L.A. AZTECS TEAM PHOTO, 1979

FT. LAUDERDALE STRIKERS STARS, 1979

Ken Fogarty, George Best, Terry Park

BEFORE THEY WERE NASL STARS

Ephraim Matsilela "Jomo" Sono

BORN:
July 17, 1955 Johannesburg, South Africa
PLAYING CAREER:
?-1977  Orlando Pirates
1977  New York Cosmos
1978  Colorado Caribou
1979  Atlanta Chiefs
1980-82  Toronto Blizzard

PHIL PARKES, SOCCER BOWL '79

Vancouver Whitecaps goalie Phil Parkes celebrates winning Soccer Bowl '79 wearing one of his classic velour keeper kits.

FT. LAUDERDALE STRIKERS '79 ROAD KIT

Nico Bodonczy's 1979 Strikers road uniform.

BEFORE THEY WERE NASL STARS

Rodney William Marsh

BORN:
October 11, 1944 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England

PLAYING CAREER:
1962-66  Fulham
1966-72  Queens Park Rangers
1972-75  Manchester City
1976  Cork Hibernian
1976-77  Fulham
1977-79  Tampa Bay Rowdies
1986-87  Tampa Bay Rowdies (Indoor)
1971-73  England National Team (9 Appearances)

DIPLOMATS vs COSMOS, 1977

New York's Bob Smith (12) is challenged by Washington's Nick Redfern on August 6, 1977. Redfern scored both goals in the the Diplomat's 2-1 home win against the Cosmos.

RAY HANKIN FAN PAGE

I received a message from a fan of Ray Hankin (Vancouver Whitecaps 1980-82). He has a page dedicated to the former Whitecaps player. You can check it out at
http://rayhankin.weebly.com/vancouver-whitecaps.html

TORNADO vs ROWDIES INDOOR, 1976

The Dallas Tornado's Ken Cooper makes a save against Tampa Bay's Derek Smethurst indoors in 1976.

GEOFFREY SIDEBOTTOM, 1967

ALAN MAYER, CALIFORNIA SURF, 1981

STEVE RALBOVSKY, 79-80 INDOOR

Thanks NASLJerseys.com

PARVIZ, SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES, 1978

SAN DIEGO JAWS UNIFORM, 1976

Thanks Logoshak.com

TOM BORIC, CALGARY BOOMERS,1981

Tom Boric was an NASL goalkeeper with the Calgary Boomers and Tampa Bay Rowdies. After soccer, Tom went on to become a professional wrestler! He wrestled here in the Memphis area as "Paul Diamond." One of his later incarnations was "Max Moon" (pictured above). And people thought the ROWDIES uniforms were ugly!

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES, 1978

CRUYFF, CHINAGLIA, AND BECKENBAUER

ADIDAS "SPECIAL TURF" NASL PLAYER'S MODEL BOOTS, 1981

TIMBERS vs SOUNDERS, 1979

NASL STADIA

Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, home of the Atlanta Chiefs.

SOCCER BOWL '76

DATE: August 28, 1976
MINNESOTA KICKS LINE-UP:
Barnett, Spraggon, Litt, Merrick, Willey, West, Futcher, Ntsoelengoe, Brine, Bick, Coker
SUBS USED:
None

TORONTO METROS-CROATIA LINE-UP:
Bilecki, Sutevski, Cukon, Iarusci, Polak, Eusebio, Ferreira, Blaskovic, Lukacevic, Grnja, Suhnholz
SUBS USED:
Strenicer

SCORE:
TORONTO-3 (Eusebio, Ferreira, Lukacevic)
MINNESOTA-0

GROUND:
The Kingdome, Seattle, WA

ATTENDANCE:
25,765

THE SAN DIEGO SOCKERS, 1981

FRANZ BECKENBAUER DAY, MAY 21, 1978

COSMOS LINE-UP:
Yasin, Smith, Alberto, Formosos, Beckenbauer, Bogicevic, Chinaglia, Hunt, Roth, Tueart, Dimitrijevic
SUBS USED:
Etherington, Davis, Brand
SOUNDERS LINE-UP:
Chursky, Webster, Rudroff, England, McAlister, Buttle, Cave, Ord, Wallace, Scott, Parodi
SUBS USED:
Butler
SCORE:
Cosmos-5 (Bogicevic, Chinaglia 3, Tueart)
Sounders-1 (Cave)
ATTENDANCE:
71,219
GROUND:
Giant's Stadium, The Meadowlands, NJ

OAKLAND STOMPERS "GRAPEVINE," 1977

Sorry for the the lack of regular posts lately, things have been a bit hectic around here!

THE LOS ANGELES WOLVES, 1967

MONTREAL MANIC SCHEDULE COVER, 1981

NASL STADIA

Minneapolis, Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium, home of the NASL's Minnesota Kicks.

THE NASL's LARGEST CROWD, 1977

On August 14, 1977, The New York Cosmos hammered the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 in a playoff game at Giant's Stadium. 77,691 people attended making it the largest crowd in NASL history. The holes punched in the ticket stub indicate that this ticket was provided by the league office.

PHILADELPHIA FURY SCHEDULE, 1979

SOUNDERS vs SURF, PRE-SEASON, 1978

I came across this photo on Flickr last year. It show Seattle's Tommy Ord (L) and Len Renery of the California Surf. What is interesting about it is the Surf's uniform. The St. Louis Stars were relocated after the 1977 season and became the Surf. They are wearing California Surf jerseys but the shorts and socks are in the colors of the Stars (red, white, and blue). Based on this, and a few other things, I believe this to be a pre-season game.

OFFICIAL KICKS' "KICKS," 1977

COSMOS vs HARTFORD, MAY 14, 1975

COSMOS LINE-UP:
Nusum, Mahy, Roth, Caetano, De La Fuente, Lamas, Correa, Liveric, Fink, Siega, Dillon
SUBS USED:
Kerr, Maria
BICENTENNIALS LINE-UP:
Mausser, Chodakowski, Smuda, Harba, Schellscheidt, Kelly, C. McCully, Travljanin, H. McCully, Welsh, O'Dea
SUBS USED:
Swierniak
SCORE:
Cosmos-2 (Fink)
Bicentennials-1 (H. McCully)
Shootout
ATTENDANCE:
6,103
GROUND:
Downing Stadium, Randalls Island, NY

SOCCER DIGEST, JULY, 1978

MINNESOTA KICKS' CHEERLINE, 1979

NASL COMMISSIONER'S RECEPTION INVITATION, 1978

The Commissioner's Reception was held August 26, 1978, the night before Soccer Bowl '78.

JAN GOOSENS, 1980

Edmonton Drillers' forward Jan Goosens leaves Detroit's Benny Dargle on the floor at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium May 10, 1980. The Drillers went on to win 3-2 in a shootout.

THE OFFICIAL ROWDIES STORE AT MAAS BROTHERS, 1979

RINGO CANTILLO, 1978

New England's Ringo Cantillo signs autographs for the home fans during the 1978 NASL season.

NASL STADIA

Vintage postcard of RFK Stadium, home of the Washington Diplomats.

NASL GAME BALL AND SOCCER BOWL '78 TANKARD

This is my Soccer Bowl '78 tankard decorated with an Adidas NASL game ball. Unfortunately the ball was not used in Soccer Bowl '78 but I still treasure it.

TONY CHURSKY, 1980

Toronto goalkeeper Tony Chursky hangs on despite a challenge from Vancouver's John Craven (2) as Blizzard midfielder Drew Busby (15) looks on.

FRANZ BECKENBAUER, 1980

Franz Beckenbauer leaves the Cosmos for Hamburg SV. Here he is shown heading back to Germany, accompanied by his manager (r).