Kickers Exit in Search of More Support

So much for The Great Soccer Explosion.

Despite a highly successful soccer program at Cal State Northridge, massive youth programs in the area and predictions that soccer’s arrival as a major sport in America is imminent, the Valley has failed to support soccer at a higher level. The California Kickers, the closest thing the Valley has to a professional team, has announced it is moving from Birmingham High in Van Nuys to Cal State Los Angeles for the 1989 season.

Thus ends the semipro team’s three-year stay in the Valley--two at Birmingham and one at CSUN--and the area’s lone flirtation with professional sports.

The break with the past will be complete. There will be a new owner (Los Angeles businessman John Ajemian replaces Klaus Friederic) and a new coach (UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid takes over for Dieter Hochheimer).

The Kickers get no sympathy from Marwan Ass’ad, the Northridge soccer coach.

“The Kickers’ whole operation was based on nothing,” he said. “Therefore, they accomplished nothing. The whole Kicker operation was a nightmare.

“They just felt that if their team was better than we were, they would naturally draw better than we do. But they forgot that you have to get into the community, into the local AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) program. You don’t ask what AYSO can do for you. You have to ask what you can do for AYSO. AYSO represents 90 percent of the soccer people in the Valley.

“The most positive thing they did was to hire Sigi as coach. He puts a lot of hours into developing his teams. This was a very positive move.”

There weren’t many positive moves last year for the Kickers. Nothing seemed to attract fans. Not the presence of adult stars. Not the appearance of foreign teams. Not the attempt to link the Kickers with the Matadors by signing former CSUN players and moving to the Northridge stadium.

“We thought the fans would look forward to seeing players at the pro level,” said Ajemian, “but it didn’t happen. I don’t know whether it was just lack of fan support or poor public relations or what. But I do know that they were only drawing 300 to 400 people a game in the Valley.”

Part of the problem, according to Ass’ad, was the ticket prices.

“They charged $6 a ticket,” he said. “We charge $3.50 to $4 for a more exciting game. You cannot treat professional soccer as a business in this country. Not yet. You’ve got to start with the grass roots in the community. The NBA did not start as a business. It became a business.”

Ajemian expects to do better in the new location.

“We’ll be happy if we can average 1,000 at Cal State L. A.,” he said. “We’ve already sold 400 season seats and we really haven’t started to advertise. We are also talking about doing some television.

“The main reasons we are moving there is because we want to attract the Latin community, which is a lot closer to Cal State L. A., and because we are using the Foothill Flyers as our junior team and they are closer to there.”

The Western Soccer League will soon require all of its teams to have an association with a junior team, and the Kickers are getting an early start. The idea is to build a club structure--involving players of all ages--around the WSL franchise to create a base of interest.

There was never much interest in the Valley team. The Hollywood Kickers, as they were known their first season, drew 3,500 to their first match at Birmingham in 1986. But despite winning the league title that year, they averaged just 1,500 fans. A year later, at Northridge, the average dropped to about 1,200. And then came last year’s bleak turnout.

“If their plan this year is to just make money,” Ass’ad said, “I hope they fail. If their plan is to introduce soccer to the people, I hope they will make it.”

The factor that keeps U.S. pro soccer hopes alive these days is the World Cup. Ranked with the Olympics on an international scale, the World Cup has been awarded to the United States in 1994, with the finals perhaps at the Rose Bowl.