Iron Maiden’s heavy metal concerts are world-famous. Their soccer skills, well, not so much. (Photo: ironmaiden.com)
By Jean Logan
It was a muggy Friday in June 1985, and Grand View University (then College) was quiet. Few students were around. Blair Reid, the men’s soccer coach, sat in his office, a tiny closet located on the east side of campus, when his telephone rang.
On the line was a radio personality making an unusual inquiry. “Do you have some soccer players you can round up? Iron Maiden is in town for a show tonight at Veterans Auditorium, and they want to scrimmage your boys.”
Reid quickly calculated which players might be around for the summer and responded. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Good, and there can be no cameras, no security and no publicity, all right? No girlfriends or other students, either. The guys just want to relax and loosen up before the show tonight. We’ll be there around 10 this morning.”
Agreeing to the band’s terms, Reid quickly rounded up nine players for the scrimmage.
Since Grand View was one of the first schools in the area to add men’s soccer, the old baseball field had to be configured into a “pitch” for the fall soccer season and then converted back into a baseball diamond for the spring. So Coach Reid readied the field, greeted the players as they arrived and gave them a little pep talk. “Now, just be courteous. No slide tackles. And go easy on them. It’s just for fun. Let them have some success.”
Soon enough, the Iron Maiden entourage arrived in several nice cars and a truck pulling a trailer. Out popped drummer Nicko McBrain and the guitarists, Dave Murray, Steve Harris and Adrian Smith. Their roadies filled out the roster.
One of the Grand View players asked if the team could wear their uniforms to class up the match a bit, but the uniforms couldn’t be found during the off-season so they slipped on some old red bibs instead.
In the meantime, the roadies threw open the doors of the trailer and unpacked complete kits from England’s national team: a full set of whites and a full set of reds. The Iron Maiden players pointed to the white set and then nonchalantly donned them, all the while smoking cigarettes and bantering with each other. Reid and the GV boys were impressed. Maybe these guys were good? They certainly looked the part.
The Grand View players got into position, and Reid served as the referee. Iron Maiden kicked off. Within two minutes Grand View was up three goals and Iron Maiden was sweating, swearing and gasping for air.
It was a raucous game. Any 50/50 call went to Iron Maiden. And any time Grand View scored, Iron Maiden yelled in protest. At the end, Blair declared it to be a close game, with Grand View winning 5-4.
Afterward, Harris offered players tickets to that night’s show. “Coach, call this number and tell them how many you want — 60 or 100, just say the word.”
After the Grand View students departed, the band still had time to kill so Reid directed them to the small locker room in the gym while he put away the gear. Half an hour later, he entered the smoke-filled room and found the band members sprawled around a metal tub filled with every kind of American beer imaginable. With a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other, they motioned for Blair to join them, while bantering about their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, who’d stayed back at the hotel. “F-ing prima donna Bruce, that wanker, can’t even play football with us. But we love him.”
After a few more rounds of beer, someone lit a joint and passed it around. Everyone mellowed out and relaxed.
Iron Maiden, one of the world’s most famous heavy metal bands, had just stepped out of their celebrity routine to enjoy a summer day with the Grand View soccer boys.
After the concert, Reid received a letter from the band, who thanked the team for the opportunity to play soccer. They said that if they ever came back to Des Moines, they’d like to play again.
It’s been 40 years since that 1985 summer day. Earlier this month, Grand View’s Cinderella soccer team became the 2025 NAIA National Champions.
Iron Maiden is still going strong and plans to bring its “Run For Your Lives” tour to the United States in 2026, with stops in Minneapolis and Chicago. Between those gigs, might there be time for a rematch of the famous encounter? Never mind that the band members are now in their late 60s and early 70s.
Grand View would welcome them with open arms — and might not even keep score.
Contributing writer Jean Logan is a professor emerita of nursing at Grand View University.
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