Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975-1993)

North American Soccer League (1975-1984)
American Indoor Soccer Association (1986-1987)
American Soccer League (1988-1989)
American Professional Soccer League (1990-1993)

Background

The Tampa Bay Rowdies are one of the most beloved and enduring of American soccer brands. The original club formed in 1975, part of a wave of North American Soccer League expansion in 1974 and 1975 that brought about the formation of many of the United States’ most famous clubs in one inspired burst. The Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps all sprang forth alongside the Rowdies during that remarkable year.

The original Rowdies outlasted them all. The club played on for nearly a decade after the early 1980’s disintegration of the NASL.

All of the aforementioned clubs have seen numerous revivals over the years. With one exception, the modern incarnations of these classic clubs play to large crowds in Major League Soccer. The latter day Earthquakes, Sounders and Timbers have all hoisted the MLS Cup. The exception is the Rowdies themselves. Revived in 2008 as a 2nd division club, the contemporary Rowdies toil today in a 70-year old former minor league baseball stadium in St. Petersburg. Though owned by the well-heeled Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball, the team’s current condition bears a much closer resemblance to the original Rowdies’ wilderness years of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s than to the club’s late 70’s heyday atop the NASL.

A Kick In The Grass

The glory days ran from 1975, when the Rowdies won the NASL’s Soccer Bowl championship as an expansion side, until 1980, the year that attendance both in Tampa (28,532 per match) and league-wide (14,997 per match) reached its peak.

During that six-year span, the Rowdies appeared in the Soccer Bowl three times, following their 1975 victory with losses to the New York Cosmos in 1978 and the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1979. The club was nearly unbeatable at home during this stretch, running up a 69-13 record (.841 winning percentage) at Tampa Stadium.⁶Mizell, Hubert. “Tampa Bay Troubles Are A Pain In The Grass”. Soccer Digest. November 1983.

Death of the NASL

After 1980, the Rowdies never again fielded a winning side in the NASL. By 1983, the Rowdies’ home attendance had plunged to less than half of the club’s 1980 peak. The same trend held across the rest of the NASL, which shrunk from a high of 24 clubs in 1980 to a mere 9 shell-shocked survivors in 1984.

Rodney Marsh, the club’s greatest player, returned to the Rowdies in 1984, now as the club’s head coach. But Tampa Bay finished last in the NASL’s East Division with a 9-15 mark.

In January 1985 the Rowdies left the North American Soccer League and announced a one-year hiatus from competitive soccer. The NASL, reduced to only two clubs willing to play in 1985, went out of business in March 1985.

Final Years

New owners Dick and Cornelia Corbett, who took over the club at the tail end of the NASL era, kept the club going wherever they could. The Rowdies hosted a few exhibitions during the summers of 1985 and 1986. During the winter of 1986-87, the Rowdies briefly joined the American Indoor Soccer Association (AISA), playing their first competitive matches in two years. Marsh, now age 42, came out of retirement after six years and played the indoor season, pulling triple duty as a part-time player, head coach and general manager.

In August 1987, the Rowdies withdrew from the AISA after one season, announcing they would focus on the outdoor game instead as members of the new American Soccer League. The ASL, which debuted in the spring of 1988, was a low-budget East Coast-only circuit that represented the highest level of professional outdoor soccer in the U.S. during the late 1980’s. The Rowdies never returned to the indoor game after 1987.

The league gradually grew back into a nationwide league known as the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) during the early 1990’s. The Rowdies put together one last strong season in 1992, advancing to the APSL championship game where they lost to the Colorado Foxes. Crowds remained small and the the Rowdies finally ran out of gas following the 1993 season.

Tampa Bay Rowdies Shop

Tampa Bay Rowdies Video

The Rowdies’ Road to the ’75 Soccer Bowl.  Awesome NFL Films-style featurette on the Rowdies Cinderella debut season.

The Rowdies face the New York Cosmos before a huge crowd at Tampa Stadium on May 29th, 1977. TVS Network broadcast.

In Memoriam

Haitain defender Arsene Auguste (1975-1980) died of a heart attack on March 20th, 1993 at age 42.

Midfielder Glenn “Mooch” Myernick (Rowdies ’83-’84) died on October 9, 2006 after suffering a heart while jogging.  He was 51. New York Times obituary.

Defender Sandje Ivanchukov (1978-1980) passed away August 29, 2007 at the age of 47.

English mid Graham Paddon, who came over on loan from Norwich City in 1978, died November 19, 2007 at 57.

Defender Barry Kitchener, who played on loan from Millwall in 1979, died of cancer on March 30, 2012.  Kitchener was 64.

Pedro DeBrito, the 1982 NASL Rookie-of-the-Year with the Rowdies, died at 55 of injuries from a car accident. July 5th, 2014.

Downloads

Soccer Bowl ’79 Media Guide

1979 Mr. Pibb Rowdie Rooters Kids’ Club Membership Application

4-20-1980 Rowdies @ New York Cosmos Press Notes

5-7-1980 Rowdies @ Edmonton Drillers Press Notes

6-12-1982 Rowdies vs. New York Cosmos Press Notes

4-10-1984 Rowdies @ Leeds United (UK) Match Program

5-13-1984 Rowdies @ New York Cosmos Press Notes

5-26-1984 Rowdies vs. New York Cosmos Press Notes

Links

North American Soccer League Media Guides

North American Soccer League Programs

American Indoor Soccer Association Media Guides

American Indoor Soccer Association Programs

American Soccer League Programs (1988-1989)

American Professional Soccer League Media Guides

American Professional Soccer League Programs

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