There’s been a lot of love shown on the Real Salt Lake Facebook page today, with plenty of fans sharing stories about how RSL kick-started their relationships.
RSL fan Kathryn Roethel reached out to us earlier this week about her Claret-and-Cobalt-colored love, asking if we could pass along a Valentine via The Sovereign to her boyfriend, Matt Rieck. Never ones to stand in the way of matters of the heart, we gladly obliged. Here’s Kathryn version of her and Matt’s story, which – oddly enough – Matt posted on Facebook this morning.
My boyfriend, Matt Rieck, became an RSL fan while living in Salt Lake City about four years ago. He bought season tickets and eventually convinced many of his friends to get season tickets, too. They went to every home game and traveled to many road games as well, including the 2009 MLS Cup. Matt had to leave Salt Lake when his job took him to San Diego two years ago, but he still travels to see RSL every chance he gets.
Matt is a college friend of my sister's, and we'd met several times over the years, but I live near San Jose. When RSL played the Earthquakes last April, Matt saw a chance to visit me -- under the guise of being in town for the game. We spent a wonderful day together, including a lesson in MLS rules so I could better enjoy the match. Matt even sketched out the field for me on a legal pad and labeled all the RSL players by name and position! (I still have the drawing.) By the time we got to the game, I was very much hoping he'd take the opportunity to hold my hand in the stands. Unfortunately for me, it was a pretty intense match, and RSL lost when the Quakes scored two goals in the 90th minute. Needless to say, there wasn't much occasion for hand holding! (I'm a big sports fan, too, so I understand these things!) I'm happy to say that Matt quickly recovered, though, and the loss turned out to be little more than an asterisk in the record book of fantastic first dates.
Matt let me borrow an RSL jersey that weekend (which I never returned!), and he's since given me one of my own. We still live in opposite ends of California (though, not for much longer!) and until then, we visit each other nearly every other weekend. On the weekends we're apart, we've been known to watch RSL games on TV "together," while talking on the phone. And we will be sitting in the RSL section of Buck Shaw Stadium for the season opener against the Earthquakes [on March 3] -- our first time back since our first date.
Happy Valentine’s Day to Kathryn, Matt and all you other RSL fans out there.
