North American Soccer League
Was this football’s first franchise league?
Written by; Tao MacLeod
In the decades before Major League Soccer, before David Beckham and Leo Messi and their Inter Miami football team, there was another famous competition that captured the imagination of sports fans in the Land of Opportunity. The North American Soccer League was a former elite level tournament, based in the USA and Canada for the sport of association football. It is best remembered for the long list of famous players from the 1960s and 1970s to turn out for the various teams, the quirky rule adaptations that weren’t endorsed by the world governing body, FIFA, as well as the vibrant and colourful kit designs and branding. The NASL was played decades before the MLS, the Chinese Super League, or the Saudi Pro League. Was this footy’s first successful franchise competition?
Founded in December of 1967, the NASL looked to capitalise on the emerging interest in what the Yanks call soccer, that had been developing across the North American continent. Although not the original league commissioner, the competition became the baby of former Welsh international Phil Woosnam. Born in 1932, he had an interesting background, having turned out for Leyton orient, West Ham United and Aston Villa, he spent the final year of his career as a player/coach for the Atlanta Chiefs, as well as coach of the United States national team. Phil was also the nephew of all round English sports star, footballer and tennis champion Max Woosnam, as well as cousin to golfer Ian Woosnam. Upon retirement from the game as a footballer he went into sports administration, taking over as the head of the organising committee in 1968.
Woosnam is credited with helping to develop the NASL in its early days, securing television deals with national broadcasters, recruiting increased investment from private companies and gaining further expansion with teams from all over the USA as well as Canada joining under his incumbency. A criticism is that it was his ambitions that lead to the over-expansion that went too far. The league spread to 24 teams, which spread the talent pool over too wide an area, as well as draining the financial opportunities for the owners, who then left after losing their initial investments. It was the team owners who did for him. Woosnam was voted out of office in 1983. However, without the young, enterprising British ex-pat the league would never have reached the heights that it did, with the peak years coming under his stewardship.
The NASL was set up in a similar way to other American sports leagues. It was fundamentally a closed shop, without promotion, or relegation, a system that that has remained popular across the more traditional European domestic competitions. Instead, teams played out a regular season, with the top placed sides qualifying for the playoffs. The final two would then compete for what became known as the Soccer Bowl. Squads were created within their geographical locations, paid for, owned and run by businessmen, corporate executives, or conglomerates. This was a new concept for the football that had come out of Britain, as the sides there had otherwise evolved out of specific communities. Football clubs had normally been formed by those who banded together for recreational, social and fitness purposes and took their collective name from the area in which they played. For example, Sheffield Wednesday FC is so named because the founding members got together on a Wednesday in that particular industrial city in England. Those from the North American culture for free market business preferred a different format. Financial investors would not appreciate giving up control of their operations to other stakeholders, nor would they want to lose money after being relegated from the top flight and therefore soccer in the USA was never going to follow the more traditional, old world ideals, based around the amateurism that came from the UK. Therefore the NASL was established in a similar fashion to other sports across the continent.
Traditionally a conservative sport, people involved in football tend to abhor change. However, the soccer played in North America during the 1970s and 1980s became rather progressive in terms of gimmicks and rule changes. These were perhaps designed to create interest and a spectacle for American fans and sporting consumers, who looked to their favourite sports as a sense of entertainment. Team mascots and cheerleaders were introduced by more than one of the teams. There were also several differences within the NASL compared to many of the other competitions around the world, particularly in Europe. A change to the offside rule, in 1972, saw the pitch quartered. Instead of being caught offside in the opposition half, a line was created 35 yards (32 metres) out from the goal. A players attacking movement could only be regulated beyond this mark, effectively creating more space within the midfield area.
Another rule change, in 1974, was that all draws would be decided by a penalty shootout, to cater to the American desire to see a winner in their sporting contests. This had been adapted even further, by 1977 and was presumably inspired by ice hockey, another popular sport within North America. Still a best of five format, the attacking player would start on the aforementioned 35 yard line and would have five seconds to beat the goalkeeper (who would be allowed to come off of his line). A similar method is currently used to good effect in the sport of field hockey and is called a ‘running penalty’, or a ‘penalty shuffle’. It is a rather more energetic and active style of tie-breaker, than the static spot kick. There was even an indoor championship, held between 1971 and 1984.
There were many well known teams who turned out during the prime years, who’s names are still remembered today forty years after the league came to an end. One of the most famous of these were the New York Cosmos. The East Coast side won more titles than any other team. Having won five in total, their first came in 1971 and their last in 1982, also coming second in 1981. Similar to the MLS and other contemporary franchise leagues these days the arrival of well known players were a method of bringing in investment and selling tickets and merchandise. The NASL was no different, arguably starting this trend, and the Cosmos were one of the leaders in bringing in big name footballers. Pelé was, in fact, brought out of retirement, having been a one team player all of his career, he initially hung up his boots in 1974. However, the Cosmos convinced him to come to New York in 1975. He was joined by Italian international Giorgio Chinaglia, German legend Franz Beckenbauer and former Santos team mate and Brazilian World Cup winner Carlos Alberto. Johan Neeskens, the dutch midfielder, joined the Cosmos in 1979, a mere year after winning the European Championships with the Netherlands. He in fact kept playing international football for a further two years, after moving to the USA.
The Los Angeles Aztecs were another team that brought over several franchise type players and was even partially owned by English rock star Elton John. Winners of the NASL Soccer Bowl in 1974 they looked to build upon the popularity brought about by this success. Johan Cruyff (who went on to play for the Washington Diplomats) and George Best (who also played for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and the San Jose Earthquakes) were two of the most famous names to grace the pitches of the NASL, with Rinus Michels acting as head coach between 1979 and 1980. Other notable NASL players included German Gerd Müller for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, former England captain Booby Moore for the San Antonio Thunder and the Seattle Sounders, as well as Portuguese legend Eusébio for the Toronto Metros-Croatia, with whom he won the Soccer bowl in 1976. Queens Park Rangers icon and England international Rodney Marsh, moved to the USA in 1976 to play for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, where he stayed for three seasons, before going on to become the team’s manager between 1984 and 1986, winning several medals during these periods. Other British players to have made the move across to the league included English World Cup winners Geoff Hurst (Seattle Sounders) and Alan Ball (Philadelphia Fury and Vancouver Whitecaps), as well as Scotland’s Peter Lorimer (Toronto Blizzard and Vancouver Whitecaps).
Spectator attendances for the NASL peaked around the late 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1979 and 1981 the average attendances for the for the league stayed above 14,000 spectators, with the Cosmos regularly getting in excess of 40,000 going to watch their games, Tampa Bay Rowdies, Montreal Manic, Vancouver Whitecaps and Seattle Sounders posting some of the highest gate receipts during a similar time period. Unfortunately for the competition, interest started to decline by 1982, with an average attendance across the competition dropping to around 13,000 for the next couple of seasons, before dropping even further to 10,759, with the largest gate, of 14,263 for an individual match being posted by the Minnesota Strikers in 1984. This decline coincided with an increase of teams, which spread the talent pool and financial investment across a broader base. This ambition to grow arguably led to the demise of the league, at the very least this was the opinion of the club owners, who voted out Phil Woosnam as commissioner in 1983. He was succeeded by Howard J. Samuels, an American statesman, industrialist and civil rights activist, and then British born journalist Clive Toye. The NASL was eventually wound up in 1985. Although it is no longer with us, the success found between the 1960s and 1980s helped to create a culture of soccer playing and fandom in North America. Without the NASL we would not have the MLS. The league also became, for better and for worse, an example of what to do and not to do for future start up competitions, such as those in China and Saudi Arabia. It has a very relevant place in the history of association football. In 2014 Ian Plenderleith authored Rock ’n’ Roll Soccer; The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League.
