Rowdies to get familiar foe: Ft. Lauderdale Strikers to return

Posted Jun 9, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Jun 9, 2010 at 05:27 PM

Miami FC has announced plans to rebrand its club in 2011 and revive a name that should be familiar to FC Tampa Bay Rowdies fans: The Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

In a press release issued late on Wednesday afternoon, the club explained that it wanted to respond to the support that has been shown by the South Florida soccer community for the Strikers’ brand.

“It’s almost like we’ve come full circle,” Miami FC President Aaron Davidson said in the release. “We are a member of the new NASL and currently play at legendary Lockhart Stadium where so many greats of the game have competed in the past, both with and against the Strikers. We want to honor that tradition and build upon it in the most respectful manner possible.”

Miami FC was formed in 2006 as part of USL-1 but joined the breakaway NASL last year. Playing at Lockhart Stadium, the team has struggled to build a large fan-base, averaging an attendance of only 1,275 so far this season. The team hopes by becoming the Strikers and honoring the franchises’ history it will allow the team to create a stronger foothold in the South Florida market.

Part of that will be the revival of the rivalry with the Rowdies. One of the bigger rivalries in the heyday of the original NASL in the 1970s and ‘80s, the most memorable game of the rivalries history was the American Conference Championship game in 1978 that was settled in a shootout after the two teams played to a 4-4 tie over two legs.   

“The new NASL seeks to honor the legacy of the original NASL respectfully and meaningfully,” Davidson said. “We’ve noted how the Vancouver Whitecaps, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders and Tampa Bay Rowdies’ legacies have been embraced by local supporters. Here in South Florida we are responding to the sentiments of our fans to do the same.”