# 1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season

The 1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the first indoor season of the club's existence. It also marked the first time the expansion Rowdies participated in any North American Soccer League sanctioned competition.

## Original kit

The Rowdies' jersey used during the 1975 indoor season was different than later indoor and outdoor years in that the neckline was merely a cuff rather than the full collar style that became so familiar in all of Tampa Bay's later NASL campaigns. Photographic evidence also indicates that the cuff-style jersey saw limited use during the 1975 outdoor season, but by season's end it disappeared altogether.

## Club
### Roster

| No. | Position | Player | Nation |
| 1 | GK | Mike Hewitt | Scotland |
| 1 | GK | Bob Stetler* | United States |
| 2 | DF | Farrukh Quraishi | England |
| 3 | DF | Alex Pringle | Scotland |
| 4 | MF | John Boyle (capt.) | Scotland |
| 5 | MF | Ringo Cantillo | Costa Rica |
| 6 | DF | Mike Connell | South Africa |
| 7 | MF | Bernard Hartze | South Africa |
| 8 | MF | Randy Garber | United States |
| 9 | DF | Lima | Brazil |
| 9 | MF | Nick Papadakis | Canada |
| 10 | FW | Eddie Engerth | United States |
| 11 | FW | Doug Wark | United States |
| 12 | FW | Bob Isaacson | United States |
| 12 | FW | Javier Alvarez | Mexico |
| 13 | MF | Zygmunt Lezak | Poland |
| 13 | DF | John Bluem | United States |
| 15 | FW | Eddie Firmani | Italy |
*amateur player

### Management and technical staff

* George Strawbridge, Jr., owner
* Beau Rogers, general manager
* Eddie Firmani, head coach
* Chas Serednesky, business manager
* Francisco Marcos, director of public relations
* Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager

### Honors

* NASL Indoor Tournament: Runners up
* NASL Indoor, Region 3: Regional champions

#### Individual honors

* All-Tournament Team: Doug Wark
* Regional MVP: Ringo Cantillo (Regional totals: 2 games, 4 goals)

## Review

In part because of the success of the spring 1974 indoor tour by the Red Army team the NASL decided to hold an indoor tournament of its own. Of the 20 franchises in the league, sixteen participated. Teams were separated into four regional groups of four. The Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida, was chosen as one of the Regional venues, with the Rowdies as hosts for Region 3. The San Jose Earthquakes were given the honor of hosting the championship semifinals and finals at the Cow Palace.

### Region 3 tournament

The winner of the Region 3 would gain an automatic place in the Championship tournament four weeks later in California. In their first tournament game the Rowdies had no trouble with the Washington Diplomats, winning by a score of 7–2. Two nights later Tampa Bay had a tougher task in coming from behind to defeat the Baltimore Comets, 8–6. Those two victories left the Rowdies tied with the Miami Toros in the standings, however the tie-breaker was goal differential. Tampa Bay's plus-7 goal margin narrowly edged out the Toros’ plus-6, and the Rowdies advanced. Ringo Cantillo was named MVP of the Region, edging out Miami's Nico Bodonczy by one vote.

#### Regional standings

| Pos | Team | G | W | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
| 1 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 2 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 4 |
| 2 | Miami Toros | 2 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 12 | +6 | 4 |
| 3 | Baltimore Comets | 2 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 19 | -5 | 0 |
| 4 | Washington Diplomats | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 14 | -8 | 0 |

### Championship tournament

Tampa Bay was paired up with the New York Cosmos in the semifinals, while the other semifinal had San Jose clashing with the Dallas Tornado. Led by Doug Wark’s record six-goal performance, the Rowdies jumped out to an early 3–0 lead, and never looked back, as they dispatched the Cosmos, 13–5, to advance to the final on Sunday.
On March 16, 1975, the Tampa Bay faced a heavily favored San Jose Earthquakes team in the Rowdies first of what would be many championship finals, against. With the score 6–1 at the end of the first period, and 8,618 fans behind them, San Jose showed exactly why they were tabbed to win the tournament. From there the home team cruised to an 8–5 victory. In addition to the Rowdies’ runner-up performance, Doug Wark was named to the All-Tournament squad and was the second leading scorer in the tournament.

#### Bracket

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Championship Final | Championship Final | Championship Final |
| R4 | San Jose Earthquakes | 8 | | | |
| R1 | Dallas Tornado | 5 | | | |
| R1 | Dallas Tornado | 5 | R4 | San Jose Earthquakes | 8 |
| | | | R3 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5 |
| R3 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 13 | R3 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 5 |
| R2 | New York Cosmos | 5 | | | |

#### Championship standings

| Pos | Team | G | W | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 1 | San Jose Earthquakes | 4 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 17 | +20 |
| 2 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 4 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 21 | +11 |
| 3 | Dallas Tornado | 4 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 12 | +2 |
| 4 | New York Cosmos | 4 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 27 | -9 |
| 5 | Miami Toros | 2 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 12 | +6 |

### Match reports
## Statistics
### Scoring

GP = Games Played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts |
| Doug Wark | 4 | 10 | 0 | 20 |
| Ringo Cantillo | 4 | 5 | 2 | 12 |
| Bernard Hartze | 3 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| Farrukh Quraishi | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| Zygmunt Lezak | 2 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| Eddie Engerth | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Nick Papadakis | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Mike Connell | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| John Boyle | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Lima | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Alex Pringle | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Randy Garber | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Javier Alvarez | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Isaacson | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goalkeeping

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 |
| Mike Hewitt | 4 | 210 | 21 | 5.25 | 3 | 1 |
| Bob Stetler | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Player movement

Since Tampa Bay was a newly formed club, the entire roster was new.

### In

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date |
| 3 | DF | Alex Pringle | Clyde F.C. | No details available | December 1974 |
| 1 | GK | Mike Hewitt | Dundee F.C. | Contract purchased from Dundee | December 1974 |
| 7 | MF | Bernard Hartze | Cape Town Spurs | No details available | December 17, 1974 |
| 2 | DF | Farrukh Quraishi | Oneonta State | 1st overall pick of NASL college draft | January 18, 1975 |
| 10 | FW | Eddie Engerth | Philadelphia amateur team | Former Hartwick College player | January 20, 1975 |
| 6 | DF | Mike Connell | Rangers Johannesburg | No details available | January 20, 1975 |
| 11 | DF | Doug Wark | Rochester Lancers | Purchased from Rochester | January 27, 1975 |
| 4 | DF | John Boyle | Orient | Obtained release after 5-month pursuit | February 6, 1975 |
| 9 | MF | Nick Papadakis | none | Free agent | February 9, 1975 |
| 8 | MF | Randy Garber | Penn State | 2nd round of college draft | February 9, 1975 |
| 12 | FW | Bob Isaacson | Hartwick College | 3rd round of college draft | February 9, 1975 |
| 13 | DF | John Bluem | Hartwick College | 4th round of college draft | February 9, 1975 |
| 12 | FW | Javier Alvarez | St. Petersburg Kickers | Free transfer | March 11, 1975 |
| 15 | FW | Eddie Firmani | none | Added as an emergency player | March 11, 1975 |
| 1 | GK | Bob Stetler | East Stroudsburg State | No contract, to keep amateur status | January 1975 |

### Out

none

### Loan in

| No. | Pos. | Player | Loaned from | Details | Start |
| 5 | MF | Ringo Cantillo | Cincinnati Comets | Indoor season loan | February 9, 1975 |
| 9 | MF | Lima | Club Deportivo Oro | Indoor loan with option for transfer | March 11, 1975 |
| 13 | MF | Zygmunt Lezak | Polonia NY | Indoor loan with option for transfer | March 11, 1975 |