The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word RIGHT FOOT
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
I
G
H
T
F
O
O
T
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "it might kick off" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case it might kick off = right foot.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.