I guess there'll be some of you who supported teams in the old NASL and you'd maybe like a replica shirt of your old team. Well, there's this company http://www.toffs.com/icat/naslandsouthamerican that makes quite close copies of old shirts. Some of you may be interested. I don't know, but it's a heads up for you anyway. I've just had a flick through some of the NASL pics and there's a photo of King Kevin Hector in a Vancouver jersey, the most striking thing being the packed crowd in the stadium.
They did a good job with some of the teams, with multiple jerseys available, however, I didn't care for the lone Seattle Sounder jersey they had. They say it's from the 1970's, but, I don't remember the Sounders using navy blue until their final 1983 road kit. I was hoping they would have chosen the home white the team used for their banner 1980 season.
How funny! The Detroit Express jersey looks really cool, but they lifted the copy about Trevor Francis from Wikipedia. I wrote all of that. I'm honored. Maybe they will give me a discount on the shirt. You know it's really sad how little info is out there on the NASL.
There's a bunch here: http://home.att.net/~nasl/nasl.htm TOFFS (like everyone else) has yet to come up with a good enough Rowdies replica, so I've never bought one. The simple ones look okay, but I can't tell from a photo.
Do I see the opening for a book? Maybe you and Kenn could put your heads together and come up with something?
Always wanted to write a good book about it. But it would be a lot of work and I don't think it would sell a lot. Soccer books rarely sell well in this country.
Well, the Chicago Sting shirts are great. But I'll only be really impressed when they dare to offer up the Colorado Caribou shirt with the leather fringe.
Point taken. It occurs to me that we might be able to help the sale of soccer books in the US if we can get Oprah interested in soccer.
Colin Jose put out a very comprehensive book about the NASL. More stats than story, but there are number of those in it as well.
It is out of print and quite pricey on eBay ($119+). I got one a few years back from an out-of-print bookseller in the UK and it's an invaluable reference work. That said, the stories of the league would be entertaining reading.
We live in a global society now though. eg. I'm about eight miles from Pride Park, but I've heard you commentate on Fire games. I know it's a risk, but as the sport grows in the US potential sales will be greater and there are plenty of saddos like me who are interested in US/worldwide soccer.
Look up the book "Soccer in a Football World". I'm reading it now. Great read; much history about the NASL and the rest of the professional leagues over the years in the USA.
I know what me about the interest but I wouldn't call us 'saddos' It's the excitement and fascination of seeing the last frontiers finally embrace the beautiful game. Likewise, along with the MLS I have followed the A-League and more specifically the Melbourne Victory in the struggle to gain acceptance in an AFL city. The United States is a sleeping giant in the football world, it's been for it's slumber and now on the verge of waking up, and it's being a witness to that journey of the MLS becoming one of the big 5 which is rewarding. Some people are going to make a killing when this league finally get's the 'acceptance' it deserves so there are tremendous opportunities on offer there as well. If only I had a spare $100 million or so, an MLS franchise (In Vancouver or Tampa) would be up there with the investments!
Does anyone remember the NASL trading cards that were marketed for a year or two? May have been around 1979 0r 1980. I think they may have been stickers as I know I had the Tulsa Roughnecks sticker on my closet door. I recall my local 5&10 had them stocked alongisde the baseball and hockey cards. If memory serves me correctly (highly dubious) they came in a yellow/orange packet.
The NASL used to get a fair amount of coverage in England in the late 70s/early 80s. Not from the papers or tv, who completely ignored it, but in football magazines. I'm sure one of, of not both of, Match & Shoot, the football magazines of choice for kids back then, used to have a regular report on football in the USA. The general tone of the pieces was of fascination. Not with the results and games of the league itself, but of how it presented itself and how it was run. I think it could easily be taken for condescending, but it was more of a "what are they doing?" line of the sort seldom seen beyond reportage pieces reporting on Japanese teenage fashions. The NASL had that kind of bizarre curiosity value.
The following is a link to a very nice book about the NASL written by Clive Toye, the man responsible for bringing Pele to the Cosmos. I have read it and suggest it to all. http://www.amazon.com/Kick-Grass-Clive-Toye/dp/1878282476
Tell you what Kenn. I might just buy one of your books. Richard, I remember reading bits about soccer in America in the magazine "Goal" as a kid, though not so much about the NASL. The article that sticks in my mind was West Ham of the Geoff Hurst era playing a pre-season game in the Astrodome or somewhere similar. My first memories of the NASL came a few years later when the likes of Pele, Moore, Best and Beckenbauer joined the league and there's be the odd highlight reel on Football Focus or the ITV equivilent. Somehow I always though playing on astroturf as many of these teams seemed to do would suit my game. Just remembered. The ITV answer to Football Focus on Saturday lunchtimes was called On The Ball.
These guys do a really good job..... http://www.sportsretro.net/servlet/the-Soccer-cln-NASL/Categories Since I started wearing one of the Tulsa Roughnecks shirts, I've had people stop me and tell me some pretty crazy stories from "back in the day" -- drinking, debauchery, etc.... Good stuff. Busy lately, trying to update/upgrade the website.... shameless plug...... http://www.tulsaroughnecks.com
Yea, I can speak from experience! Of course, writing a lousy story and targeting an extinct audience (When's the last time you saw a kid with a book?) might've had something to do with my less-than-soaring sales figures. LOL. While a bevy of books on NASL teams may not (and not ever) exist, fans can take heart. The ever-increasing numbers of major newspapers with on-line archives dating back to the good old days (ISL/NPSL/USA/NASL & Canadian Leagues) gives one a shot at reconstructing a franchise history, start-to-finish. And finding a bunch of interesting anecdotes along the way (the Boston Shamrock Rovers reportedly almost moved to Montreal for '68, and Charlie Finley tried to buy & move the Beacons to Birmingham for '69!). Acquired a whole two-drawer-file full of Stokers' history via microfilms at area libraries & colleges. Lots of neat photography from the Cleveland Press and PD. Soon, all that running (and gasoline) won't be necessary, as more major papers are providing older archives. New York, Chicago, and LA papers can already take you back to the era of the Wolves, Toros, Generals, and Skyliners for a nominal fee. If'n it wasn't for the ridiculous gas prices, I'd miss the joy of hunting down those old microfilms. Just old-fashioned me, I suppose.