The Dallas Tornado team was assembled in the summer of 1967, and was registered for the first season of
the NASL (North American Soccer League) in 1968. The coach, Bob Kap, travelled around Northern Europe
recruiting young players who could portray a stereotypical "All-American" image - most of the players were
taken from England, Netherlands, and Scandinavia. None of them had ever visited Dallas. The players were
required to have short haircuts and were outfitted with smart matching jackets and ties, and Stetson cowboy hats.
After training in Spain and Morocco, the team embarked on an extensive tour across Asia and the Pacific, eventually
arriving in Dallas in mid-February 1968. The players were given barely a couple of weeks to settle into their new
lives in Texas before the team left again for a short tour of Central America. Exhausted from their touring, the
team began the NASL season on 30th March 1968 with a 6-0 home defeat to the Houston Stars. During the 32 game
season, they won only two games, drew four, and lost 26, with a goal-difference of minus 81. At the end of the
season almost all of the touring players were released by the club.
A team named 'Dallas Tornado' had played in the 1967 United Soccer Association league, but it was in fact the
Scottish club Dundee United; the other teams in this league were also foreign clubs, which had been assigned
to represent American cities. In 1969 Dundee United again played as Dallas Tornado during the 'International Cup'
phase of the NASL season.
TOURING SQUAD
Manager/Coach: Božidar Kapušto 'Bob Kap' (Yugoslavia)
Assistant: Frank Randorf (Denmark)
Players: Odd Ivar Lindberg (Norway), John Stewart (England), Bobby Roach (England), Eddie Hall (England), Anders Fagri (Norway),
Dave Moorcroft (England), Brian Harvey (England), Fons Stoffels (Netherlands), Chris Bachofner (Netherlands),
Chris Tönning (Sweden), Mike Renshaw (England), Per Larsen (Norway), Jay Moore (USA), Jan Bock (Sweden),
Bill Crosbie (England), Hans Petter Enger (Norway), Graham Stirland (England), Tom Weinholdt (Norway).
Of this touring squad, only Mike Renshaw and Brian Harvey were retained after the 1968 season. In 1971 Dallas Tornado won
the NASL championship, with Renshaw scoring the winning goal in the playoff final. Renshaw went on to play for the US
national team in 1973 (despite the fact that he had not obtained US citizenship, and his work visa had expired).
Bob Kap was later influential in introducing "soccer-style" kicking to the NFL.
RESULTS
The results below have been taken primarily from sources (1) and (2), see below. Where possible
the dates, scores, and the natures of the opposition teams have been confirmed via contemporary
newspaper reports: in the first column below, 'd' denotes a confirmed date, 's' denotes a confirmed
score, and 'o' denotes a confirmed opponent team. Unconfirmed alternatives, mainly from source (2),
are shown on the right in square brackets. A report in the 'Mid-Cities Daily News' after the match
in Taipei stated that, up to that point, the tour record was W6 D8 L19, which is in agreement with
the results below (including those in Spain and Morocco as part of the tour). A second report after
the first game in Manila stated that the team had so far scored 56 goals in total, also in agreement.
In Spain and Morocco: P5 W3 D0 L2 F11 A16
dso 24- 8 Córdoba Córdoba CF 4-0 Dallas Tornado
29- 8 Alcalá de G. CD Alcalá 4-5 Dallas Tornado
dso 8- 9 Coria del Río Coria CF 2-3 Dallas Tornado
15- 9 Tanger UDT 2-3 Dallas Tornado
dso 20- 9 Oviedo Real Oviedo CF 4-0 Dallas Tornado
World Tour: P40 W7 D9 L24 F67 A94
dso 10-10 Istanbul Fenerbahçe SK 2-2 Dallas Tornado
ds 13-10 Nicosia APOEL 4-2 Dallas Tornado [or Limassol]
d 14-10 Limassol Apollon FC 5-2 Dallas Tornado [or Nicosia, or 2-0]
dso 17-10 Tehran Iran Air Force 2-1 Dallas Tornado
ds 18-10 Tehran Tehran XI 1-1 Dallas Tornado [or vs 'Showa']
d o 20-10 Shiraz Shiraz XI 2-1 Dallas Tornado [or 1-1]
d 22-10 Rasht Rasht XI 4-1 Dallas Tornado [or 1-0]
ds 24-10 Shahi Shahi XI 2-2 Dallas Tornado
dso 27-10 Karachi Pakistan XI 0-2 Dallas Tornado
d o 29-10 Lahore (West) Pakistan 4-1 Dallas Tornado [or 4-2]
1-11 Dacca (East) Pakistan 5-2 Dallas Tornado [or on 31-10, vs Pakistan U23, 1-1]
3-11 Chittagong Chittagong XI 1-1 Dallas Tornado [or 0-0]
dso 5-11 Calcutta Indian FA XI 0-0 Dallas Tornado
dso 8-11 New Delhi President's XI 1-0 Dallas Tornado
d o 12-11 Bombay President's XI 5-1 Dallas Tornado [or 1-0]
dso 15-11 Bangalore Governor's XI 3-1 Dallas Tornado
dso 17-11 Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh XI 0-0 Dallas Tornado
dso 19-11 Madras South India XI 1-4 Dallas Tornado
dso 22-11 Colombo Ceylon 2-1 Dallas Tornado
d o 24-11 Colombo Ceylon 3-0 Dallas Tornado [or 1-0]
ds 29-11 Rangoon Burma 4-0 Dallas Tornado [or Burma U21, or Rangoon XI]
ds 1-12 Rangoon Burma 3-1 Dallas Tornado [or Rangoon XI]
dso 3-12 Singapore Singapore 4-2 Dallas Tornado
5-12 Singapore Sino-Malays - Dallas Tornado [cancelled after crowd aggression during previous game]
dso 8-12 Jakarta Persija 2-0 Dallas Tornado
dso 10-12 Jakarta Indonesia XI 6-1 Dallas Tornado
dso 14-12 Saigon S.Vietnam U23 1-1 Dallas Tornado
dso 16-12 Saigon Saigon XI 2-2 Dallas Tornado
so 20-12 Taipei Taiwan 2-3 Dallas Tornado [or on 19-12]
ds 24-12 Tokyo Mitsubishi 2-1 Dallas Tornado [or vs Japan Olympic]
s 26-12 Osaka Mitsubishi 3-2 Dallas Tornado [or on 27-12, vs Japan Olympic]
dso 1- 1 Manila Manila Chinese XI 0-7 Dallas Tornado
dso 6- 1 Manila Philippines 2-1 Dallas Tornado
so 10- 1 Brisbane Queensland 1-0 Dallas Tornado [or on 9- 1]
13- 1 Newcastle Newcastle - Dallas Tornado [cancelled due to waterlogged pitch]
dso 17- 1 Adelaide South Australia 2-3 Dallas Tornado
dso 19- 1 Sydney Sydney XI 2-1 Dallas Tornado
Dallas Tornado's visit to New Zealand 1968
so 25- 1 Christchurch Christchurch XI 2-2 Dallas Tornado
dso 27- 1 Auckland Auckland XI 3-2 Dallas Tornado
s 2- 2 Suva Fiji 2-10 Dallas Tornado [or on 31- 1]
s 4- 2 Nadi Fiji 1-3 Dallas Tornado [or on 1- 2]
11- 2 Papeete Tahiti 3-0 Dallas Tornado [or on 8- 2, vs Papeete, 2-1]
Mini-tour of Central America: P3 W0 D1 L2 F5 A8
dso 6- 3 San José CD Saprissa 3-1 Dallas Tornado
dso 8- 3 San José AD Mun. Puntarenas 3-3 Dallas Tornado
12- 3 Tegucigalpa CD Olimpia 2-1 Dallas Tornado
Overall record: P48 W10 D10 L28 F83 A118
Notes on opposition teams:
15- 9 The identity of the 'UDT' team is unclear.
17-10 Iran Air Force reportedly fielded seven national team players
27-10 Reported as a Pakistan Selected XI, essentially a B-team
29-10 Reported as a Pakistan national team, but selected only from West Pakistan
1-11 Reported as a Pakistan national team, but selected only from East Pakistan
5-11 Indian FA XI, i.e. selected by the IFA rather than the AIFF
12-11 West India FA President's XI
19-11 South India XI consisted of players from the Indian States of Andhra Pradesh, Madras, Mysore, and Kerala
10-12 Indonesia XI was called PSSI Kombinasi
16-12 The Saigon XI was likely to have been virtually the national team of South Vietnam
SOURCES:
Newspapers: New York Times, Pittsburgh Gazette, Mid-Cities Daily News (Texas), Indian Express (Madras),
Sunday Standard (Madras), Straits Times (Singapore), Kompas (Jakarta), Sydney Morning Herald,
La Nación (Costa Rica), El Mundo Deportivo (Barcelona), Gadsden Times (Alabama).
Magazine: (1) "The Footballer" Volume 2 No. 1 (Aug/Sep 1989).
Webpages: (2) NASL Jerseys (Dave Morrison and Bill Crosbie)
RSSSF - Dallas Tornado's visit to New Zealand (Andre Zlotkowski)
The American Soccer History Archives (Dave Litterer)
With thanks to Novan Herfiyana, Bobby Moffat (former NASL player) and Eric Villante
Prepared and maintained by Neil Morrison for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Neil Morrison
Last updated: 31 May 2012
(C) Copyright Neil Morrison and RSSSF 2011/12
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.