Author and Soccer Historian, Stephen Brandt, returns to Protagonist to wrap up the history of the Atlanta Chiefs. Former Chiefs and Generals photographer, David Berry, shares rare photos of the era - exclusive to Protagonist Soccer

The end of the Atlanta Chiefs time in soccer came in about the same way most of the teams in the NASL in the 1980s came apart. They were very good in the indoor game like so many were going towards, and had a lot of people coming to see the games. However, that did not translate over to the outdoor game. That was just like the rest of the league, most teams were suffering from the international players going back to Europe.

There was also a big problem brewing in the sport for the United States. This could have made the soccer war like the 1928-1929 one look small. This was just about power, and bureaucracy between NASL, FIFA and USSF, based on the rule changes the league had created over the years. We all know that having an upward flowing power chart is never good. FIFA wanted to have control over everything, some things are still the same. Changing stuff like the scoring systems, shootouts, bonus points were all adopted without needing approval. The thirty five yard line was approved to be used in the 1970s, but now it was beyond the time limit FIFA had approved it for.

FIFA was annoyed, and had enough with NASL, and for the most part the USSF for not being able to keep NASL in check. So they threatened the USSF with expulsion, which would have made the NASL an outlaw league. That would have made all players banned from FIFA competition. It got so bad that a true bastard of a person, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger stepped in, pleading the case to FIFA. It took USSF Chair Kurt Lamm, having to fly to Madrid to stop the problem. Under all of this pressure, the 35 yard line was scrapped after 1981, and the points system was changed to four points for a shootout win.

The Chiefs only drew 6,189 per match in 1981 which was 19th among the 21 clubs. On August 21, 1981, three days after the playoff loss to Jacksonville, the Chiefs closed their doors for good. The club had lost roughly 5.5 million and 7.0 million in three years. They were one of several clubs to fold after the 1981 season; Washington, Minnesota, Dallas, Los Angeles, California, and Calgary.

There was no place for the league to go but down. The fewer teams lessened the quality of play, less people came to watch, and the owners had no hope of breaking even. Dallas was the last original franchise to fold, having completed 15 seasons. The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles was the last hope to help the sport survive to reap the benefits. We know now that the league folded in 1984 anyway.

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The sport didn’t stay out of the state that long, though on a very much smaller scale. In 1982 an ownership group entered the Georgia Generals into the American Soccer League. They played at Memorial Stadium in DeKalb County. Their first local star was Kevin Fouser of Parkview High School, one of the first Georgians to sign a professional contract. The new team was far worse than the first, they nearly ran out of money in the middle season. They were thankfully eliminated from the ASL playoffs by the Detroit Express. The Generals went to a third game in the playoffs, but it only was able to go on because the parents of the players paid for an extra night in the hotel.

Pro Soccer didn’t come back in full to the Atlanta area until the 1990s. This time it was the Atlanta Magic, who won three straight USISL indoor championships from 1993-1995. Though, the more well known team came through the door in 1995, the Atlanta Ruckus. Though they didn’t prove their line of credit to the league, so the team almost was no more. Johnny Immersman came in and rescued the club. They had a roster of US National veterans, though they made it to the A-League championship series against the Seattle Sounders but lost. But like the other clubs, playoffs came and went, and ownership issues came up. In 1996 Immerman left the team for dead, by getting rid of most of the roster.

Vincent Lu bought the club late in the 1996 season, and moved them to the old Roswell High School Stadium 1997. All is right in the world? We wish there were consistent battles with the league, bounced checks, Lu was unprofessional, which decimated the club. They had to return to Adams Stadium. The league had to take control of the league after Lu refused to send them on a road trip mid-season.

John Latham and Bobby Glustrom took the team over, and renamed them the Atlanta Silverbacks in the 1999 season. The Silverbacks played at DeKalb Memorial Stadium beofre moving to Atlanta Silverbacks Park in 2006. Iggy Moleka became the all time leading scorer in Atlanta professional history until Josef Martinez arrived on the scene. The Silverbacks joined the relaunched NASL in 2011, and won the NASL Spring Season title in 2013. They made it to the Soccer Bowl at Silverbacks Park that fall, but lost ot the Cosmos in front of 7k fans. In 2014, the Silverbacks made the deepest run any Georgia team made in the Open Cup against the Chicago Fire in the 2014 quarterfinals. The Silverbacks folded in 2015, because the Atlanta United were born.

Photographer David Berry shares his memories of the era:

The Generals played from 1982 to 83 at Dekalb Stadium and it was all mostly new players. The team was run by Mike Balson and friends while it was owned by Walt Russell. Mark Mackain, a former Chief, played for the Generals then.
I was no longer in school, but working in South Georgia running an Upward Bound program at South GA College - I came home on the weekends to photograph them and watch the team play. I actually got a red card from a ref and had to leave the field once! A friend, who was also a ref, got me back on for the next game - you can’t be a fan and a photographer too.
Actually, I got to know some of the players back then and hung out with them at their little apartment. One player, Gary Levengood, became my orthopedic doctor and surgeon.

Words by Stephen Brandt
Photos by David Berry