Before moving to First Division an extraordinary event must be mentioned: the case of Avetis Ovsepyan. A little known goalkeeper was subject for a full page article in the 'Football-Hockey' weekly – it was a nasty piece of work, for Ovsepyan came back from the USA. A story of a traitor. Such articles appeared rarely – only when somebody, who run away from 'paradise' came back. The purpose was 'educational': to show the ordinary citizens how bad is the Capitalist world and how great their own Communist state. The returnees had no choice, but to subject themselves to public self-flagellation and beg for forgiveness, but the required humiliation was not at all the end of their troubles: normally, some were jailed at least for awhile, almost certainly barred from their professions, and subjected to suspicion and harassment. Tainted for life, not trusted, and constantly reminded of their crime. At first the case of Ovsepyan looked 'standard' – when he returned, an article was published, disguised as an 'honest' interview with him in the newspaper 'Communist', Erevan. The article appeared immediately in 'Football-Hockey' as well, telling a horror story – the capitalist world had no place for the young Armenian. He was unable to find work as an 'mechanical engineer' and only with great difficulties as a football player. It was the football world, which was presented in more details: Ovsepyan arrived in Los Angeles and the NASL club, Los Angeles Aztecs simply turned him away. He looked around, thinking that for a former first-division player would be appreciated, but no, he was not. Eventually, he was hired by Los Angeles Skyhawks, playing in the American Soccer League. In European terms, ASL approximates third division... big drop down, but there was worse: essentially, Ovsepyan's story tells of coldness, merciless exploitation, loneliness, and even lack of professionalism in the club. The teammates were rag-tag company from many countries, thinking only of money and not giving a damn about the game. They met only for the duration of training and playing, total strangers to each other. Money were symbolic – Ovsepyan received a total of $1600 for 4 months. At the end he was not able to take it anymore and decided to come back. Hence, the whole horror story had to be told, in theory initiated by the player himself. The masses were to know how bad was 'over the hill' and never to think of going there – that was the real purpose of the article and Ovsepyan served the purpose well, even calling himself traitor (although, not directly – there is no actual voice of the offender in the article. Everything is retold by the journalists, so according to them Ovsepyan called himself a traitor.) The traitor missed the good Soviet life, he missed his birthplace. Typical... under Capitalism there is no life.

The story does not tell really much about Ovsepyan, so the initial impression was that he run away – something very rare, especially for Soviet football players. At least no known name ever did, although some were suspected of harboring the thought – and measures were taken, namely, not to permit them to travel abroad for visiting matches. But it turned out Ovsepyan did not run away – his whole family was permitted to emigrate and he was with his parents and brother. Relatives, living in Los Angeles, sponsored them and after brief stay in Italy the family arrived in Los Angeles. Of course emigration was not permitted in USSR, but during the 1970s individual cases were permitted to leave – mostly Jewish, some Armenians, occasional other non-Russians. Such people did nothing illegal, but the very fact they wanted out was remembered, considered a form of treachery, and, therefore, if someone decided to come back, they were treated just like those who originally defected. Of course, the article says nothing about that, as well as another detail is omitted: Ovsepyan was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1954. Apparently, his family emigrated from Iran to USSR, so they were at best only naturalized Soviet citizens – not native ones. But Avanes grew up in Erevan, knew no other country or lifestyle that the Soviet one. He trained football in Erevan, but also studied and eventually reached the first team of Ararat and looks like studied engineering in the local university. However, this was not so important at first: the article suggests only standard propaganda and once the 'traitor' serves his purpose, he was to disappear for good from public eye. Looking from the distance of time, the whole thing appear in different light: as a clever effort for full rehabilitation of 'the traitor'. The Armenians are crafty people and, in terms of USSR, Erevan is periphery. Many things may happen in the periphery, away from watchful central eyes. Ovsepyan appeared in Ararat's team list in 1978 and played for the club until 1981. This makes him the second Soviet player, who was able to play professionally abroad – the first is Vassilis Hadzipanagis. True, Ovsepyan was permit to emigrate just to play professional football, but he did. Not much, but he did. It is difficult to find material about his US playing career, but there are few bits – now called Avetis Hovsepian, a new goalkeeper appeared as a reserve player in LA Skyhawks. Hovsepian evidently was no revelation... even in the pathetic US football. Now it becomes clearer why he had troubles: he was simply no good. His record plainly says that: he was with Ararat only in 1976, when he played a total of 9 matches. Between 1978 and 1980 he appeared in 22 more, all of them during the 1978 season. Valuable player he was not, but there was something else, may be explaining his rapid and unusual rehabilitation in Soviet football: after the retirement of great Alyosha Abramyan, Ararat experienced acute goalkeeping crisis for years. May the club itself applied some pressure on officials, hoping to find a remedy for its problem. Four goalkeepers were listed in 1978, none long-lasting or memorable. More names followed in the next years. May be Ovsepyan returned in lucky moment and the club's crisis helped him. May be , may be not. The real point is still different now: he was the second Soviet player who played abroad, and the first one, who after playing foreign football appeared again in the Soviet championship. No picture of the player can be unearthed, though...