The 1981–82 Tampa Bay Rowdies indoor season was the eighth indoor season of the club's existence.

Overview As in previous years, all home games were played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. Tampa Bay entered their eighth indoor season looking for redemption, after the 1980–81 indoor team was the first in club history to miss the playoffs. The club had several noteworthy changes occur in the lead-up to the 1981–82 indoor campaign.

Just as the team's 1981 outdoor playoff run was ending the Rowdies announced a partnership with Brazilian giants São Paulo FC. The agreement would allow the Rowdies to sign up to three loan players during São Paulo’s off season, as well as allowing Tampa Bay’s young players to train with the Brazilian club’s reserve squad.

Less than two weeks later on September 16, a press conference was held announcing that the Dallas Tornado were merging with Tampa Bay. The Dallas owners would become minority owners of the Florida club. For their part, the Rowdies gained the number one overall pick in the upcoming amateur draft, and their choice of players from the Dallas roster. Ultimately they added four, and sold the rest to various NASL, ASL, and MISL clubs.

Just prior to the start of the indoor season Mike Connell was named team captain. He had served as acting captain since May, after Jan van der Veen was traded to California during the 1981 outdoor season. Two noteworthy young players made their Rowdie debuts in December at the beginning of the indoor season. Hugo Pérez, a future U.S. Hall of Famer, who had just turned 18 a few weeks earlier, scored five goals in his first two indoor matches. Not to be outdone, a 19-year-old São Paulo loaner, nicknamed Tatu, scored a hattrick to kick off what would become a legendary 21-year indoor career.

For the team as a whole the 18-game regular season got of to a slow 1–3 start. Things began to pick up after Tatu’s arrival on match-day five. The Rowdies made it into the playoffs in large part by winning seven of their last nine matches. They were edged out for the division title by Chicago on the last day of the regular season, in an overtime thriller in front of a then-record indoor crowd of 19,938 at Chicago Stadium.

Tampa Bay ended the regular season with an 11–7 record and placed second in the Central Division, qualifying them for the playoffs. Rookie sensation Tatu led the club with 21 goals, while Zequinha was the team’s points and assists leader with 60 and 22 respectively.

In the playoffs, the Rowdies beat Montreal and Tulsa in the first two rounds to make it to the finals. In the indoor finals, San Diego Sockers beat Tampa Bay in a sweep. After winning that title, the Sockers went on to win 10 out of the next 11 indoor seasons they played in the NASL indoor and MISL leagues.

Shortly after the playoffs the Rowdies learned that they had placed three players on the 1981–82 all-star team first squad, and one more on the second team.

Club

Roster No.PositionNationPlayer

# on injured reserve all season

Management and technical staff George W. Strawbridge, Jr., owner Chas Serednesky, Jr., president Francisco Marcos, director of player personal Gordon Jago, head coach Kevin Keelan, assistant coach Ken Shields, trainer Alfredo Beronda, equipment manager Dr. Andrew Boyer, team physician

Honors NASL Atlantic Conference: 1981–82 Champions NASL Indoor: 1981–82 runners-up

Individual honors Four Rowdies received individual honors following the 1981–82 NASL indoor season.

Atlantic Conference All-Star, First Team: Tatu Atlantic Conference All-Star, First Team: Mike Connell Atlantic Conference All-Star, First Team: Jürgen Stars Atlantic Conference All-Star, Second Team: John Gorman

Preseason friendlies Tampa Bay played one preseason exhibition match on December 2 against the Jacksonville Tea Men, winning, 9–2.

Preseason results DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers"Ref." December 2, 1981Jacksonville Tea MenH9–2closed-doorPeter Roe (2), Pérez (2), Roberts, Olivera, Gorman, Gruber, Zequinha

Regular season

Final division standings W = Wins, L = Losses, GB = Games behind 1st place, % = Winning percentage, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against Atlantic Conference • Central DivisionWLGB%GFGA Chicago Sting 126 – .667139 117 Tampa Bay Rowdies 117 1.611121113 Tulsa Roughnecks1082 .556128 103

Results DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers"Ref."December 5, 1981Montreal ManicH8–55,545Roberts (2), Zequinha(2), Pérez (2), Peter Roe, PesaDecember 11, 1981Tulsa RoughnecksA6–55,531Perez (3), Zequinha, PesaDecember 13, 1981Toronto BlizzardA9–35,325Pesa (3)December 17, 1981Tulsa RoughnecksA5–44,681Kozić, Peter Roe, Pérez, ZequinhaDecember 19, 1981Jacksonville Tea MenH8–64,918Tatu (3), McLeod (2), Peter Roe, Gorman, ZequinhaDecember 23, 1981Chicago StingH10–85,081Zequinha (2), Peter Roe (2), Pesa (2), Roberts, Moore, Tatu, GormanDecember 26, 1981Chicago StingA8–611,606Tatu (3), Zequinha (2), Pérez January 2, 1982Tulsa RoughnecksH5–45,545Pesa (2), Tatu (2), Gorman January 5, 1982Jacksonville Tea MenA4–26,526Tatu (2) January 10, 1982Toronto BlizzardA2–43,492McLeod (2), Pesa, Peter Roe January 15, 1982Montreal ManicA6–56,730Gorman, Gruber, Zequinha, Pesa, Tatu January 20, 1982Chicago StingH10–9(OT)5,214McLeod (3), Tatu (2), Moore, Pesa, Pérez, Gruber, Peter Roe January 23, 1982Tulsa RoughnecksA8–95,383Zequinha (3), Roberts, McLeod, Gorman, Tatu, Pesa, Gruber January 30, 1982Toronto BlizzardH8–75,545Roberts (2), Zequinha (2), Pesa (2), Tatu, Gorman February 3, 1982Jacksonville Tea MenH7–6(OT)4,625Tatu (3), McLeod (2), Zequinha, Peter Roe February 6, 1982New York CosmosA3–1010,199McLeod (3), Tatu (2), Peter Roe (2), Kozić, Zequinha, Paul Roe February 12, 1982New York CosmosH8–76,112Pérez (3), Zequinha (2), McLeod (2), Kozić February 14, 1982Chicago StingA10–9(OT)19,938 Paul Roe (3), Roberts (2), Pérez (2), Kozić (2)

Playoffs The playoffs are a home and home series. If one team fails to win both games, then a non-sudden-death, 15-minute mini-game is played, with a brief halftime to changes ends of the field. If the mini-game remains tied after full-time, then the match moves to sudden-death overtime periods, each lasting 7:30.

Bracket

Results DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers"Ref."February 18, 1982Montreal ManicH8–7(OT)4,880Tatu (3), Zequinha (2), Pesa, DeBrito, Kozić February 21, 1982Montreal ManicA2–315,855 Tatu, own goal February 21, 1982Montreal ManicA1–2(3OT)(Mini-game) Fernando, Roberts February 25, 1982Tulsa RoughnecksA5–47,021McLeod (2), Tatu (2), Peter Roe March 1, 1982Tulsa RoughnecksH3–45,545Zequinha, McLeod, Tatu March 1, 1982Tulsa RoughnecksH1–0(Mini-game) PesaMarch 3, 1982San Diego Sockers (Finals)A9–712,840Pérez (2), Gruber (2), Peter Roe, Zequinha, McLeodMarch 8, 1982San Diego Sockers (Finals)H5–106,325 Tatu (2), McLeod, Zequinha, Roberts

Statistics

Season scoring GP = Games played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points Player GP G A PtsZequinha18192260Tatu1421749Wes McLeod14151444Peter Roe16102343Njego Pesa1315838Hugo Pérez1713834John Gorman1861628Neill Roberts178925Peter Gruber1831218Refik Kozić155515Mike Connell1601212Paul Roe74210Terry Moore132610Carl Bennett6022Jürgen Stars11022Washington Olivera1011Winston DuBose7000Keith Bailey7000Pedro DeBrito2000Ray Vigliotti1000Jaiminho1000Luís Fernando0000

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 LJürgen Stars 11 663:45 193 68 6.14 7 4Winston DuBose 7 420:16 90 45 6.43 4 3

Playoff scoring GP = Games played, G = Goals (worth 2 points), A = Assists (worth 1 point), Pts = Points Player GP G A PtsTatu59119Wes McLeod45717Zequinha55515Refik Kozić62711Peter Roe62610Hugo Pérez4317John Gorman6055Neill Roberts6204Peter Gruber6204Jürgen Stars5044Mike Connell6033Paul Roe6033Pedro DeBrito3102Luís Fernando3102Njego Pesa2102Keith Bailey2000Terry Moore2000Winston DuBose1000 own goal 1102

Playoff goalkeeping Note: GP = Games played; MGP = Mini-games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses

Player GP MGP Min Svs GA GAA W LJürgen Stars 5 2 343:41 117 31 5.41 3 4Winston DuBose 1 0 60:03 17 7 6.98 1 0Mike Connell 4 0 3:54 3 0 0.00 0 0

Player movement

In No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource7 FW Zequinha Dallas Tornado Rowdies/Tornado merger September 16, 1981 11 FW Njego Pesa Dallas Tornado Rowdies/Tornado merger September 16, 1981 13 DF Carl Bennett Dallas Tornado Rowdies/Tornado merger September 16, 1981 2 DF Peter Gruber Dallas Tornado Rowdies/Tornado merger September 16, 1981 16 DF Ray Vigliotti Dallas Tornado Rowdies/Tornado merger September 16, 1981 20 GK Jürgen Stars Calgary Boomers NASL dispersal draft October 6, 1981 14 FW Tatu São Paulo loan in December 1, 1981 21 MF Paul Roe Hamilton Steelers free transfer December 12, 1981 16 FW Pedro DeBrito UConn NASL entry draft December 14, 1981 27 MF Jaiminho São Paulo loan in January 11, 1982

Out No.Pos.PlayerTransferred toFee/notesDateSource 2DF Ian Anderson Cleveland Force returned from loan September 10, 1981 9FW Frank Worthington Birmingham City returned from loan September 10, 1981 25FW David Moss Luton Town returned from loan September 10, 1981 11DF Dave Taber none release October 21, 1981 16MF Billy Sweetzer none release October 21, 1981 13GK Kevin Keelan Tampa Bay release, hired as asst. coach October 21, 1981 15MF Dave Mehmet Charlton Athletic sold contract for $130,000 November 18, 1981 14FW Tony Kinsella Ipswich Town sold contract November 20, 1981 21DF Manny Andruszewski none released November 20, 1981 22GK Kevin Clinton none released December 3, 1981 16DF Ray Vigliotti Baltimore Blast released; signed with Baltimore December 12, 1982 27MF Jaiminho São Paulo returned from loan February 23, 1982

See also 1981–82 NASL Indoor season 1982 in American soccer Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993)

References

External links 1981–82 Rowdies stats 1982 in American Soccer