Tradition Loses Battle With Bands : Simi Valley-Royal Game to Be Held on a Friday

The melee took place more than a decade ago, but the specter of near-rioting fans still haunts the superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District.

“I chased kids all over the stadium that night,” said John Duncan, who welcomes no replay of the incident that ended night football games between the two high schools in Simi Valley. The fear of a similar occurrence, coupled with a scheduling conflict with a band extravaganza, has moved officials to hold the Royal-Simi Valley game on Friday, Oct. 16, at the unusual kickoff time of 5 p.m.

The annual cross-town rivalry had become a Saturday tradition since the fight-marred 1976 game, which prompted a visit from police in full riot gear. Daylight apparently has had a subduing effect on fans, who have caused little trouble at subsequent games.

But the Saturday tradition will take a one-year hiatus. Officials at Simi Valley, this year’s home team, last spring discovered a scheduling conflict involving the game and the school’s Band Spectacular, an annual event staged on the third weekend in October. The competition draws 40 schools and serves as the primary fund-raiser for the school’s band program, generating as much as $10,000, according to band director Larry Elginer.

School officials, stymied in their efforts to reschedule the band competition, also were unable to find an alternate site for the football game. In an August meeting of district officials and representatives from each school, it was agreed that the freshman and sophomore teams would play a doubleheader Thursday and the varsity would play at 5 p.m. Friday.

“It was unfortunate we had to change the game, but we didn’t want to go back to a night game,” Duncan said.

Dave Ellis, the Simi Valley principal, said he regretted the change and insisted that Saturday games would resume next season.

“This is a competitive rivalry in town and we had a lot of trouble with the night games,” he said. “Tempers flared and we had a difficult time controlling the crowd. It was a good decision to go to the Saturday games. We’ve had great crowds and great weather.

“We know we’ll go into darkness, but this is as early as we dared start. We want parents there.”

The 5 o’clock start concerns Simi Valley Coach Dave Murphy, who said attendance will suffer.

“This is not in the best interests of fans and parents,” he said. “It isn’t fair to people who have to work.”

Murphy also objects to scheduling the varsity game on a different day than the sophomore and freshman games. In past years, all three games were played on a Saturday.

“Fans enjoy the tripleheader,” he said. “This is one of the largest gatherings in Simi every year and Saturday has become a nice tradition. There are big crowds for the sophomore game and it’s a lot of fun for everyone involved.”

When asked for their reaction to the schedule change, most parents expressed surprise, saying that they were unaware of the switch. Schedules for both schools list the game for a 3:30 p.m. Saturday start.

“It upsets me and will be a problem for my husband who works at Rocketdyne,” said Joyce Kilionski, mother of Steve, a Simi Valley linebacker. “When Steve played on the freshman and sophomore teams, my husband used his vacation time to make the games. Now that he’s on the varsity, we thought we could see all the games. Saturday was a big day in Simi for both schools. We made it a family thing and watched all three games.”

Connie Johnson, mother of Chadd, a Simi Valley defensive back, fears some parents might miss the game but insisted she won’t be one of them.

“For some families it is an inconvenience but it won’t interfere with our plans,” she said. “We’d go if they played it at 1 in the afternoon.”