GO Indoor

What a Long Strange Trip It's been! A conversation with legendary Coach Ron Newman HISTORY on the development of the indoor game by Dave Litterer League to take part in its All-Star Game. He was astounded to hear that indoor soccer started in 1978 (with the advent of the original MISL.) Having been intimately involved with the indoor game in America since 1971, Ron knew some- thing was awry. But this type of inci- dent occurs all too often in this coun- try, where soccer history is often over- looked, or forgotten about entirely. A Ron Newman has been closely involved with indoor soccer since the salad days of the North American Soccer League, not only as its most successful coach, but as an active builder and innovator. Throughout the years of the original MISL and Continental Indoor Soccer League, Ron has played a major role in the development of indoor rules and refinement of coaching strategies. His involvement since the beginning of what could be called the "modern indoor" era gives him a unique long- term perspective on the development of the game from a part-time practice regimen to the major force it is today. In 1971, Newman, then coaching the couple years ago, Ron Newman was invited by the newMajor Indoor Soccer Dallas Tornado, was asked by the general manager of the St. Louis Stars to take part in an indoor tour- nament in St. Louis. This would be the first indoor tournament held by a professional league. Ron thought the idea was intriguing. The team often practiced indoors, he was familiar with the rules, so why not? So he brought the Tornado up to St. Louis. Approaching St. Louis Arena, he was struck by the announcement on the marquee: "Hock-Sock Tournament." "I thought that was a strange name, but I figured it was a game between hockey and soccer. And then I walked into the arena and this was the first I had seen of an ice hockey rink with artificial turf on it, and I said wow, that looks like a great place to play. And I remember the goals were four feet high and sixteen feet wide, which was very typical because the indoor game was always used as a method for improving your passing during training." Early in the tournament, it occurred to Newman that fatigue would be a major concern. With the exception of the back defenders, he rotated players in and out quite frequently, a trick not picked up by the other teams who tended to substitute as if this was an outdoor game. This played a major role in the Tornado's winning the tournament. The tour- nament was fairly low key, but the fan response was good enough for the league to try next year. Coach Newman fell in love with the indoor game right then and there. Coaches Brian Quinn (l) and Erich Geyer (r) are two of the top coaches in indoor soccer and are proteges of Newman. Over the next few years, the NASL held more tournaments, in different cities throughout the United States. Newman was soon advocating for the NASL to set up a full-fledged indoor 6• August/September 2003 • GOAL Indoor season. "I thought it was very attrac- tive for the fans. We could make money from it, and we could keep the players employed for 12 months of the year. This was my biggest con- cern because we had to either find jobs for the players for the off-season or send them back to Europe." But it was a frustrating endeavor. "It was always getting to the point where everybody was keen on forming a league, but then a club would fold or move, a coach or a general manager would get fired, or something else would happen at the end of the sea- son, and they'd just hold a tourna- ment and hold off on the league until next year." This was still a new game to many. At the first tournaments, the end- zone boards were not removed to accommodate recessed goals; they had constructed false ends with the goal in the middle and shelves along each side. Before the high hockey boards became commonplace, some fields were enclosed with checkered wire along the sides. "If you're run- ning around and throw up your arms to protect yourself, they could go through the wire mesh, and if some- body hit you, you might just leave your fingers in the mesh!" Fortunately, this was soon remedied. Newman was soon at work modify- ing the rules and procedures.When an American NASL investor asked why the goals were so low, Ron got to thinking. "I said to him that's all they use for indoor soccer, but he pointed out that heading is such an integral part of the game, and the rule limiting kicked balls to head height effectively took that out of the game. So I asked myself 'well,WHY do we have it this way?' Well, we had those rules because indoor soccer had been a training regimen designed to improve one's passing, and not so much a spectacle. "We discussed it and decided it was quite ridiculous, and we changed the goals to six feet in height." With the three red lines preventing end to end kicks, it made logical sense to bring heading back into the game. Shortly after this change, the goals were recessed into the end of the rink. The tournaments improved in popu- larity, particularly those from 1975 to 1977. But it was not until 1978 that the indoor league became a reality. And it was not the NASL's doing. Ed Tepper and Earl Foreman had beaten them to the punch launching the MISL in late 1978, forcing the NASL to play catchup. They launched their first ten-team league almost eighteen months later, many teams not yet having been convinced. There were soon arguments about whether the NASL or MISL was playing a better indoor game. "Well, the NASL had the best players, with- out question, because they were pay- ing all the money. The MISL players were playing more games, because that was the only league they had, whereas the NASL was playing tour- naments [until 1979-80], which is

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• In this Issue
• History: Speaking with Ron Newman