‘Millenium’ singer is helping to put soccer league on map
MID-CITY A little-known soccer league based in Santa Monica is getting a lot of attention these days thanks to a European pop star and the paparazzi who follow his every move, both on and off the pitch.
After posting a link to the Los Angeles Premier League’s Web site on his fan site, Robbie Williams, a pop god in Europe, having sold roughly 18 million albums, has put the league and its 11 teams on the map, with journalists from as far away as London looking for the latest news on Williams and his L.A. Vale, the team he founded in 2005.
Interest has grown so much over the last two seasons that pesky photographers have to be escorted off the artificial turf at Crossroads School,where the 30-and-over league holds matches.
“Nobody cares about (Williams’ fame) here, and that’s what’s nice about it,” said Michael Orosco, a physician at USC who helps manage the league, now in its 12th season, and TP United, a team formed in 2001 and sponsored by Santa “(Williams) kind of lays low here and really is just having fun playing like the rest of us,” Orosco added. “Since he linked our Web site to his, the paparazzi have been coming out and people have been calling from Australia and Germany asking us how to buy tickets to games.
“That’s funny for us because we don’t even sell tickets... anyone can come down and check it out.”
Williams, who made a big splash in the U.S. with his hit single “Millennium” in 1998, may be the star of the moment, but what takes center stage on game nights is the league itself, its players and their fans.
Unlike any other league in the Los Angeles area, the Premier League (www.lapremierleague.com), sponsored by the Santa Monica Soccer Association, does its best to weed out wild weekend warriors looking to take out their aggressions. There is no slidetackling and sportsmanship is key.
“Every time someone does a hard tackle or something, we’re all like, ‘Come on man, we’ve got to go to work in the morning,’”said Michael Weaver, an actor currently appearing on ABC’s “Notes from the Underbelly” and manager of the FC Cock ’N Bull team, sponsored by the local British pub of the same name. “This league is just full of guys looking to have fun and stay in shape, however, we have had a few bad apples that we’ve had to weed out who have left over anger from not making the college football team or whatever and take it out on the pitch.
“It’s great to play a game and then head back to the bar.”
What also sets the league apart is the level of dedication and diversity within. There are teams comprised of Americans, Brits, Mexicans, Irish lads and Scotts, Romanians, Israelis and Argentineans. There are actors, lawyers, doctors, writers and bankers.
“You can find the entire world playing here,” Orosco said. “That’s kind of what soccer is all about and we pride ourselves in it and our dedication to sportsmanship. Right now, we have a community of guys who love to play soccer. It has taken off from there.
“It’s a pretty sweet thing we’ve got going over here.”
The league was formed in 2002 by Westside resident Amir Rofougaran and other soccer enthusiasts who wanted to play closer to home in a league that was not as large as others, nor as dangerous. Some of the larger city leagues play on poorly-maintained fields and are overcrowded with those looking to take out their aggression on the next man. Three teams started the first season and since then it has steadily grown to 11, which seems to be the limit for now as the league has trouble finding proper places to play.
“Crossroads has been great,” Orosco said. “The field is well maintained... They’ve basically kept us around by allowing us to rent it.”
Playing doesn’t come cheap. The rent is $175 an hour, Orosco said, and that usually means $235 a game. Each player pays an average of $200 a season to participate.
“We could play for cheaper in the city, but you get what you pay for,” Orosco said.
With the opening of the new Airport Park and its synthetic turf soccer field, there may be room to expand the league, but Orosco and others aren’t so sure.
“Adult soccer is not well liked in this city,” Orosco said. “If you try to get a game going at Clover Park, you get kicked off the field. It’s really tough. The only way we can do it is to play at Crossroads.”
The field there is somewhat smaller than a regulation size field, but it suits the players just fine.
During a recent game involving the L.A. Vale and O’Brien’s FC, sponsored by the pub of the same name, a small group of fans had gathered, mostly to check out Williams. Teammates were seen jumping up and down on the sidelines encouraging players to give it their all. One fan kept going on and on about how good the players are, many of them being former professionals and college standouts back in the day.
“The players are really good,” said Lee Rogers, who called Premier, a “local blokes league.”
The hardest part about managing the league is keeping everyone together. For the most part, attendance has been good. Occasionally a player or two from a team won’t be able to make it because of work or family.
“That’s why we are looking for people who are really interested in playing,” he said. “This is a volunteer league. No one is making money off it so if we’re going to put in this much effort, we want to make sure people are dedicated and want to play.”
Dedication and the love of the game is what brought Richard Taylor back. The manager of O’Brien’s suffered an injury to his knee requiring two ACL surgeries.
“That’s basically why I became the manager,” Taylor said. “Having the injuries made me miss the game so much and then we added a few more teems that made the league even more competitive and that made me feel like I was missing [out]. So I worked hard on getting back in shape and I’m back.”
Players will readily admit that they are very protective of the league and do not want to do anything to jeopardize it. That said, they don’t mind a little publicity.
“Maybe it will help us get better recruits,” Weaver said. “I’m not sure what it will do. Perhaps it will force us to grow. I don’t know by how much but sooner or later I think that will happen.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 20, 2007. Read the original PDF.