From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1979–80 NASL indoor season

Indoor soccer league season

Field	Value
competition	North American Soccer League
1979–80 indoor season
season	1979–80
num_teams	10
winners	Tampa Bay Rowdies
(2nd title)
premiers	Atlanta Chiefs
matches	60
league topscorer	RSA David Byrne
(23 goals)
total goals	665
average attendance	4,869
prevseason	1979
nextseason	1980–81

1979–80 indoor season (2nd title) (23 goals)

Overview

Only 10 of the 24 NASL member-teams chose to field a squad for the 12 game regular season and 6 team, 3 round playoffs. The league decided to make several rule modifications from the NASL indoor tournaments and indoor friendlies of previous years. The most obvious change was the goal. No longer 4 by 16 feet (h x w), the goals now measured a more proportionate 6.5 by 12, with a board or plexiglass panel above the cross bar instead of netting. Rather than being divided into three 20-minute periods (like hockey) as was done previously, or the more recent three 15-minute periods, the game now featured four 15-minute quarters with an extended halftime (similar to American football) and short breaks and the end of the first and third quarters. These modifications were consistent with the rules of the competing Major Indoor Soccer League, which had begun operation in December 1978. Other changes included an extra referee at the bench to keep track of time penalties. Like most American sports, the clock would count down to 00:00 rather than up to "full time" as was done in association football. As before, (like ice hockey) there would be free substitutions, but players now had to touch the wall by their bench before a substitute player could come onto the playing floor. The floor dimensions remained, more or less 200 by 85 feet. Golden goal/sudden death overtime was used to settle games tied at the end of regulation. In the playoffs, 15-minute mini-games were used to decide series that were tied at one victory apiece. Indeed, two playoff series, including the Championship Final between Tampa Bay and Memphis, would need to be settled by means of a mini-game.

Map of clubs

necks](tulsa-roughnecks-1978-1984)**}}

Regular season

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

Western Division	W	L	GB	%	GF	GA	Avg Att
Memphis Rogues	9	3	–	.750	65	44	8,249
Minnesota Kicks	8	4	1	.667	75	52	9,562
Tulsa Roughnecks	7	5	2	.583	63	64	4,657
California Surf	4	8	5	.333	71	83	3,181
Los Angeles Aztecs	2	10	8	.167	56	87	2,768

Regular season statistics

Scoring leaders

GP = Games played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
David Byrne	Atlanta	12	23	11	57
Keith Furphy	Detroit	12	21	13	55
Laurie Abrahams	California	12	18	17	53
Peter Baralić	Tampa Bay	12	21	10	52
Iraj Danaifard	Tulsa	12	19	10	48
Chris Dangerfield	Los Angeles	12	15	9	39
Mark Lindsay	California	12	13	12	38
Wes McLeod	Tampa Bay	12	13	12	38
Steve Earle	Tulsa	12	10	18	38
Alan Willey	Minnesota	12	15	6	36

Leading goalkeepers

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; Svs = Saves; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins

Player	Team	Min	Svs	GA	GAA	W
John Houska	Memphis	721	172	43	3.58	9
Victor Nogueira	Atlanta	637	164	39	3.67	10
Tino Lettieri	Minnesota	658	165	41	3.74	8
Nick Owcharuk	Tulsa	441	134	33	4.49	7
Željko Bilecki	Tampa Bay	684	173	54	4.74	8

Playoffs

Bracket

1st round

Division finals

If a playoff series is tied after two games, a 15 minute, tie breaker mini-game is played.

Higher seed	Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game
Attendance
Atlanta Chiefs	–	Tampa Bay Rowdies	3–7	5–6 (OT)
Memphis Rogues	–	Minnesota Kicks	3–6	4–3 (OT)

Championship finals

Higher seed	Lower seed	Game 1	Game 2	Mini-game
Attendance
Memphis Rogues	–	Tampa Bay Rowdies	*5–4	4–10

*Memphis Rogues hosted Game 1 (instead of Game 2 and Mini-game) due to scheduling conflicts at the Mid-South Coliseum.

Championship match reports

Vazquez Vazquez Vazquez Field Wegerle Fabbiani Van der Beck Wegerle Connell Van der Beck Fabbiani McLeod Fabbiani Anderson Connell Anderson Field Rosul Rosul 1979–80 NASL Indoor Champions: Tampa Bay Rowdies

References

(September 28, 1979). "Indoor Returning, Officially This Time". Evening Independent.
(December 23, 1978). "Kids hurt playing with Arrows indoors". The Ottawa Journal.
Tierney, Mike. (January 25, 1979). "Rowdies hope to hold onto goalie". St. Petersburg Times.
(January 26, 1979). "Rowdies roll 6-4". St. Petersburg Times.
Scheiber, Dave. (December 7, 1979). "Indoor soccer: just like hockey without a stick". St. Petersburg Times.
Scheiber, Dave. (March 3, 1979). "Rowdies slam to No. 1". St. Petersburg Times.
"The Year in American Soccer - 1980".
Scheiber, Dave. (February 29, 1980). "Rogues lose star for title go with Rowdies". St. Petersburg Times.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1979-in-american-soccer-leagues 1980-in-american-soccer-leagues 1980-in-american-soccer nasl-indoor-seasons tampa-bay-rowdies-matches soccer-competitions-in-florida

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1979–80 NASL indoor season — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report