MSL’s Demise Sends Players Into Shock : Soccer: Golovnia and Banks, two who are far away from their homelands, wonder about their futures.
Alex Golovnia got a call from his employer Friday afternoon and was advised to attend a news conference at the San Diego Sports Arena at 3 p.m.
The defender from Minsk, Belarus, hung up the phone, put on a San Diego Sockers T-shirt and jumped into his car, not knowing that when he reached his destination he would find the man who signs his paychecks standing alone before a throng of reporters using English words he wished he’d never learned.
Folded. Dissolved. Officially done. Recorded and stamped. We’ve pulled the plug. We’ve stopped pretending.
Golovnia understood fully. The Major Soccer League--his reason for abandoning his homeland in the former Soviet Union--had ceased operations. Oscar Ancira, Sockers managing general partner, was making the official announcement after he and other owners made the decision during a conference call about three hours earlier.
“Let me make this short and sweet,” Ancira said, prefacing his grim disclosure.
Short and sweet is a good way to describe Golovnia’s indoor soccer career here.
Two years with the Sockers, two MSL championships.
The mass that gathered around Ancira in front of the Sockers’ office eventually became small, whispering groups. Golovnia stood alone amid the groups, and circled by a sea of confusion, not knowing what to think . . . then grasping for words when somebody finally approached.
“I’m shocked,” he said. “I didn’t think this was going to happen. This is a big league . . . lots of history. I think it’s a big tragedy for U.S. sports.”
Golovnia was one of only two Sockers players to attend the news conference. The other was second-year defender David Banks from Wigan, England. Golovnia and Banks have been working as coaches in the team’s summer youth soccer camps. They have working visas that expire in October, which restrict them from being employed in anything other than soccer.
Golovnia, 31, now wonders if his days are numbered.
“I will continue to work with the San Diego Sockers’ camp and coach kids around San Diego . . . but I’m very upset,” he said. “I love indoor. I wasn’t thinking about what I had to do in the future. Outdoor league’s over. Tampa Bay called me after the (MSL) season. But they can’t pay me the money I make coaching kids in San Diego Sockers’ camp.”
The more he talked about it, the more the reality jabbed at Golovnia, halfway across the globe from home and out of the only job he ever wanted.
His eyes shielded by Ray-Bans, Golovnia’s tone turned harsh.
“Nine thousand, 10,000 people a game?” he said shaking his head, holding out his hands. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. Why, why, why?”
The Sockers averaged 9,347 per game last year, a 25% increase from the previous season and the first increase since the 1986-87 season. Leaguewide, attendance rose to 7,851, up 20% from 1990-91.
Golovnia was not the only player to be taken by surprise.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Banks said. “This hasn’t hit me yet . . . two years, two rings. Rookie of the Year my first year. Nightmare. My career might be over at 24.”
Then Banks caught himself. Naw, he said, making a push toward optimism.
“I actually think Oscar will figure something out,” he said. “I’m sure something will come up.”
But Ancira said the situation is out of his hands. In order to continue, he said, there must be a viable league.
That there is not, well, maybe the 10-time champions have themselves to blame.
Banks volunteered an eerie, if not sarcastic suggestion that the Sockers are the ones who should be hit with unsportsmanlike conduct.
“Every other club probably got (ticked) off and said, ‘We’re not going to lose money while the Sockers win another championship,’ ” he said. “Maybe someone else should have won it last year.”
Reactions from other Sockers:
Victor Nogueira, goalie, two-time Most Valuable Player, commenting the MSL’s collapse after two years of near misses: “We’ve always been in the dark until we’ve heard about it on the news. The commissioner has got his own agenda. I just heard about it; it doesn’t surprise me. At 33 . . . at some point I’d have to stop playing. It’s a matter of making the transition. But right now, it’s not my choice.”
Paul Dougherty, 26, midfielder, who has played on four Sockers championship teams: “I’m shocked, shocked that a decision like that was made so early on in the summer. I could go back to England; soccer’s pretty lucrative there. It’s the fact I don’t want to leave San Diego. I consider it my home now.
SOCKERS CHRONOLOGY
1978: Bob Bell, the managing general partner, moved the Las Vegas Quicksilvers to San Diego. The Sockers won the Western Division outdoor title in the North American Soccer League but were eliminated in the American Conference semifinals by Tampa Bay.
1979: The Sockers won the Western Division outdoor title but were eliminated by Tampa Bay in the American Conference championships.
1980: The Sockers won the Western Division outdoor title but lost to Fort Lauderdale in the American Conference championships.
1980-81: In their first indoor season, the Sockers were 6-12 and finished last in the NASL Southern Division.
1981: The Sockers lost to Chicago in the semifinal round of the NASL outdoor playoffs.
1981-82: Led by Julie (he spelled his first name with an e back then) Veee’s 51 goals and 38 assists, the Sockers won the NASL Western Division indoor title and defeated Tampa Bay in the championship series for their first of five consecutive indoor titles.
1982: The Sockers lost to New York in the semifinal round of the NASL outdoor playoffs.
1982-83: When the NASL suspended indoor play for the 1982-83 season, the Sockers temporarily joined the then-MISL. Led by Veee and goalkeeper Alan Mayer, the Sockers posted a league-best 36-12 regular-season record and defeated the Baltimore Blast, 3 games to 2, in the championship series.
1983: The Sockers finished last in the NASL outdoor Western Division.
1983-84: The Sockers were forced back into the NASL’s indoor circuit. Led by newcomers Kevin Crow, Brian Quinn and Hugo Perez, they finished first in the regular season and defeated the Cosmos in three consecutive games to win the championship.
1984: The Sockers won the Western Division outdoor title but lost in the first round to Toronto. The NASL folded after the 1984 outdoor season.
1984-85: The Sockers became permanent members of the MISL. Veee, Mayer and defender Martin Donnelly were sold to the Las Vegas Americans before the season, but the Sockers still won their fourth title in a row. They acquired the indoor game’s all-time leading scorer, Steve Zungul, as well as Branko Segota and Fernando Clavijo from the Golden Bay Earthquakes. Led by Zungul (68 goals, 68 assists) and Segota (66 goals, 40 assists), the Sockers went 37-11 during the regular season. In the playoffs, they defeated Kansas City in three consecutive games, Minnesota in a pivotal fifth game and Baltimore, 4 games to 1, in the championship series.
1985-86: The Sockers won “One for the Thumb.” Zungul was sold to the Tacoma Stars during the season, but the Sockers won the Western Division with a 36-12 mark and came back from a 3-1 deficit in the championship series to defeat Minnesota.
1986-87: The Sockers’ championship streak finally ended. A rash of injuries and inconsistent play contributed to a 27-25 third-place finish in the Western Division. In the playoffs, the Sockers won the final two games to defeat the Kansas City Comets, 3-2, in the opening round. But they lost to the Tacoma Stars in seven games in the Western Division final.
1987-88: Before the season, Sockers Management Inc., led by chairman of the board Ron Fowler and president Ron Cady, replaced Bell.
On the field, the Sockers were once again the class of the league, setting a regular-season record with 40 victories. They reached the final again by rallying from a 3-1 deficit to defeat Kansas City for the Western Division championship, and then swept Cleveland for their sixth indoor title in seven years.
During the playoffs, Fowler placed Sockers’ Management Inc. into bankruptcy court after failed efforts to sell the team. The rest of the league also reeled financially and asked the players to accept a per-team salary cap. The union agreed to a cieling of $1.2 million, and Fowler eventually bought the Sockers out of bankruptcy court.
1988-89: Because of the salary cap, the Sockers lost stalwarts Waad Hirmez, Fernando Clavijo and goalie Jim Gorsek to the Los Angeles Lazers. They were replaced by the return of Zungul and the additions of Ralph Black and goalie Victor Nogueira. The Sockers finished second in what had shrunk to a seven-team league at 27-21. Then after falling behind 3 games to 2 in the semifinals, the Sockers came back to win the last two games--including Game 7 by a score of 1-0--to advance to the championship series against first-place Baltimore. The Blast extended the series to seven games by winning Game 6, 7-0, but the Sockers won their seventh title in eight years with a 6-5 victory in the final game.
1989-90: At the All-Star break the Sockers were 5 1/2 games out of first, but shortly thereafter their fortune pivoted as Newman traded malcontent Zoran Karic to the Cleveland Crunch for Paul Wright, whom the Sockers lost only months before through the expansion draft. With Wright adding speed to the Sockers’ attack, the club went 9-6 the rest of the regular season, then won its eighth championship in nine years be defeating the Baltimore Blast in the finals, 4 games to 2.
1990-91: With the league’s top defense, the Sockers finished in first place in the Western Division at 34-18, then cruised through the playoffs, disposing the St. Louis Storm in five games in the semifinals, then knocking off Cleveland in six games for their ninth championship in 10 years.
On-field success was not translating into box office success, and only weeks after the championship series, Fowler announced that he could no longer absorb the team’s mounting financial losses. He kept the front office open for a month, and Newman and vice-president Randy Bernstein went to work locating a new owner. Local entrepeneur Oscar Ancira answered their call with a three-pronged ownership group that included business contacts in Mexico.
1991-92: Attendance rose for the first time in five seasons, and the Sockers continued their dominance of the sport, finishing the regular season in first at 26-14, needing only five games to get by the Baltimore Blast in the semifinals, then winning one for the other thumb by shedding the Dallas Sidekicks in six games during the championship series.
