Haven’t We Met?
With the Tampa Bay Rowdies‘ name and colors returning to the American soccer scene this season (albeit on a smaller scale), nostalgia is in the humid Florida air. Some are making tomorrow night’s first meeting between the new Rowdies and Miami FC out to be the renewal of a long-dead rivalry between the old Rowdies and their cross-state nemeses, the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. As with most things when it comes to nostalgia, there’s a bit of romanticizing and misremembering that comes along with it.
The facts are these:
- In the days of the original NASL, the Rowdies and Strikers played a total of just 23 times outdoors between 1977 and 1983 (and one of those was a mini-game tiebreaker, won by Rodney Marsh in a rainy shootout and immortalized here). They played that many against the New York Cosmos (Also 23, but no mini-games, four playoff tilts including Soccer Bowl ’78) and nearly that many against the San Diego Sockers (22, including three playoff mini-games).
- The series was as even as you can get, 11 wins apiece, with the Rowdies taking the aforementioned mini-game. Goals scored? 42 apiece in the 11 “full” games.
- Games in the heyday of the rivalry (and of the NASL itself) could draw large crowds to both Tampa Stadium and Lockhart, but by the end, when the Strikers won the last five meetings against a shell of a Rowdies organization, they could only hope to draw five figures for a game.
- The teams met 19 times in the ASL/APSL days after the NASL folded, but it was never the same. And the Mutiny and Fusion had a four-year run from 1998-2001 that was short on drama and little remembered.
- The Strikers were actually popular in South Florida (and with players like Gerd Mueller and Teofilo Cubillas, it’s easy to understand why). Where you once saw Striker Likers head to Tampa Stadium to represent, you’re fortunate if any Miami fans find their way to their own team’s stadium. If, as rumored, a couple hundred Rowdies fans bus over, they may outnumber the fans of Miami FC tomorrow.
I have said before that the new Rowdies need to embrace their history, yet not be strangled by it. And for fans and media types, trying to pump up the present by embellishing the past isn’t fair to this group of players, who will create their own memories from this point forward.
April 30th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Rivalries are something that come naturally and cannot be contrived. Which is exactly what the teams and their fans are doing here. There was much talk from the fans about how they were going to get this rivalry going again. Sorry, it doesn’t work like that. Just like it was asinine when the Philadelphia supporters bus was attacked by Red Bulls fans hating on them. Dudes and dudets, you have no recent history to get all worked up over. That is just plain contrived.
I spoke to some Rowdies players about this so called rivalry and they didn’t want to go on the record because it would be counter to marketing plans for the team, but they all said they didn’t think there was any sort of rivalry there at all. One player said that the whole thing is being made up by the fans and that he felt there would be more of a rivalry when the play Carolina because there are more players on the Railhawks team that Rowdies players are familiar with.
April 30th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I remember the first game between the Mutiny and the Fusion was televised on ESPN2, and they were trying to hype up a rivalry, based on El Pibe going to Miami to try to help them out. As with most of the league’s marketing efforts in those days, it was pretty damn laughable.
And BQ, you’re ignoring the long history of hatred between New York/Jersey and Philly sports teams. It makes perfect sense for it to carry over to MLS.
May 1st, 2010 at 9:36 am
I followed the Strikers as a kid many many years ago. But the Miami team that is there is horrible for promoting the sport. Out with them and in with someone competent. They play in Ft Lauderdale not Miami, change the name.
I really like the Tampa uniforms. they rock!