# 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

| No. | Position | Player | Nation |
| 1 | GK | Winston DuBose | United States |
| 2 | GK | Željko Bilecki | Canada |
| 3 | DF | John Gorman | Scotland |
| 4 | DF | Arsène Auguste | Haiti |
| 5 | MF | Jan van der Veen (capt.) | Netherlands |
| 6 | DF | Mike Connell | South Africa |
| 7 | FW | Steve Wegerle | South Africa |
| 8 | MF | Wes McLeod | Canada |
| 9 | FW | Peter Anderson | England |
| 12 | MF | Perry Van der Beck | United States |
| 13 | FW | Doug Wark | Scotland |
| 14 | DF | Peter Chandler | United States |
| 15 | MF | Petar Baralić | Yugoslavia |
| 15 | DF | Timothy Collins* | Ireland |
| 16 | DF | Farrukh Quraishi | England |
| 18 | DF | Sandje Ivanchukov | United States |
| 19 | MF | Tommy Maurer | United States |
| 20 | FW | Óscar Fabbiani | Chile |
| 21 | FW | Keith Peacock | England |
| 22 | GK | Kevin Clinton | United States |
*trialist player

### Management and technical staff

* George W. Strawbridge, Jr., owner
* Chas Serednesky, Jr., general manager
* Gordon Jago, head coach
* Keith Peacock, assistant coach
* Ken Shields, trainer
* Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager

### Honors

* NASL Indoor Champions: 1979–80
* NASL Eastern Division Indoor Champions: 1979–80

## Regular season
### 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 Division | W | L | GB | % | GF | GA | Avg Att |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 10 | 2 | – | .833 | 70 | 46 | 5,069 |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 8 | 4 | 2 | .667 | 75 | 64 | 5,910 |
| Detroit Express | 7 | 5 | 3 | .583 | 70 | 69 | 3,937 |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 3 | 9 | 7 | .250 | 58 | 65 | 1,724 |
| New England Tea Men | 2 | 10 | 8 | .167 | 52 | 81 | 3,249 |

### Results

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| November 27, 1979 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | A | 4–6 | 2,834 | Anderson (2), Baralic (2), Van der Veen (2) |
| December 3, 1979 | Atlanta Chiefs | A | 5–4(OT) | 6,144 | Baralic (2), McLeod (2) |
| December 7, 1979 | Detroit Express | H | 11–7 | 5,910 | Van der Veen (4), Wark (3), Auguste, Gorman, Baralic, McLeod |
| December 15, 1979 | Atlanta Chiefs | H | 6–2 | 5,262 | Baralic (2), Wark, McLeod, Anderson, Quriashi |
| December 22, 1979 | New England Tea Men | H | 5–4 | 5,675 | Baralic (2), Anderson, Gorman, Connell |
| December 28, 1979 | New England Tea Men | A | 6–8 | 3,310 | Baralic (2), Wegerle (2), McLeod, Wark, Van der Veen, Anderson |
| January 2, 1980 | Atlanta Chiefs | A | 3–2 | 5,425 | McLeod (2) |
| January 12, 1980 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | H | 6–5 | 6,243 | Baralic (2), McLeod (2), Anderson, Gorman |
| January 22, 1980 | Detroit Express | A | 5–4(OT) | 3,787 | Fabbiani, Baralic, Wark, Anderson |
| February 1, 1980 | New England Tea Men | H | 7–6(OT) | 6,223 | McLeod (3), Baralic (3), Connell |
| February 6, 1980 | Fort Lauderdale Strikers | A | 8–10 | 1,468 | Fabbiani (4), Wegerle (2), Auguste, McLeod, Van der Beck, Baralic |
| February 10, 1980 | Detroit Express | H | 6–9 | 6,145 | Baralic (3), Fabbiani, Van der Beck, Wegerle |

## Playoffs
### Bracket

| First round Single game | First round Single game | First round Single game | First round Single game | First round Single game | Division finals Best-of-3 | Division finals Best-of-3 | Division finals Best-of-3 | Division finals Best-of-3 | Division finals Best-of-3 | Championship series Best-of-3 | Championship series Best-of-3 | Championship series Best-of-3 | Championship series Best-of-3 | Championship series Best-of-3 |
| | | | | | E1 | Atlanta Chiefs | 3 | 5 | - | | | | | |
| E2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 12 | x | x | E2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 7 | 6(OT) | - | | | | | |
| E3 | Detroit Express | 1 | x | x | | | | | | E2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 4 | 10 | 1 |
| | | | | | | | | | | W1 | Memphis Rogues | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| | | | | | W1 | Memphis Rogues | 3 | 4(OT) | 1 | | | | | |
| W2 | Minnesota Kicks | 3 | x | x | W2 | Minnesota Kicks | 6 | 3 | 0 | | | | | |
| W3 | Tulsa Roughnecks | 2 | x | x | | | | | | | | | | |

### Results

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| February 19, 1980 | Detroit Express | H | 12–1 | 4,880 | Fabbiani (3), Wegerle (3), McLeod (2), Connell, Baralic, Gorman, Anderson |
| February 23, 1980 | Atlanta Chiefs | H | 7–3 | 5,545 | Wegerle (4), Fabbiani (2), Gorman |
| February 25, 1980 | Atlanta Chiefs | A | 5–6(OT) | 6,141 | McLeod (2), Wegerle (2), Baralic, Quraishi |
| February 29, 1980 | Memphis Rogues (Finals) | A | 5–4 | 9,081 | Fabbiani (2), Wegerle, Van der Beck |
| March 2, 1980 | Memphis Rogues (Finals) | H | 10–4 | 5,545 | Van der Beck (2), Connell (2), Fabbiani (2), Anderson (2), Wegerle, McLeod |
| March 2, 1980 | Memphis Rogues (Finals) | H | 1–0 | (Mini-game) | Anderson |

## Statistics
### Season scoring

GP = Games played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points, Pen = Penalty Minutes
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | Pen |
| Petar Baralić | 12 | 21 | 10 | 51 | 2 |
| Wes McLeod | 12 | 13 | 12 | 38 | 2 |
| Peter Anderson | 11 | 7 | 11 | 25 | 1 |
| Jan van der Veen | 8 | 7 | 7 | 21 | 4 |
| Óscar Fabbiani | 4 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 1 |
| Steve Wegerle | 11 | 5 | 6 | 16 | 2 |
| Doug Wark | 8 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| John Gorman | 12 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 2 |
| Mike Connell | 11 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 6 |
| Perry Van der Beck | 9 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Farrukh Quraishi | 12 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| Arsène Auguste | 12 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| Sandje Ivanchukov | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Željko Bilecki | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Tommy Maurer | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Timothy Collins | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Winston DuBose | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kevin Clinton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Season goalkeeping

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses
| Player | GP | Min | Svs | GA | GAA | W | L |
| Željko Bilecki | 12 | 683 | 173 | 54 | 4.74 | 8 | 4 |
| Kevin Clinton | 1 | 30 | 13 | 6 | 12.00 | 0 | 0 |
| Winston DuBose | 1 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 4.00 | 0 | 0 |

### Playoff scoring

GP = Games played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts |
| Steve Wegerle | 6 | 11 | 7 | 29 |
| Óscar Fabbiani | 6 | 9 | 9 | 27 |
| Wes McLeod | 6 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| Peter Anderson | 6 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| Perry Van der Beck | 6 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| Petar Baralić | 6 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| John Gorman | 6 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Mike Connell | 6 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Farrukh Quraishi | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Sandje Ivanchukov | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 |