MLS v NASL

[KCFutbol]

Originally posted by pething101


I wonder how many out of the billions that use BS ever saw a NASL match.

I did.

[Swampgas United]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by TequilaJoal [psuedo-
NASL - Didnt care where they played, or what they played on, When they played games, and first to use orange soccer ball.

The NASL did not use a orange ball,the MISL did.

[Tea Men Tom]

Originally posted by kenntomasch
Askew, Sonny (4)
Bandov,Boris (33)
Bellinger,Tony (7)
Borja,Hernan (11)
Canter,Dan (9)
Cantillo,Ringo (11)
Crescitelli,Tony (1)
DeBrito,Pedro (1)
Durgan,Jeff (7)
Glenn,Rudy (1)
Green,Alan (1)
Hammond,Paul (0)
Knight,Hayden (3)
Mausser,Arnold (35)
Merrick,Alan (1)
Olsen,Rob (1)
Parkinson,Andrew (2)
Petenon,Mark (0)
Savage,Bruce (16)
Van der Beck,Perry (23)
Villa,Greg (18)



Gotta love NASL threads. I imagine it's been over 25 years since I ever thought about Ringo Cantillo.

He was one of my favorite players -- only because of his name.....

[WorldGame]

Originally posted by kenntomasch


You were there?

Got a program, a ticket stub, or anything like that? Anything at all?

somewhere in the house here I still have a tampa bay rowdies t-shirt my dad bought me when I was five. last time I saw it, it looked tiny, but I think I still have it. I remember getting home from the old tampa stadium and setting up goals on either end of the living room floor and blasting this little rubber Rowdies ball all over the house. I still miss how innocent that seemed, whereas now the survival of MLS seems like a function of tv contracts and labor disputes of older established sports leagues.

And yet, we keep the faith because it's only about the game and nothing else.

[SoccerMavn]

While doing some research, I came across this letter from Bob Antoniuk of Hoboken, NJ in the July 1979 issue of Soccer Digest:

Yes, the NASL had its best season last year, but let's not fool ourselves. The league lacks credibility in several large cities, notably Chicago. The New England Tea Men recently lost their Foxboro ballpark, and will be forced to play in a 15,000 seat slum. Then there are three "minor league" cities: Rochester, Ft. Lauderdale and San Jose. Rochester draws poorly in its small park. The team belongs in Buffalo's Rich Stadium, an 82,000 seat carbon copy of Giants Stadium with no competition against baseball. Ft. Lauderdale draws respectable numbers to its field, but attendance could double in Miami's Orange Bowl, just a half hour away from the present home. San Jose, however, is a special case. It has always drawn well and should build a larger ballpark, seating at least 30,000, to become the Green Bay of the NASL. Otherwise, the league is well-housed, but soccer must be sold properly and often to fill parks

Twenty-three years ago, there was a 180 degree difference from the current perspective. Imagine: the NASL's cavernous baseball and football stadiums, mostly AstroTurf and with the markings of their "usual" tenants (i.e., gridiron lines and basepaths), were tolerated enough for the league to be considered "well housed." Meanwhile, New England's playing in a 15,000 stadium--a bit small by today's standards, but otherwise an ideal SSS model--was considered slumming.

Some other changes--Chicago is well-supported now, while San Jose "must be moved now," to quote any one of a number of posters in the weekly attendance threads.

[Geoduck]

Excellent stuff, USRufnex, and I agree 100% with your opinion! Also worth pointing out: in the NASL, the Whitecaps lasted 11 years, the Sounders 10, and the Timbers 8; that's longer than MLS has been in existence.

The year Team America existed, the Sounders, which had been to the Soccer Bowl the previous year, changed ownership. Not only did the new owners break up a team that had reached the Soccer Bowl the previous year, it redid itself by emphasizing American talent (the old coach and several players were fired basically for being British) -- and in the process, killed the franchise. The owners actively tried to dissuade its Americans from joining Team America, referring to Washington DC's comparatively high heat and humidity. So that might be why Mark Peterson didn't immediately join Team America (though I don't even recall his being with the Sounders that year).

[jdm2662]

Does anyone know of any books that was written about the history of the NASL?

[babytiger2001]

Originally posted by jdm2662
Does anyone know of any books that was written about the history of the NASL?

Perhaps Colin Jose has written some sort of volumous work on the subject... I'm about 90% (or so) sure about that...

In any event, there could very well be something (by him, and/or someone else) in the BigSoccer Store...

Cheers,
William

[houndguy]

Originally posted by jdm2662
Does anyone know of any books that was written about the history of the NASL?

Books? Sorry I don't know of any. However a incredible website contains the history not only of the NASL but America's other professional leagues as well is http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/

Some amazing info. Well worth a couple of hours to browse through it.

On an related note. Nice article about the A-league and how it compares to the NASL is at www.a-league.com/features/2002/fea,2002,0019.shtml

[jdm2662]

I've been to the sover site, and it's very good. It has very good info. I'm looking for something more into detail (politics, business figures, etc).

I did some research on the NASL back in '99, and it was pretty much limted to articles from the Chicago Sun-Times about the Sting, and very few articles in magazines.

[kenntomasch]

Originally posted by SoccerMavn
While doing some research, I came across this letter from Bob Antoniuk of Hoboken, NJ in the July 1979 issue of Soccer Digest:

"...Ft. Lauderdale draws respectable numbers to its field, but attendance could double in Miami's Orange Bowl, just a half hour away from the present home."

Interesting to see that completely dumb-ass opinions pre-dated Bigsoccer. Some things never change.

[Real Ray]

Originally posted by babytiger2001
Perhaps Colin Jose has written some sort of volumous work on the subject... I'm about 90% (or so) sure about that...


It's called, "NASL-A Complete Record Of The North American Soccer League" You can get it at Soccer Books Ltd. It's $29 plus overseas shipping.

[kenntomasch]

It's on eBay all the time.

[anderson]

Originally posted by SoccerMavn
Twenty-three years ago, there was a 180 degree difference from the current perspective. Imagine: the NASL's cavernous baseball and football stadiums, mostly AstroTurf and with the markings of their "usual" tenants (i.e., gridiron lines and basepaths), were tolerated enough for the league to be considered "well housed." Meanwhile, New England's playing in a 15,000 stadium--a bit small by today's standards, but otherwise an ideal SSS model--was considered slumming.Great point. Also perhaps sheds some light on an attitude that we see from time to time in the mainstream sports media from people who are otherwise generally very friendly to soccer. I've wondered why a guy like Mike Wilbon, who is comparatively soccer knwolwedgable for a mainstream sports analyst and generally a bright fella, still offers the observation that soccer will never "make it" as a pro sport without offering much in support of that position - as if it were a painfully obvious fact that needs no further analysis. Maybe part of the answer is that while we have a different (more realistic) perspective about what it means to "make it" as pro sport than we (or more specifically, Phil Woosnam) did about 20 years ago, even soccer-friendly mainstream sports analysts just haven't caught up.

[SoccerMavn]

Originally posted by jdm2662
I've been to the sover site, and it's very good. It has very good info. I'm looking for something more into detail (politics, business figures, etc).



Ahh...then you want my book. Alas, it's still in a very early draft.

Some of my rough cuts are part of the Year In Soccer series at Dave Litterer's Soccer Archives site (the sover site). I try to go into politics and business in the summaries. Check them out and let me know if this is the kind of style you're looking for.

[USRufnex]

Originally posted by Geoduck
Excellent stuff, USRufnex, and I agree 100% with your opinion! Also worth pointing out: in the NASL, the Whitecaps lasted 11 years, the Sounders 10, and the Timbers 8; that's longer than MLS has been in existence.

The year Team America existed, the Sounders, which had been to the Soccer Bowl the previous year, changed ownership. Not only did the new owners break up a team that had reached the Soccer Bowl the previous year, it redid itself by emphasizing American talent (the old coach and several players were fired basically for being British) -- and in the process, killed the franchise. The owners actively tried to dissuade its Americans from joining Team America, referring to Washington DC's comparatively high heat and humidity. So that might be why Mark Peterson didn't immediately join Team America (though I don't even recall his being with the Sounders that year).

Ah, yes... Sounder Soccer: "Red, white, black and blue"...

Actually, I think my favorite year to be a fan was '79 when the Roughnecks had a great deal of turmoil between general mgr. Noel Lemon and new coach Alan Hinton (the England vs. N. Ireland version of the Steinbrenner/Billy Martin saga).

Hinton was accused of favoring English players like Roger Davies, David Nish and Wayne Hughes and being more of a finesse team than the hard-nosed style favored by GM Lemon and the Northern Ireland players like Billy Caskey and Victor Moreland... at least that's my recollection as the '79 team struggled to a 14-16 record before sweeping the Minnesota Kicks and blanking the Cosmos in the 2nd round (still remember the big pic in the paper of fans with GK Jack Brand on their shoulders -- amazing)... in the middle of the season, Alan Hinton called the radio station to dedicate a song to his general mgr, Noel Lemon... "Nowhere Man by the Beatles"...

After Hinton was unceremoniously sacked by Lemon, he and Davies, Brand, Nish showed up in Seattle, reviving the Sounders to a 25-7 record... Alan Hinton got Coach of the Year, Roger Davies was the league's MVP, and Jack Brand was named "North American of the Year"... David Nish was named 3rd team NASL All-Star Defender...

Thus began an instant rivalry anytime the Sounders would show up in Tulsa... then the Sounders 1982 Soccer Bowl loss to the Cosmos... followed by a new owner who dismantled the team to "Americanize" it... then came Team America...

I think the beginning of the end was when we lost rivals in Dallas and Minnesota and were moved to a "Southern Division" that included Ft Lauderdale, Jacksonville and Tampa (the Florida plus Tulsa division)...
I have to say, it REALLY WAS the league that let us down... some NASL teams were moving to the MISL while Tulsa was looking at ASL and USL options (MISL already had a team in Wichita, Kansas and were not interested in a Tulsa team that didn't have a large indoor facility). Tulsa just wasn't going to spend the $$$ to compete in an ever shrinking league (7...6...5...4... zero?).

Yep. Go figure.