🇺🇸 Atlanta Chiefs (USA)

Atlanta Chiefs (USA)

Atlanta Chiefs was founded in 1967 and was one of the members of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in which it competed in for one season, until 1968 when it joined up with the United Soccer Association to form the North American Soccer League (NASL). Backed and created by Dick Cecil who was the Vice President of the baseball side the Atlanta Braves, he was inspired by the excitement and interest the 1966 World Cup had created over in England. Of course, this was helped by the fact the host nation, England went on to win the World Cup that year. Nevertheless, Cecil saw it as an opportunity to expand his sporting knowledge and help utilise his assets at his disposal, mainly the Atlanta Stadium, which he would use to host the Atlanta Chiefs home games and create extra revenue. The Chiefs would play there from 1967 to 1972, except for the 1970 season when they played at Tara Stadium. The club colours were Red (Home) and White (Away).

Their first season, in the NPSL, the club finished 4^th in the Eastern Division, winning ten games, drawing nine and losing twelve, meaning they failed to qualify for the play-offs. They averaged an attendance of 6,961. The following season proved to be a huge success, and in the first season of the newly formed NASL, they were crowned champions, after coming first in the Atlantic Division and winning the play-offs against the San Diego Toro’s in front of a bumper crowd of 15,000 at Atlanta Stadium. The club recorded eighteen wins, six draws and seven losses that season. It was the first time a sports team had won a championship in the city of Atlanta, and would be the case until 1995 when the baseball team Atlanta Braves won the World Series. The 1969 season saw no play-off game being played due to the lack of clubs involved. Atlanta finished 2^nd over all in the regular season, winning eleven, drawing two and losing three. But attendances had dropped massively from the first season by almost 50%. The 1970 saw the club finish 2^nd in the Southern Division but fail to qualify for the play-offs. Attendances didn’t improve either despite another solid season, in which the Chiefs won eleven, drew five and lost eight. However, a successful season in 1971, in which the club won the Southern Division and came runners-up in the play-offs. The 1972 season saw an increase in attendances as a result of the success in the previous season, but the club failed to emulate that success in what was a short season playing wise. Only fourteen games were played, with the Chiefs only winning five of them, drawing three and losing six, finishing 3^rd in the Southern Division.

The 1973 season saw the Atlanta Chiefs change names to the Atlanta Apollos after they were sold to the owners of the Atlanta Hawks. and they played their home games at Grant Field. But this did not help the club succeed on the pitch and they experienced their worst ever season in 1973, winning only three games, drawing seven and losing nine. The club were removed from the championship and the franchise folded. That was it for the city of Atlanta in regards soccer until the football club was revived in 1979. The Colorado Caribous, a soccer team from Denver, were relocated to Atlanta, after being purchased by Ted Turner for around $1.5 million dollars. Dick Cecil, the original owner of the Atlanta Chief’s was also involved. There first season back saw the club record twelve wins and eighteen losses, finishing 4^th in the Central Division, National Conference and failing to qualify for the play-offs. It did however see a big increase in average attendances from previous years, which was cause for optimism that this time the club would be successful. However, the 1980 season turned out to be terrible with the club again finishing 4^th, only wining seven games and losing twenty-five. It saw the crowds dwindle as the public grew dis-interested in a side that failed to produce on the pitch. The following season saw the club improve dramitcally on the pitch and they secured the Southern Division title and qualified for the play-off’s but only got to the first round. Despite the improvement and the slight increase in attendances, Turner saw a decrease in profits and decided to pull the plug on the franchise, seeing the club go out of existence for the second time in their history, and this time for good.

Although the name Atlanta Chiefs was gone from the footballing world, the name ‘Chiefs’ would live on. Former Atlanta Chiefs player, Kaiser Montang, went home to South Africa and founded the football club, Kaiser Chiefs, taking his name and the club he played for in the USA and merging them together. They, of course, are one of the more successful clubs in South Africa and are well known across the world. As such, indirectly, the Atlanta Chiefs would be responsible for the naming of the music band, the Kaiser Chiefs also.

I spoke with Stephen Brandt, a soccer fanatic, who put me in the direction of the Atlanta Chiefs and assured me that I find their story interesting. He was not wrong.

 First of all thank you for putting me in the direction of the story of Atlanta Chiefs. Can I ask, what do you find so interesting about that particular football club?

Stephen: Well I wrote a long piece on them in TheFootballPink many moons ago. The number of cultural references that come from this club is amazing. South Africa's Kasier Chiefs was named after them, when Kaiser Montang went back home. Plus that band was named from there. Jomo Sono also played with the Chiefs after the Colorado Corribus came to atlanta. he went back home and renamed the Highlands Park club the Jomo Cosmos.

American soccer has such a stop start history, with the NASL and so many soccer clubs coming and going throughout its history. Can you tell me why that is in your opinion?

Stephen: While the sport had been around since the 1800s, American businessmen didn't like anything that was foreign to them. Baseball was segergated until the 40s, the NFL was the same, and Basketball was worse. So no one really knew the sport. It was seen as a quick buck and that's it. Problem is, the league never followed up after Best, Marsh, Pele, Cruyff all came in. Apparently the Philadelphia franchise had looked into bring in Maradona before he went to Barcelona. They also tried to get Kevin Keegan to come over. Once the money started running out, the clubs went poof.

So many world class players have played in America, Pele, George Best, Johan Cryuff, Eusebio and more recently Beckham, Kaka, Robbie Keane, Ibrahimovic. Do you think this has been a good thing for American Soccer or do you see it as those players just looking for a final payday?

Stephen: Great players go where the money is. How many great players came to England in the 90s? many. It's just what the game is. Some have stayed. Beckham never left, Pele is here in the states pretty much most of the time. Cruyff loved it. It's a good place for stars to go and not be hounded. Here a good-looking Brit, is normal.

Atlanta itself has had a few teams over the years. Would that area be soccer mad or is it just a case of 'Let's see if we can get the public interested?'

Stephen: It's very soccer mad. Its basically had the sport at some level above university since the 1970s. Look what Atlanta United has done. It's in the south, and players from South America will love it there. It's why Toronoto never does well, it's freaking cold in Canada.

In your opinion, is the MLS now, better equipped to stop football clubs from dissolving or will this still be an issue for some MLS clubs?

Stephen: Well, we did see Chivas USA go under in the last ten years so it can happen. With the pandemic, I expect at least one more down the road to have to go bust.

So many stories to be told and the Atlanta Chiefs proved to be an interesting one, but can you tell me anything that you, yourself found out about them? Any interesting fact that you may have come across?

Stephen: There is a couple. Phil Woosman, who set the club up in its first time is one of many many former Aston Villa players to come over to the NASL. Heck the Portland Timbers team was basically the B Squad of Villa. Also, the Chiefs beat Manchester City a couple times, annoying future Crystal Palace manager Malcolm Allison.

The MLS now seems to be thriving, more and more people are taking an interest in it and there seems to be more clubs joining, Inter Miami and Austin FC examples of newly joined clubs. How big do you think MLS can get?

Stephen: St. Louis and Charlotte are the next two in line. I think it's fine right there. I'm sure MLS will look at Las Vegas, Phoenix later too.

This may sound like a negative question to ask, but in the context of the book it must be asked. What football club do you think will be the next to dissolve in the United States, if any should and why?

Stephen: Well, the Cosmos come and go so often I expect another era of them. With the Pandemic, it'll be some small team in a lower league going poof.

Atlanta Chiefs were a relatively successful club in regards the history of American Soccer, so it was a bit of surprise to see them go bust, not once but twice in their history. With one NASL title, and two runners-up to their name, and three Division titles, (One Atlantic and Two Southern), they had more honours than most clubs did. The reasons behind their downfall seemed to be financial reasons and a lack of interest from the public at times when they weren’t successful on the pitch. While their average attendances in a single season never dropped under 3,000, that just wasn’t enough to keep them going in a competitive country when it comes to sport, soccer always being the underdog when it comes to competing with other sports like American football, Basketball and Baseball. Atlanta Chief’s will always have the historic achievement of being the first side in the city to win a major championship of some sort and that can never be taken away from them. Soccer isn’t dead in the city either as Atlanta United FC are playing their currently and have had moderate success themselves, winning the MLS cup in 2018. There probably wont be a third revival for the Chiefs, but the certainly won’t be forgotten about.