1979–80 NASL Indoor season

North American Soccer League -1979–80 Indoor Season-
Season 1979–80
Matches played 60
Goals scored 665 (11.08 per match)
Top goalscorer South Africa David Byrne
(23 goals)
Average attendance 4,869
← 1979

The 1979–80 season was the North American Soccer League's first ever full indoor soccer season with playoffs. It began in November 1979 and the championship was decided in March 1980.

Overview

Only 10 of the 24 NASL member-teams chose to field a squad for the 12 game regular season and playoffs.

The league decided to make several rule modifications from the NASL indoor tournaments and indoor friendlies of years past. The most obvious change was the goal. No longer 4 by 16 feet (h x w), the goals now measured a more proportionate 6 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 many years ago, 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. 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. Henceforth the clock would also stop with every referee's whistle. 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.[1] 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.

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GB = Games Behind 1st Place, % = Winning Percentage, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Av Att = Average Home Attendance

Eastern DivisionWLGB%GFGAAv Att
Atlanta Chiefs 10 2 --.83370465,069
Tampa Bay Rowdies842.66775645,910
Detroit Express753.58370693,937
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 39 7.25058651,724
New England Tea Men 2108.16752813,249
Western DivisionWLGB%GFGAAv Att
Memphis Rogues 93--.750 65448,249
Minnesota Kicks 8 41.667 75529,562
Tulsa Roughnecks752.58363644,657
California Surf485.33371833,181
Los Angeles Aztecs 2108.16756872,768

Regular season statistics

Scoring leaders

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

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

  First Round
Single game		     Division Finals
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  

1st round

February 19 Tampa Bay Rowdies 12–1 Detroit Express Bayfront Center • 4,880
February 20 Minnesota Kicks 3–2 Tulsa Roughnecks Met Center • 3,170

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) x February 23 • Bayfront Center • 5,545
February 25 • The Omni • 6,141
Memphis Rogues – Minnesota Kicks 3–6 4–3 (OT) 1–0 February 23 • Met Center • 3,701
February 26 • Mid-South Coliseum • 7,130

Championship Finals

Higher seed Lower seed Game 1 Game 2 Mini-game Attendance
Memphis Rogues – Tampa Bay Rowdies *5–4 4–10 0–1 *February 29 • Mid-South Coliseum • 9,081
March 2 • Bayfront Center • 5,545

*Memphis Rogues hosted Game 1 (instead of Game 2 and Mini-game) due to scheduling conflicts at the Mid-South Coliseum.[3]

Championship match reports


1979–80 NASL Indoor Champions: Tampa Bay Rowdies

References

  1. ↑ Scheiber, Dave (December 7, 1979). "Indoor soccer: just like hockey without a stick". St. Petersburg Times. p. 2, sec. C. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1980.html
  3. ↑ Scheiber, Dave (February 29, 1980). "Rogues lose star for title go with Rowdies". St. Petersburg Times. p. 1, sec. C. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.