer

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Rock n' Roll Soccer

The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League

by Ian Plenderleith

The North American Soccer League – at its peak in the late 1970s – presented soccer as performance, played by men with a bent for flair, hair and glamour. More than just Pelé and the New York Cosmos, it lured the biggest names of the world game like Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Gerd Müller and George Best to play the sport as it was meant to be played-without inhibition, to please the fans.

The first complete look at the ambitious, star-studded NASL, Rock ‘n’ Roll Soccer reveals how this precursor to modern soccer laid the foundations for the sport’s tremendous popularity in America today. 

 

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Minnesota Strikers Video

In Memoriam

Joe Robbie passed away on January 7, 1990 at the age of 73. New York Times obituary.

Elizabeth Robbie passed a year after her husband in November 1991. South Florida Sun-Sentinel obituary.

Polish defender Helmut Dudek (Strikers ’86-’87) died at age 36 after a battle with cancer on May 22, 1994.

English defender Barry Wallace, who played from the Strikers from 1984 to 1985, passed away of cancer at age 47 in 2006.

Nigerian forward Thompson Usiyan (Strikers ’84 – ’87) died at the age of 65 on August 31st, 2021.

Downloads

8-19-1984 Strikers vs. New York Cosmos Press Notes

1-12-1985 Strikers @ New York Cosmos Press Notes

Links

North American Soccer League Media Guides

North American Soccer League Programs

Major Indoor Soccer League Media Guides

Major Indoor Soccer League Programs 1978-1992

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