North American Soccer League (1968–1984)
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011) |
 |
|
| Country | United States Canada |
|---|---|
| Confederation | CONCACAF |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Folded | 1985 (last season 1984) |
| Number of teams | 24 |
| Levels on pyramid | 1 |
| Promotion to | None |
| Relegation to | None |
| Last champions | Chicago Sting (1984) |
| Most championships | New York Cosmos (5 titles) |
North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. From 1975 through 1983, the league final was called the Soccer Bowl. The league additionally played indoor soccer from 1975–1976 and 1979–1984.
Contents |
History [edit]
Founding [edit]
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. (June 2010) |
In 1967, two professional soccer leagues started in the United States: the FIFA-sanctioned United Soccer Association, which consisted of entire European and South American teams brought to the US and given local names, and the unsanctioned National Professional Soccer League. The National Professional Soccer League had a national television contract in the U.S. with the CBS television network, but the ratings for matches were unacceptable even by weekend daytime standards and the arrangement was terminated. The leagues merged in 1968 to form the North American Soccer League (NASL). It has been suggested that the timing of the merge was related to the huge amount of attention given throughout the English-speaking world to the victory by England in the 1966 FIFA World Cup and the resulting documentary film, Goal. The league lasted until the 1984 NASL season.
Success with the New York Cosmos [edit]
The biggest club in the league and the organization's bellwether was the New York Cosmos, who drew upwards of 40,000 fans per game at their height while aging superstars Pelé (Brazil) and Franz Beckenbauer (Germany) played for them. Although both well past their prime by the time they joined the NASL, the two were considered to have previously been the best attacking (offensive) (Pelé) and defensive (Beckenbauer) players in the world. Giants Stadium sold out (73,000+) their 1978 championship win. However, the overall average attendance of the entire league never reached 15,000, with some clubs averaging less than 5,000.[citation needed]
Selling soccer to North Americans [edit]
The NASL faced obstacles in regard to selling the sport of soccer to North Americans, which was then completely foreign to the majority of them. The league modified the rules in the attempt to make the game more exciting, and comprehensible, to the average sports fan. These changes included a clock that counted time down to zero as was typical of other timed American sports, rather than upwards to 90 minutes as was traditional, a 35 yard line for offsides (a rule designed to stop offside traps, prevalent at the time, and based on an FA experiment in 1925 between what became the offside rule at the time, or a 40-yard offside mark)[1] rather than the usual half way line, and a shootout to decide matches that ended in a draw. The league also carried over the points system used by the NPSL the previous year in which teams were award 6 points for win, 3 for a draw, plus up to 3 bonus points for each goal scored. Indeed, on five occasions this nontraditional system gave the premiership to a team other than the one with the best record. The league began a college draft in 1972 in an attempt to increase the number of US- and Canadian-born players in the league. The foreign image of soccer was not helped, however, by a league that brought in many older, high profile foreign players, and frequently left Americans on the bench. This effort was often doubly futile, as while many of the foreign players were perhaps "big names" in their home countries, almost none of them qualified as such in North America, and they quickly absorbed most of the available payroll, such as it was, which could have otherwise been used to pay North American players better.
Demise [edit]
Over-expansion was a huge factor in the death of the league. Once the league started growing, new franchises were awarded quickly, and it doubled in size in a few years, peaking at 24 teams. Many have suggested that cash-starved existing owners longed for their share of the expansion fee charged of new owners, even though Forbes Magazine reported this amount as being only $100,000. This resulted in the available personnel being spread too thinly, among other problems. Additionally, many of these new owners were not soccer savvy, and once the perceived popularity started to decline, they got out as quickly as they got in. They also spent millions on aging stars to try to match the success of the Cosmos, and lost significant amounts of money in doing so.
Also, FIFA's decision to award the hosting of the 1986 FIFA World Cup to Mexico after Colombia withdrew, rather than the U.S., is considered a factor in the NASL's demise.
On March 28, 1985, the NASL suspended operations for the 1985 season, when only the Minnesota Strikers and Toronto Blizzard were interested in playing. At the time, the league planned to relaunch in 1986.[2]
However, four NASL teams (Chicago Sting, Minnesota Strikers, New York Cosmos, and San Diego Sockers) joined the Major Indoor Soccer League for its 1984–85 season. The Golden Bay Earthquakes and Tampa Bay Rowdies managed to survive as independent franchises until they joined the WSA and AISL respectively. The NASL itself operated an indoor soccer league from 1979–80 to 1981–82 and in 1983–84.[citation needed]
While the NASL ultimately failed, it introduced soccer to the North American sports scene on a large scale for the first time and was a major contributing factor in soccer becoming one of the most popular sports among American youth. On July 4, 1988, FIFA did award the World Cup to the U.S., which would be staged in 1994. It has also provided lessons for its successor Major League Soccer, which has taken precautions against such problems, particularly a philosophy of financial restraint (mainstream American sports, by the time of MLS' startup in 1996, had adopted financial restraint rules, which MLS adopted). American college and high school soccer still use some NASL-style rules (with shortened halves, although the time does stop for certain reasons)..
Several of the team names have been later reused for teams in later soccer leagues. The Portland Timbers, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders, and Vancouver Whitecaps names have all been used for successor teams in Major League Soccer, with other team names having been used in lower leagues.
| North American Soccer League Progression | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Teams | Games Played |
| 1968 | 17 teams | 32 games |
| 1969 | 5 teams | 16 games |
| 1970 | 6 teams | 24 games |
| 1971 | 8 teams | |
| 1972 | 14 games | |
| 1973 | 9 teams | 19 games |
| 1974 | 15 teams | 20 games |
| 1975 | 20 teams | 22 games |
| 1976 | ||
| 1977 | 18 teams | 26 games |
| 1978 | 24 teams | 30 games |
| 1979 | ||
| 1980 | 32 games | |
| 1981 | 21 teams | |
| 1982 | 14 teams | |
| 1983 | 12 teams | 30 games |
| 1984 | 9 teams | 24 games |
NASL indoor [edit]
The NASL began playing indoor soccer as well as "outdoor" soccer in 1975 and 1976 in a tournament format. For many years Tampa Bay owner George W. Strawbridge, Jr. continually lobbied his fellow owners to start up a winter indoor season, but was always stone-walled.[3][4] For the following few years, the Rowdies and several other teams used winter indoor "friendlies" as part of their training and build-up to the outdoor season. The NASL started a full indoor league schedule, a 12-game season with 10 teams, in 1979–80. For the 1980–81 season, the number of teams playing indoor soccer increased to 19 and the schedule went to 18 games. The schedule remained at 18 games, but the teams participating decreased to 13 for the 1981–82 season. The league canceled the 1982–83 indoor season, but three teams (Chicago, Golden Bay, and San Diego) played in the MISL for that season. Again as part of the build-up for the upcoming outdoor season, four other teams (Ft. Lauderdale, Montreal, Tampa Bay and Tulsa) competed in the NASL's Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer Tournament in early 1983.[5] The NASL indoor season returned for 1983–84 with only seven teams but a 32-game schedule.
| NASL Indoor Progression | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Participation | Games Played |
| 1975 | 16 of 20 teams | 2-4 games |
| 1976 | 12 of 20 teams | |
| 1977 | - | - |
| 1978 | - | - |
| 1979 | - | - |
| 1979-80 | 10 of 24 teams | 12 games |
| 1980-81 | 19 of 21 teams | 18 games |
| 1981-82 | 13 of 14 teams | |
| 1983 | 4 of 12 teams | 8 games |
| 1983-84 | 7 of 9 teams | 32 games |
NASL champions [edit]
By year [edit]
*Due to the NASL's nontraditional points system, in 1968, 1969, 1980, 1983 & 1984 the team with the best win-loss record did not win the regular season.[9]
By club [edit]
| Club | Winner | Runner-Up | Seasons Won | Seasons Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Cosmos | 5 | 1 | 1972, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982 | 1981 |
| Chicago Sting | 2 | 0 | 1981, 1984 | – |
| Atlanta Chiefs | 1 | 2 | 1968 | 1969, 1971 |
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 1 | 2 | 1975 | 1978, 1979 |
| Toronto Metros/Blizzard | 1 | 2 | 1976 | 1983, 1984 |
| Dallas Tornado | 1 | 1 | 1971 | 1973 |
| Kansas City Spurs | 1 | 0 | 1969 | – |
| Rochester Lancers | 1 | 0 | 1970 | – |
| Philadelphia Atoms | 1 | 0 | 1973 | – |
| Los Angeles Aztecs | 1 | 0 | 1974 | – |
| Vancouver Whitecaps | 1 | 0 | 1979 | – |
| Tulsa Roughnecks | 1 | 0 | 1983 | – |
| Seattle Sounders | 0 | 2 | – | 1977, 1982 |
| San Diego Toros | 0 | 1 | – | 1968 |
| Washington Darts | 0 | 1 | – | 1970 |
| St. Louis Stars | 0 | 1 | – | 1972 |
| Miami Toros | 0 | 1 | – | 1974 |
| Portland Timbers | 0 | 1 | – | 1975 |
| Minnesota Kicks | 0 | 1 | – | 1976 |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers | 0 | 1 | – | 1980 |
NASL indoor champions [edit]
By year [edit]
| Year | Winner (number of titles) | Runners-up | Top Team in Regular Season | Top Scorer | Winning Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | San Jose Earthquakes (1) | Tampa Bay Rowdies | San Jose Earthquakes 4-0 *(tournament only) |  Paul Child |
 Ivan Toplak |
| 1976 | Tampa Bay Rowdies (1) | Rochester Lancers | Tampa Bay Rowdies 4-0 *(tournament only) |  Julie Veee |
 Eddie Firmani |
| 1979–80 | Tampa Bay Rowdies (2) | Memphis Rogues | Atlanta Chiefs 10-2 |  David Byrne |
 Gordon Jago |
| 1980–81 | Edmonton Drillers (1) | Chicago Sting | Chicago Sting 13-5 |  Karl-Heinz Granitza |
 Timo Liekoski |
| 1981–82 | San Diego Sockers (1) | Tampa Bay Rowdies | Edmonton Drillers 13-5 | Juli Veee |
Ron Newman |
| 1983 | Tampa Bay Rowdies (3) | Montreal Manic | Montreal Manic 4-2 *(tournament only) | Laurie Abrahams Dale Mitchell |
Al Miller |
| 1983–84 | San Diego Sockers (2) | New York Cosmos | San Diego Sockers 21-11 | Steve Zungul |
Ron Newman |
By club [edit]
| Club | Winner | Runner-Up | Seasons Won | Seasons Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa Bay Rowdies | 3 | 2 | 1976, 1980, 1983 | 1975, 1982 |
| San Diego Sockers | 2 | 0 | 1982, 1984 | – |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 1 | 0 | 1975 | – |
| Edmonton Drillers | 1 | 0 | 1981 | – |
| Rochester Lancers | 0 | 1 | – | 1976 |
| Memphis Rogues | 0 | 1 | – | 1980 |
| Chicago Sting | 0 | 1 | – | 1981 |
| Montreal Manic | 0 | 1 | – | 1983 |
| New York Cosmos | 0 | 1 | – | 1984 |
Teams of NASL 1968–84 [edit]
Over half of the 67 teams that played in the NASL over the course of its 17 seasons were relocations of existing franchises, while a handful were merely name changes of existing teams like the Apollos, Cosmos and Earthquakes.
- Legend
- existed before 1968 NASL formation. - continued after 1984 NASL demise. - existed before 1968 and after 1984.
*Operated as Toronto Croatia from 1956 until they merged with the NASL's Toronto Metros in 1975, and then again after they sold-out of the NASL in 1979.
Teams in NASL indoor 1979–84 [edit]
Tampa Bay participated in every NASL sanctioned indoor season or tournament going back to 1975, while Tulsa was the only other team to play in every indoor season.
|
|
Commissioners [edit]
- 1967 Dick Walsh (USA)
- 1967 Ken Macker (NPSL)
- 1968 Walsh and Macker co-commissioners
- 1969–83 Phil Woosnam
- 1983–84 Howard J. Samuels
- 1984–85 Clive Toye (acting)
Annual honors [edit]
MVP, Rookie and Coach of the Year [edit]
| Year | MVP | Rookie | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 |  John Kowalik |
Kaizer Motaung |
 Phil Woosnam |
| 1969 |  Cirilio Fernandez |
Cirilio Fernandez |
Janos Bedl |
| 1970 | Carlos Metidieri |
Jim Leeker |
Sal de Rosa |
| 1971 | Carlos Metidieri |
 Randy Horton |
Ron Newman |
| 1972 | Randy Horton |
Mike Winter |
Casey Frankiewicz |
| 1973 |  Warren Archibald |
Kyle Rote, Jr. |
Al Miller |
| 1974 | Peter Silvester |
Doug McMillan |
 John Young |
| 1975 | Steve David |
Chris Bahr |
John Sewell |
| 1976 |  Pelé |
Steve Pecher |
Eddie Firmani |
| 1977 | Franz Beckenbauer |
Jim McAlister |
Ron Newman |
| 1978 | Mike Flanagan |
Gary Etherington |
Tony Waiters |
| 1979 |  Johan Cruyff |
Larry Hulcer |
Timo Liekoski |
| 1980 | Roger Davies |
Jeff Durgan |
Alan Hinton |
| 1981 | Giorgio Chinaglia |
Joe Morrone, Jr. |
Willy Roy |
| 1982 | Peter Ward |
Pedro DeBrito |
 Johnny Giles |
| 1983 |  Roberto Cabanas |
Gregg Thompson |
Don Popovic |
| 1984 | Steve Zungul |
Roy Wegerle |
Ron Newman |
Average attendance [edit]
- 1968: 4,699
- 1969: 2,930
- 1970: 3,163
- 1971: 4,154
- 1972: 4,780
- 1973: 5,954
- 1974: 7,770
- 1975: 7,642
- 1976: 10,295
- 1977: 13,558
- 1978: 13,084
- 1979: 14,201
- 1980: 14,440
- 1981: 14,084
- 1982: 13,155
- 1983: 13,258
- 1984: 10,759
Teams named after NASL teams [edit]
The current Heritage Cup in MLS was developed as a way to remember the NASL's heritage by having teams named after NASL teams to participate in a special trophy. Today, two MLS teams, San Jose and Seattle, play for this trophy, although Portland and Vancouver are both eligible for the trophy if they decide to participate in this derby.
Baltimore Bays (1972–73)- Baltimore Bays (1993–98)
- Boston Tea Men
- DFW Tornados
- Detroit Express (1981–83)
Edmonton Drillers (1996–2000)- Edmonton Drillers (2007)
- Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–94)
- Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1994–97)
- Fort Lauderdale Strikers (2011)
Jomo Cosmos - Premier Soccer League- Kaizer Chiefs FC - Premier Soccer League
- Las Vegas Quicksilver
- New York Cosmos (2010)
- Portland Timbers (USL)
- Portland Timbers - Major League Soccer
- Rochester Lancers (2010)
- San Diego Sockers (2001–04)
- San Diego Sockers (2009)
- San Jose Earthquakes - Major League Soccer (Heritage Cup)
- Seattle Sounders (USL)
- Seattle Sounders FC - Major League Soccer (Heritage Cup)
- Tampa Bay Rowdies (2010)
- Toronto Blizzard (1986–93)
- Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000)
- Vancouver Whitecaps FC (USL)
- Vancouver Whitecaps FC - Major League Soccer
- Washington Diplomats (1988–90)
Players [edit]
See also [edit]
- Soccer Bowl
- Category:North American Soccer League players
- Record attendances in United States club soccer
- North American Soccer League (1968–1984) on television
References [edit]
- ^ The Question: Why is the modern offside law a stroke of genius?, The Guardian
- ^ "NASL suspends operations for 1985" page 1D Minneapolis Star and Tribune March 29, 1985
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fFlQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jlgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4763,3078494&dq=indoor+awry&hl=en
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hk5SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NXwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6646,3097645&dq=george+strawbridge+cosmos&hl=en
- ^ "TAMPA BAY ROWDIES APPRECIATION BLOG: 01/04/09 - 01/05/09". Mytampabayrowdies.blogspot.com. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2206&dat=19711216&id=07slAAAAIBAJ&sjid=R_MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4257,2148965
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1982.html
- ^ http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1969.html
External links [edit]
- American Soccer History Archives
- NASL Attendance Figures
- The NASL: It's Alive But On Death Row - A salary cap has saved the soccer league from complete collapse, but its future looks forbidding indeed by Clive Gammon Sports Illustrated May 7, 1984
- Archived NASL page
|
|||||
| Preceded by American Soccer League |
Division 1 Soccer League in the United States 1967–84 |
Succeeded by Major League Soccer |
