Kickers Still Trying to Muster Support : Nomadic Soccer Team Opens 3rd Season

Playing in the shadow of professionals didn’t do it.

Playing in the shadow of the Matadors didn’t do it.

Even playing winning soccer didn’t do it.

At this point, the Valley-based California Kickers soccer team doesn’t know what will do it, what it will take to get the attention of the large number of soccer fans among the 1.5 million people in the Valley area.

But the Kickers will try again, starting at 7 tonight, when they launch their third season, on the road against the San Diego Nomads at Southwestern College.

The Kickers’ home opener is set for April 24 when they will face the L. A. Heat at Tom Bradley Stadium on the campus of Birmingham High in Van Nuys.

That’s where it began for the Kickers two years ago when they joined the Western Soccer Alliance as the newest local professional team. They were called the Hollywood Kickers then and, after drawing 3,500 to their first game, figured they were on their way.

That they were. Downhill.

By the time the 1986 season was over, despite having won the WSA title with an 8-2-4 record, the Kickers wound up with an average attendance of 1,500.

In 1987, they changed tactics. The club switched sites and salary policy. Hoping to latch onto the coattails of the highly successful Cal State Northridge soccer program, the Kickers moved to North Campus Stadium and recruited several Matador players.

The Kickers also stopped paying full salaries. The official reason was to allow players to keep their amateur status so they might represent this country in international play. It did not hurt, of course, that the Kickers would be able to save money as well.

There isn’t a lot of money for the front office, either. If they ever make a TV show about this team, Moonlighting II would make an appropriate title. One team vice president, Gerald Curland, holds a full-time job with an insurance company. Another vice president, Dennis Saffro, is a Beverly Hills dentist. And Peter Bylsma, who is involved in marketing and public relations for the team, serves in a similar capacity in the entertainment industry.

Despite the efforts of all, the switch to Northridge in 1987 proved even more disastrous. Average attendance dropped to about 1,200.

So now it’s back to Birmingham with hopes of averaging 2,500 for the seven home games to be played in the 11,000-seat capacity stadium.

“We expect to have an excellent team this year,” said Dieter Hochheimer, the team’s coach and general manager. “We will have 11 or 12 players returning from last year.”

The best news for the Kickers has to be that Hochheimer, 35, is returning to the sidelines. It was Hochheimer who led the Kickers to the WSA title in 1986. As coach and general manager last season, he was in charge as his team won four of its first five games.

Then, wishing to devote all his efforts to the front office, Hochheimer turned the coaching job over to Don Masson, known for his coaching in Scotland. The results were calamitous as the Kickers dropped their last five games to drop into the WSA cellar.

From first to last in one season wasn’t exactly the dramatic move the Kickers had envisioned. So Hochheimer is back coaching.

Halfback Amir Darabi, the Kickers’ top scorer last year, forward Richard Torres and halfbacks Thor Lee and Martin Vasquez also return.

Lee, a former CSUN standout, may be joined by two former fellow Matadors. Negotiations are under way to sign Joey Kirk, who played for the U. S. national team, and Scott Murray, who is finishing his final semester at Northridge.

“People want to identify with a winner,” Hochheimer said. “We know that.”

As the Kickers have learned, that may not be enough. But it’s a good place to start.