1981 North American Soccer League season

North American Soccer League 1981 season
Season	1981
Champions	Chicago Sting
Premiers	New York Cosmos ; (5th title)
Matches played	336
Goals scored	1,234 (3.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Giorgio Chinaglia ; (29 goals)
Highest attendance	50,755 ; Washington at Montreal ; (August 18)
Lowest attendance	1,861 ; Dallas at Chicago ; (May 10)
Average attendance	14,084
	← 1980 1982 →

Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1981. This was the 14th season of the NASL.

Overview

There were a total of 21 teams participating. Three teams (Houston, Rochester and Washington) folded, while four others (Memphis, Detroit, New England and Philadelphia) moved to new cities. Playoff series were switched from the two matches plus a mini-game tiebreaker used since 1977, to a best-of-three full matches played on three separate dates. The Chicago Sting defeated the New York Cosmos in Soccer Bowl '81 on September 26 to win the championship.

When Major League Baseball players went on strike on June 12, there was speculation that other sports, especially soccer, would see larger crowds. However, the 157 NASL matches played during the baseball work stoppage (which ended August 9) drew an average attendance of only 13,419, less than the full-season average of 14,084.

Changes from the previous season

New teams

None

Teams folding

Houston Hurricane
Rochester Lancers
Washington Diplomats

Teams moving

Memphis Rogues to Calgary Boomers
Detroit Express to Washington Diplomats
New England Tea Men to Jacksonville Tea Men
Philadelphia Fury to Montreal Manic

Name changes

None

Map of clubs

Manic

Cosmos

Blizzard

Diplomats

Sting

Tornado

Kicks

Rough
necks

Chiefs

Strikers

Tea Men

Rowdies

Boomers

Drillers

Timbers

Sounders

Whitecaps

Surf

Aztecs

Sockers

Earth
quakes

Eastern Division

Central Division

Southern Division

Northwest Division

Western Division

Regular season

W = Wins, L = Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, PT= point system

6 points for a win in regulation and overtime, 4 point for a shootout win, 0 points for a loss, 1 bonus point for each regulation goal scored, up to three per game.^[1]

-Premiers (most points). -Other playoff teams.

Eastern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
New York Cosmos	23	9	80	49	200
Montreal Manic	15	17	63	57	141
Washington Diplomats	15	17	59	58	135
Toronto Blizzard	7	25	39	82	77

Southern Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Atlanta Chiefs	17	15	62	60	151
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	18	14	54	46	144
Jacksonville Tea Men	18	14	51	46	141
Tampa Bay Rowdies	15	17	63	64	139

Central Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Chicago Sting	23	9	84	50	195
Minnesota Kicks	19	13	63	57	163
Tulsa Roughnecks	17	15	60	49	154
Dallas Tornado	5	27	27	71	54

Western Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
San Diego Sockers	21	11	67	49	173
Los Angeles Aztecs	19	13	53	55	160
California Surf	11	21	60	77	117
San Jose Earthquakes	11	21	44	78	108

Northwest Division	W	L	GF	GA	PT
Vancouver Whitecaps	21	11	74	43	186
Calgary Boomers	17	15	59	54	151
Portland Timbers	17	15	52	49	141
Seattle Sounders	15	17	60	62	137
Edmonton Drillers	12	20	60	79	123

NASL All-Stars

First Team^[2]	Position	Second Team^[3]	Honorable Mention^[4]
Jan van Beveren, Fort Lauderdale	G	Hubert Birkenmeier, New York	Volkmar Gross, San Diego
Frantz Mathieu, Chicago	D	Barry Wallace, Tulsa	Nick Rohmann, San Diego
Wim Rijsbergen, New York	D	Kevin Bond, Seattle	Robert Iarusci, New York
Peter Nogly, Edmonton	D	Mihalj Keri, Los Angeles	Dave Huson, Chicago
John Gorman, Tampa Bay	D	Pierce O'Leary, Vancouver	Carlos Alberto, California
Arno Steffenhagen, Chicago	M	Alan Hudson, Seattle	Juli Veee, San Diego
Vladislav Bogićević, New York	M	George Best, San Jose	Jomo Sono, Toronto
Teófilo Cubillas, Fort Lauderdale	M	Peter Lorimer, Vancouver	Duncan McKenzie, Tulsa
Brian Kidd, Atlanta	F	Karl-Heinz Granitza, Chicago	Mike Stojanović, San Diego
Gordon Hill, Montreal	F	Roberto Cabañas, New York	Pato Margetic, Chicago
Giorgio Chinaglia, New York	F	Franz Gerber, Calgary	Alan Green, Jacksonville • Steve Wegerle, New York

Playoffs

15 teams qualified for the playoffs – each first and second-place team across the divisions plus the five next best teams. Division winners were seeded 1 through 5, the second-place teams were seeded 6 through 10, and the last five teams were seeded 11 through 15 regardless of division placing.^[5] The top seed received a bye, and the remaining 14 teams paired off to play the first round. Series winners would be reseeded by season point total after each round.

The 'best of two' format used from 1978 to 1980 was discarded for a more straightforward best of three games format in the first three rounds.

Bracket

First Round (Best-of-3)			Quarterfinals (Best-of-3)			Semifinals (Best-of-3)			Soccer Bowl '81 (Single match)

			1	New York	2

			14	Tampa Bay	1
3	Vancouver	0

14	Tampa Bay	2
						1	New York	2

						9	Fort Lauderdale	0
6	Minnesota	2

11	Tulsa	0
			6	Minnesota	0

			9	Fort Lauderdale	2
8	Calgary	0

9	Fort Lauderdale	2
									1	New York	0

									2	Chicago	1
2	Chicago	2

15	Seattle	1
			2	Chicago	2

			10	Montreal	1
7	Los Angeles	1

10	Montreal	2
						2	Chicago	2

						4	San Diego	1
4	San Diego	2

13	Portland	1
			4	San Diego	2

			12	Jacksonville	1
5	Atlanta	0

12	Jacksonville	2

First round

Lower seed		Higher seed	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	(higher seed hosts Games 2 and 3)
Tulsa Roughnecks	-	Minnesota Kicks	1–3	0–1 (SO, 4–5)	x	August 22 • Skelly Stadium • 16,205 August 26 • Metropolitan Stadium • 10,722
Portland Timbers	-	San Diego Sockers	2–1	1–5	0–2	August 22 • Civic Stadium • 16,003 August 26 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 12,039 August 30 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 15,244
Jacksonville Tea Men	-	Atlanta Chiefs	3–2 (OT)	2–1	x	August 23 • Gator Bowl • 9,287 August 25 • Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium • 6,572
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	-	Calgary Boomers	3–1	#2–0	x	August 23 • Lockhart Stadium • 12,196 #August 26 • Lockhart Stadium • 11,494
Tampa Bay Rowdies	-	Vancouver Whitecaps	4–1	1–0	x	August 23 • Tampa Stadium • 21,192 August 26 • Empire Stadium • 28,896
Seattle Sounders	-	Chicago Sting	2–3	*2–0	2–3	August 23 • Comiskey Park • 14,643 *August 26 • Kingdome • 15,176 August 30 • Wrigley Field • 24,080
Montreal Manic	-	Los Angeles Aztecs	5–3	2–3	2–1 (OT)	August 24 • Olympic Stadium • 46,682 August 27 • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • 7,529 August 30 • Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • 8,812
(first round bye)		New York Cosmos	•	•	•	•

#Due to a scheduling conflict between the Calgary Boomers and the Billy Graham Crusade, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers hosted both Games 1 and 2 (instead of Game 1 only), there-by gaining home field advantage even though they were the lower seed.^[6]

*Seattle Sounders hosted Game 2 (instead of Game 1) due to a scheduling conflict with the Mariners baseball club.^[7]

Quarterfinals

Lower seed		Higher seed	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	(higher seed hosts Games 2 and 3)
Tampa Bay Rowdies	-	New York Cosmos	3–6	3–2 (SO, 4–2)	0–2	September 2 • Tampa Stadium • 29,224 September 5 • Giants Stadium • 38,691 September 9 • Giants Stadium • 33,754
Montreal Manic	-	Chicago Sting	3–2	2–4	2–4	September 2 • Olympic Stadium • 58,542 September 5 • Wrigley Field • 24,648 September 10 • Comiskey Park • 27,489
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	-	Minnesota Kicks	3–1	3–0	x	September 2 • Lockhart Stadium • 11,918 September 6 • Memorial Stadium • 10,278
Jacksonville Tea Men	-	San Diego Sockers	2–1 (OT)	1–2	1–3	September 2 • Gator Bowl • 12,252 September 6 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 14,428 September 9 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 14,015

Semifinals

Lower seed		Higher seed	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	(higher seed hosts Games 2 and 3)
Fort Lauderdale Strikers	-	New York Cosmos	3–4	1–4	x	September 12 • Lockhart Stadium • 18,814 September 16 • Giants Stadium • 31,172^[8]
San Diego Sockers	-	Chicago Sting	2–1	1–2	0–1 (SO, 2–3)	September 12 • Jack Murphy Stadium • 18,192 September 16 • Comiskey Park • 21,760 September 21 • Comiskey Park • 39,623

Soccer Bowl '81

September 26

8:00 pm EDT

Chicago Sting	1–0 (SO)	New York Cosmos
	Report
Penalties
Margetic Spalding Peter Granitza Glenn	2–1	Seninho Chinaglia Bogićević Buljan Iarusci

Exhibition Stadium, Toronto (ON)

Attendance: 36,971

Referee: Dante Maglio (Canada)

1981 NASL Champions: Chicago Sting

*From 1977 through 1984 the NASL had a variation of the penalty shoot-out procedure for tied matches. The shoot-out started 35 yards from the goal and allowed the player 5 seconds to attempt a shot. The player could make as many moves as he wanted in a breakaway situation within the time frame. Even though this particular match was a scoreless tie after overtime, NASL procedure also called for the box score to show an additional "goal" given to the winning team.^[9]^[10]

Post season awards

Most Valuable Player: Giorgio Chinaglia, New York
Coach of the year: Willy Roy, Chicago
Rookie of the year: Joe Morrone, Jr., Tulsa
North American Player of the Year: Mike Stojanović, San Diego^[11]

References

^ "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search".
^ Cote, Greg (September 11, 1981). "Strikers open at home against Cosmos Saturday". Miami Herald. p. 4F. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
^ "NASL All-Stars". The Evening Independent. September 11, 1981. p. 2-C. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
^ "NASL All-Star Team". The Tampa Times. September 11, 1981. p. 2C. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
^ Scheiber, Dave (August 3, 1981). "NASL's playoff system hurts its credibility". St. Petersburg Times. p. 3C. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
^ Scheiber, Dave (September 1, 1981). "Rowdies cashing in on their new underdog label". St. Petersburg Times. p. 3, sec. 4. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
^ Conklin, Mike (September 27, 1981). "Sting hopes for even more success in playoffs". Chicago Tribune. p. 3, sec. 4. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
^ Bonapace, Ruth (September 17, 1981). "Chinaglia Pulls It Out Of The Hat For Cosmos". Evening Independent. p. 4, sec. C. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
^ "This Day In 1981 : Soccer Bowl Edition | Chicago Fire Confidential". Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
^ "The Year in American Soccer - 1977". Archived from the original on July 13, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2013.
^ "The Calgary Herald - Google News Archive Search".

External links

[1] "St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search".

[2] Cote, Greg (September 11, 1981). "Strikers open at home against Cosmos Saturday". Miami Herald. p. 4F. Retrieved March 12, 2021.

[3] "NASL All-Stars". The Evening Independent. September 11, 1981. p. 2-C. Retrieved March 12, 2021.

[4] "NASL All-Star Team". The Tampa Times. September 11, 1981. p. 2C. Retrieved March 12, 2021.

[5] Scheiber, Dave (August 3, 1981). "NASL's playoff system hurts its credibility". St. Petersburg Times. p. 3C. Retrieved September 26, 2018.

[6] Scheiber, Dave (September 1, 1981). "Rowdies cashing in on their new underdog label". St. Petersburg Times. p. 3, sec. 4. Retrieved July 4, 2016.

[7] Conklin, Mike (September 27, 1981). "Sting hopes for even more success in playoffs". Chicago Tribune. p. 3, sec. 4. Retrieved July 4, 2016.

[8] Bonapace, Ruth (September 17, 1981). "Chinaglia Pulls It Out Of The Hat For Cosmos". Evening Independent. p. 4, sec. C. Retrieved July 4, 2016.

[9] "This Day In 1981 : Soccer Bowl Edition | Chicago Fire Confidential". Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2013.

[10] "The Year in American Soccer - 1977". Archived from the original on July 13, 2013. Retrieved June 21, 2013.

[11] "The Calgary Herald - Google News Archive Search".

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