1983 Fort Lauderdale Strikers indoor season

Fort Lauderdale Strikers
1983 season
Owner	Elizabeth Robbie
General manager	Tim Robbie
Manager	David Chadwick
Stadium	Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion; Bayfront Center; Montreal Forum
NASL indoor	Grand Prix: Fourth place
Top goalscorer	League: Branko Šegota (10) ; All: Branko Šegota (11)
Home colors	Away colors
	← 1982 Strikers 1983 Strikers →

The 1983 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season was the team's third season of indoor soccer in the North American Soccer League.

Club

Roster

No.	Position	Player	Nation
00	GK	Craig Scarpelli	United States
1	GK	Jan van Beveren	Netherlands
2	DF	Alexander Szatmari	Romania
4	MF	Ray Hudson	England
5	DF	Bruce Savage	United States
6	MF	Thomas Rongen	Netherlands
7	DF	Ken Fogarty	England
8	DF	Colin Fowles	United States
10	MF	Teófilo Cubillas	Chile
11	FW	Brian Kidd	England
12	MF	Carl Strong	United States
13	GK	Jim Tietjens	United States
14	MF	Keith Weller	England
14	FW	Steve Wegerle	South Africa
16	DF	Dan Canter	United States
18	FW	Robert Meschbach	United States
20	FW	Branko Šegota	Canada
21	DF	Tony Whelan	England
24	DF	Bob Bolitho	Canada
25	DF	Bruce Miller	Canada
unk	FW	Andrew Parkinson	United States
unk	DF	Charlie Kadupski	United States

Coaching staff

Head Coach: David Chadwick
Asst. Coach: Bill Nuttall

Background

The 1983 indoor season was part of the club's seventeenth season in professional soccer. Previously, the NASL indoor season was played during the winter months and running through the new year, such as the 1981–82 season. This year, because five NASL teams elected not to play indoor while three others played in the MISL, the format changed to a round-robin tournament known as the 1983 NASL Grand Prix of Indoor Soccer. In addition to the Grand Prix, the Strikers played two friendlies, the first of which was a farewell of sorts from the briefly defunct Jacksonville Tea Men to their fans.^[1]

Review

The team's long history of poor showings indoors looked to change this time around, because unlike in previous years most of the Strikers' marquee players decided to participate.^[2] The Grand Prix campaign started off ominously with the airline losing the team's uniforms in transit to Tulsa before their first game,^[3] and forcing them to borrow kits from their opponents.^[4]

The bad luck continued. Going into the third round of the Grand Prix, a total of 10 players were unavailable for the match.^[5] Four (Canter, Fowles, Meschbach, Savage) were trying out for Team America.^[6] Tony Whelan and Brian Kidd were battling the flu. Ken Fogarty (hamstring) and Thomas Rongen (fractured iliac) were nursing injuries, while Branko Šegota was serving a one-game red card suspension for verbally abusing a referee. Finally, Ray Hudson was in the midst of missing at least five games with a case of the mumps.

Most of this unfortunate situation happened to occur after they'd agreed to loan Keith Weller to the Roughnecks.^[7] To make matters worse, the 36 year-old Weller came alive with 8 goals and 7 assists in just six games with Tulsa. With so many line-up changes it made it nearly impossible to play with any kind of consistency.^[8] The Strikers finished the Grand Prix in fourth place. They did however reach the finals of the Molson $5,000 Shootout Challenge, which was a side competition held in conjunction with the Grand Prix.^[9]

Including friendlies, from 1977 through 1983 the Strikers posted an indoor record of 6–39, losing the final eight in a row. This would be the final year of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers as an indoor team. They sat out the 1983–84 NASL Indoor season and the club moved to Minnesota.

Statistics

Goals (worth 2 points), Assists (worth 1 point)

Leading Scorers*	Goals	Assists	Points
Branko Šegota	11	9	31
Teófilo Cubillas	9	10	28
Steve Wegerle	7	6	20
Tony Whelan	4	2	10
Robert Meschbach	4	1	9
Brian Kidd	3	2	8
Bob Bolitho	3	0	6
Bruce Miller	3	0	6
Andrew Parkinson	3	0	6
Colin Fowles	1	0	2
Alexander Szatmari	1	0	2
Charlie Kadupski	0	2	2
Carl Strong	0	1	1

*includes Grand Prix and friendlies

Competitions

$5,000 Shootout Challenge

Semi-finals: Tampa Bay 3–1 Tulsa • Fort Lauderdale 3–1 Montreal
Finals: Tampa Bay 2–0 Fort Lauderdale

Grand Prix preliminary round results

Round 1

played at Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma^[10]

January 21	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	8–4	Tulsa Roughnecks	Attendance: 3,522

January 22	Montreal Manic	8–6	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Attendance: 4,341

Round 2

played at the Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida^[11]

February 4	Montreal Manic	6–3	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Attendance: 4,450

February 5	Tampa Bay Rowdies	10–6	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Attendance: 5,545

Round 3

played at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion in Tulsa, Oklahoma

February 11	Tampa Bay Rowdies	7–5	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Attendance: 2,064

February 12	Tulsa Roughnecks	5–4 (OT)	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Attendance: 3,245

Standings

G = Games, W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, GD = Goal Differential, PTS= point system

6 points awarded for a win. Beginning with the fourth goal, 1 bonus point awarded for each goal scored. Maximum of 5 bonus points per game.

Pos	Team	G	W	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1*	Montreal Manic	6	4	2	36	31	+5	42
2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	6	4	2	38	31	+7	42
3	Tulsa Roughnecks	6	3	3	33	37	-4	33
4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	6	1	5	32	40	-8	20

*Montreal wins top seed based on 2-0 head-to-head edge over Tampa Bay

Match reports

Playoffs rounds

Semifinals			Championship

1	Montreal Manic	11

4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	4
			1	Montreal Manic	4

			2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	5
3	Tulsa Roughnecks	6

2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	8	Third place match


			3	Tulsa Roughnecks	9

			4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	4

Semi-finals

played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec

February 18	Montreal Manic	11–4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Attendance: 6,049^[12]

Third place match

played at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec (1:30 PM EDT)

February 20	Tulsa Roughnecks	9–4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Attendance: 7,895

Final Grand Prix Rankings

Pos	Team	G	W	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Tampa Bay Rowdies	8	6	2	51	41	+10
2	Montreal Manic	8	5	3	51	40	+11
3	Tulsa Roughnecks	8	4	4	48	49	-1
4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	8	1	7	40	60	-20

Transfers

Date	Position	Player	From club
4 February 1983	GK	Craig Scarpelli^[13]	St. Louis Steamers

Date	Position	Player	To club
4 February 1983	MF	Keith Weller^[14]	Tulsa Roughnecks

Non-grand prix matches

Before the Grand Prix began the Strikers helped the defunct Jacksonville Tea Men say thanks and goodbye to 5,000 loyal fans in a match at the Jacksonville Coliseum. Five days after the Grand Prix concluded, the Strikers played the Tampa Bay Rowdies in an indoor friendly, in Lakeland, Florida.

Match reports

January 14, 1983 1	Tea Men All-Stars	3–4	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Jacksonville, Florida
	Zec	Report	Whelan , 59:22' Bolitho Šegota	Stadium: Jacksonville Coliseum Attendance: 5,000

February 25, 1979 2	Tampa Bay Rowdies	8–5	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	Lakeland, Florida
8:00 PM (EST)	Tatu 6:15' (Gruber, Easton) Karpun 13:04' Miller 22:55' (Pérez, Kozic) Karpun 31:35' (Fall) Gruber 44:42' (Fall) Molina 46:43' (Thompson) Bates 53:38' (Molina, McLeod) Oliveira 57:51' (Pérez, Molina)	Report p. 2-C	Kidd 13:26' (Segota) Cubillas 23:55' (Kidd) Kidd 36:14' (Whelan) Meschbach 39:31' (Kadupski, Cubillas) Kidd 54:16' (Kadupski)	Stadium: Lakeland Civic Center Attendance: 3,506

References

^ "Strikers win 4-3 on late Whelan goal". Fort Lauderdale News. January 15, 1983. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ Sarni, Jim (January 11, 1983). "Strikers cruising into Grand Prix". Fort Lauderdale News. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ "Strikers top Roughnecks despite travel problems". Fort Lauderdale News. January 23, 1983. p. 21C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ Sarni, Jim (January 24, 1983). "Strikers feels highs, lows in Grand Prix of Soccer". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 13D. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ Sarni, Jim (January 28, 1983). "Strikers minus 10 equals headaches for Chadwick". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 10C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ Marmor, John (February 6, 1983). "Four Strikers Face Decisions As Team America Takes Off". Palm Beach Post. p. E13. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ Rosaforte, Tim (February 5, 1983). "Strikers trade Weller to Tulsa – sort of". Fort Lauderdale News. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ Rosaforte, Tim (February 17, 1983). "1–5 For struggling Strikers, Grand Prix of soccer is anything but grand". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
^ Beard, Randy (February 21, 1983). "Championship effort carried Rowdies to title". The Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
^ "The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search".
^ "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search".
^ "The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search".
^ "Weller Transferred To Tulsa Roughnecks". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
^ "Weller Transferred To Tulsa Roughnecks". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved August 9, 2015.

[1] "Strikers win 4-3 on late Whelan goal". Fort Lauderdale News. January 15, 1983. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[2] Sarni, Jim (January 11, 1983). "Strikers cruising into Grand Prix". Fort Lauderdale News. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[3] "Strikers top Roughnecks despite travel problems". Fort Lauderdale News. January 23, 1983. p. 21C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[4] Sarni, Jim (January 24, 1983). "Strikers feels highs, lows in Grand Prix of Soccer". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 13D. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[5] Sarni, Jim (January 28, 1983). "Strikers minus 10 equals headaches for Chadwick". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 10C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[6] Marmor, John (February 6, 1983). "Four Strikers Face Decisions As Team America Takes Off". Palm Beach Post. p. E13. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[7] Rosaforte, Tim (February 5, 1983). "Strikers trade Weller to Tulsa – sort of". Fort Lauderdale News. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[8] Rosaforte, Tim (February 17, 1983). "1–5 For struggling Strikers, Grand Prix of soccer is anything but grand". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 3C. Retrieved July 23, 2017.

[google6-9] Beard, Randy (February 21, 1983). "Championship effort carried Rowdies to title". The Evening Independent. p. 1-C. Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.

[10] "The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search".

[11] "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search".

[12] "The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search".

[13] "Weller Transferred To Tulsa Roughnecks". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved August 9, 2015.

[14] "Weller Transferred To Tulsa Roughnecks". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved August 9, 2015.

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