@John Perry
Birmingham Hammers
Hammers coach Joel Person, right, directs his players during practice. Photo by John Perry.
There’s a grassroots movement growing underfoot: soccer.
Let’s be specific. It’s professional soccer in the Birmingham area, and it’s located right now on the fields at the Sicard Hollow Athletic Complex in Vestavia Hills.
That’s where the Birmingham Hammers are nailing down final preparations for an exhibition season this summer as they lay the foundation for a move into, they hope, a soccer league next year.
Hammers President and co-founder Morgan Copes said his goal is to move the Hammers into the National Premier Soccer League.
“That league is mainly designed for college players to play during the summer so they can maintain their amateur status,” Copes said. “In a few years hopefully we’ll be jumping to a full professional — not necessarily the MLS, but maybe the NASL or the USL. We’ve been contacted by both of those leagues. They both want us, it’s just an issue of raising capital. That’s what we’re looking for.”
The USL is the United Soccer League. The NASL is the North American Soccer League. These are pro leagues a tier or two down from Major League Soccer, the big-leagues of pro soccer in the U.S.
Copes equates them roughly to what a Double-A or Triple-A league in baseball would be.
It all started over a couple of beers. Copes and John Killian, who became friends at the University of Mobile, hatched the idea of the Hammers a couple of years ago.
“We were kind of sitting around just chit-chatting and idea came to me, hey do you think Birmingham would support a professional soccer team? And John is a native of Birmingham, and though I’m a transplant, I’ve fallen in love with it in the three years I’ve been here. And we felt this is a great market for a professional soccer team.
“Birmingham is the largest TV market in the country without a top-tier professional sports team.”
Killian is vice-president and co-founder. Other members of the board are CFO Evon Noyes, Chief Marketing Officer Eric Lopez and Wade Honeycutt, chief business development officer.
This year the Hammers are not recognized as being officially in a league by the United States Soccer Federation, hence the full exhibition season. They’ll be playing teams that play in the NPSL, the United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League, the Vestavia Hills Soccer Club team and a team from Mississippi that’s in the same start-up situation as the Hammers.
Soccer has a culture all its own. Part of the lesser-known culture to outsiders is the scarves. Yes, scarves. They double as apparel and, for lack of a better term, spirit towels.
The first fundraising activity for the Hammers was selling scarves.
“We had this idea that to kind of get somewhat of an idea as to how successful we might be, we purchased scarves from Ruffneck Scarves (which is the official scarf of the MLS) and we sold out — 100 in two months. All our money has been raised organically so far … but we’re getting to the levels where we’re going to have to invest financially personally.”
Copes is adamant that a solid foundation is important. “We do not want to grow too fast. We believe if you have a solid foundation you’ll have something to come back to. But if you build too quickly, you’re probably going to fail. Kind of like the house built on sand and the house built on stone foundation.”
Joel Person is the Hammers’ head coach.
“He has the highest licensing you can get in the United States and he’s a great coach,” Copes said. “I know he’s going to do an excellent job.”
He will be assisted by Luke Whittle.
“Luke’s been in the area for 15 years, and it’s important to have someone who’s been here for a long time who has connections and knows the players who are here and maybe have left and come back,” Copes said.
The first exhibition is in Nashville on May 9 against the Nashville Football Club. The first home match is May 29 at 7 p.m. versus Nashville. Home games are at Sicard Hollow. Tickets are $7 per game, but a season pass is available for $25 for five home matches.
For more, visit birminghamhammers.com.
