| Club: | Tampa Bay Rowdies |
| Season: | 1976 indoor |
| Manager: |  Eddie Firmani |
| Chairman: |  Beau Rodgers |
| Chrtitle: | General manager |
| Owner: | George W. Strawbridge, Jr. |
| Stadium: | Bayfront Center |
| League: | NASL |
| League Result: | Regional: Champion League: Champion |
| League Topscorer: | Clyde Best (7 goals) |
| Season Topscorer: | Clyde Best (11 goals) |
| Highest Attendance: | 5,787 (March 27 vs. Lancers) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 4,762 (March 12 vs. Diplomats) |
| Average Attendance: | 5,464 |
| Pattern B1: | _collargreen |
| Pattern La1: | _tbrowdies12h |
| Pattern Ra1: | _tbrowdies12h |
| Pattern Sh1: | _green_border |
| Pattern So1: | _hoops_green_2 |
| Leftarm1: | 006600 |
| Body1: | ffffff |
| Rightarm1: | 006600 |
| Shorts1: | FFFFff |
| Socks1: | FFF200 |
| Pattern B2: | _tbrowdies13h |
| Pattern La2: | _tbrowdies12h |
| Pattern Ra2: | _tbrowdies12h |
| Pattern Sh2: | _norwich1617h |
| Pattern So2: | _hoops_green_2 |
| Leftarm2: | 006600 |
| Body2: | 006600 |
| Rightarm2: | 006600 |
| Shorts2: | 006600 |
| Socks2: | FFF200 |
| American: | true |
| Prevseason: | 1975 |
| Nextseason: | 1977 |
The 1976 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the second indoor season of the club's existence. The Rowdies were able to replicate their 1975 outdoor success by winning the North American Soccer League's 1976 indoor championship.
George Strawbridge, Jr., owner Beau Rogers, general manager Eddie Firmani, head coach Chas Serednesky, business manager Mike Dolan and Stan Taylor, trainers John Kauzlarich, team physician Alfredo Beronda, equipment managerThe Tampa Bay Rowdies were the runners-up of the 1975 NASL Indoor tournament in March, and the winners of Soccer Bowl '75 in August, both held California at the home venues of the San Jose Earthquakes. In October 1975 the NASL announced that the Bayfront Center would host both the 1976 Indoor Eastern Regionals and Final Four.[1] [2] It was later announced that Tampa Bay would also play a pre-tournament international friendly at the Bayfront Center. This meant that all of the Rowdies indoor matches for 1976 would be played at home.[3]
Billed in media reports as an International Challenge Cup Match,[4] Tampa Bay’s first game was a pre-tournament international friendly versus Santos F.C. of Jamaica, and played on March 6 at the Bayfront Center. The Rowdies easily defeated their guests, who were playing indoor soccer for the very first time, by the score of 11–4.[5]
The winner of the Eastern Regional would gain an automatic place in the Final Four.In their first tournament game the Rowdies battled back from a 4–1 deficit midway through the second period, to score eight straight goals and defeat Washington, 9–5.[6] The following evening Tampa Bay had a much easier time in defeating the Boston Minutemen, 5–3, as they dictated play until the final minutes, when Boston scored two meaningless late goals. Those two victories left the Rowdies as the only undefeated team in the group, and therefore champions of their region for the second straight year.[7] Stewart Scullion was named Regional MVP, with Rodney Marsh and Arsene Auguste joining him on the All-Regional squad.
| Pos | Team | G | W | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 2 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 8 | +6 | 4 | ||
| 2 | Washington Diplomats | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Miami Toros | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 15 | align=center | -6 | 2 | |
| 4 | Boston Minutemen | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 11 | align=center | -2 | 0 |
In the semifinal Tampa Bay held a slim, one-goal lead in the third period over the Dallas Tornado. With less than three minutes remaining the Rowdies broke open the match the by scoring three straight goals in a span of 81 seconds to defeated Dallas, 6–2, and earn their second straight trip to the indoor finals.[8]
On March 27, 1976, the Tampa Bay Rowdies played in their third championship final out of three total competitions in their brief history. This time they would face surprise finalists Rochester Lancers. Unfortunately for Rochester, goalkeeper Jim May was severely injured late in their semi-final upset win over San Jose, and could not play in the final. The Rowdies were without Rodney Marsh for the contest, as he suffered a head injury in the semi-final. In a closely fought match Tampa Bay prevailed, 6–4, on three goals by Derek Smethurst, two by Clyde Best, and one by Mark Lindsay. Smethurst’s game winning, third goal came with 3:18 left in the match. Best was named tournament MVP, with Smethurst and Stewart Scullion joining him on the All-Tournament squad.[9]
| Pos | Team | G | W | L | GF | GA | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 4 | 4 | 0 | 26 | 14 | +12 | |
| 2 | Rochester Lancers | 4 | 3 | 1 | 20 | 16 | +4 | |
| 3 | San Jose Earthquakes | 4 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 18 | +17 | |
| 4 | Dallas Tornado | 4 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 15 | +5 |
GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | Clyde Best | 5 | 11 | 5 | 27 | |
| align=left | Stewart Scullion | 5 | 6 | 6 | 18 | |
| align=left | Rodney Marsh | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 | |
| align=left | Derek Smethurst | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | |
| align=left | Randy Garber | 5 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| align=left | Mark Lindsay | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | |
| align=left | Doug Wark | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
| align=left | Arsène Auguste | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| align=left | Alex Pringle | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| align=left | Joey Fink | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| align=left | Eddie Austin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| align=left | John Bluem | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses
| Player | GP | Min | GA | GAA | W | L | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left | 4 | 160 | 13 | 3.66 | 4 | 0 | ||
| align=left | 2 | 65 | 5 | 3.46 | 1 | 0 |