Moving from England to SLC. Tell me about this team...

upstreamist · 02-10-2007, 01:58 PM

Hey lads (and lasses),

The mrs and I are moving to Utah from England in the summer. I love football (I guess you call it soccer)! I'm a Bolton Wonderers fan here in England, but it will be difficult for me to attend matches 6,000 miles away, so I need to adopt a US team.

I googled MLS and tried to find out more about your team, as I'm going to need to follow a team locally. I was somewhat suprised to find a team in the US top flight football (sorry, soccer) in Utah, but I'm glad there is one.

I have a couple of questions:

How are you guys doing in the league?
When is this new stadium will be ready?
What's with these colours? No offense, but it is very kindergarten. Do you guys change kits each year, like teams do here?
Whos the big players?
What is the outlook for the next season?
How much are the tickets?
Is there a serious following of this team?

Thanks.

Balanceut · 02-10-2007, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by upstreamist

Hey lads (and lasses),

The mrs and I are moving to Utah from England in the summer. I love football (I guess you call it soccer)! I'm a Bolton Wonderers fan here in England, but it will be difficult for me to attend matches 6,000 miles away, so I need to adopt a US team.

I googled MLS and tried to find out more about your team, as I'm going to need to follow a team locally. I was somewhat suprised to find a team in the US top flight football (sorry, soccer) in Utah, but I'm glad there is one.

I have a couple of questions:

How are you guys doing in the league?
When is this new stadium will be ready?
What's with these colours? No offense, but it is very kindergarten. Do you guys change kits each year, like teams do here?
Whos the big players?
What is the outlook for the next season?
How much are the tickets?
Is there a serious following of this team?

Thanks.

Welcome!

We call it football and Soccer. American football we call "pointyball" out of disrespect, even though many of us enjoy that game also.

RSL was an expansion team two years ago (we don't have relegation and promotion from lower leagues, here). We will start our 3rd season in early April (MLS season runs from April through October). We have come in at the bottom of the Western division (we play a two division table) both of the first two seasons. However, in the second half of last season we had the best record in the league and were very close to making the playoffs as the division was pretty competitive. Definitely, the team was much improved in the second season.

This coming season looks extremely promising with the addition of improved players in all positions. The depth looks quite good for the coming season. We have Jeff Cunningham, leading scorer in the league last year. Jason Kries, Freddy Adu, and Luis Tejada as our strongest players.

Team colors are Red, Blue and Gold. There have been minor changes to kits year to year, this next year will be the first year for front of the jersey advertising in MLS and the word XANGO (a health/fruit drink company) will be plastered across the front.

Season tickets run between $210 (youth) and $590 (VIP) per seat. They are readily available. There is a 1/2 season 'flex pass' and single game tickets are probably going to be about $30 each.

The current stadium is for pointyball, is too narrow and has bad sightlines. About 5- 10 feet in from the near touchline for the west-side fans can't be seen unless you are sitting on like the first 3 or 4 rows.

The new stadium will probably take about 18 months to build. It is possible that it might be ready for the start of the 08 season, but midpoint or later is more likely.

http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/t121/

This forum is not incredibly active, right now. More active is Bigsoccer.com (too active for me, I don't have time for all those posts).

There are two major supporters groups, both with loyal followings and doing great work harassing the opposition and supporting our boys! The Rogue Cavaliers Brigade is the more rude of the two, and some would argue more fun! The Loyalists are a larger group, and plenty boisterous, but less likely to engage in vulgarity. I sit with neither but occasionally tailgate party before the game with the Loyalists.

Utah has the highest per capita participation of soccer of any state in the US. This is due to large families (kids here love soccer), a large Hispanic population, and Mormon youth often go on missions around the world and are exposed to soccer, meaning they return home as fans. The team has the 3rd highest attendance in the league, though some of that is due to the team's newness.

All in all, I think you'll find this an excellent experience. You won't see the caliber of play as you see in the EPL, but it is still quite credible soccer and getting better all the time.

Oh, and Beckham will be with the LA Galaxy by late in the summer, first appearance in Salt Lake looks to be Sept. 19.

Again, welcome, hope I get to meet you at the games.

Balanceut · 02-10-2007, 04:46 PM

and, don't miss one of the best blogs on the team out there: Are You Loyal?

http://rsldeuce.blogspot.com/

upstreamist · 02-10-2007, 05:03 PM

Cheers Balanceut. I appreciate the quick rundown. OK... I look forward towatching those player (though I've only heard of Kries... he plays for the national team right?).

two things...
1.What's a tailgating party?
2. EPL? I guess you are saying english premiership league?>? we just call it the Premiership or Premier League here (officially: Barclays Premiership).

Beckham's an alright player, I saw him play many times (I used to live 20 min from Old Trafford), though he isn't his old self now. But his brand will mean a lot to american soccer. (I like the pointyball thing).

I'm looking forward to joining you lot on the terraces.

Czar Jake · 02-10-2007, 11:02 PM

Welcome Upstreamist

You'll find that the world of football/soccer/calcio is very different here in the states. It's a smaller scale than it is in Europe - we compete with baseball, basketball, and American football for fans, athletes, tv time, etc. But don't give up on it just because it's different.

I learned to love the game in Italy (Forza Roma!) but the Salt Lake matches are great and we have a lot of really passionate fans.

Tailgating is an American thing. You basically show up to the stadium early and have a barbecue in the parking lot. The Loyalists and RCB both do tailgates in the parking lot, just show up and have a burger and a beer!

I'm surprised you haven't heard of Freddy Adu - he was kind of a "teen sensation" when he started with DC United at age 15 (maybe 14? can't remember)... but this is his first year with us. He's been a solid player, and we're hoping for big things.

A couple of other guys that we have who you might remember from the US Nats: Eddie Pope and Chris Klein. We also have some promising youth: a kid from Morocco named Mehdi Ballouchy, a couple of up-and-coming defenders (one of the best names in the league, Willis Forko)

Hope to see you at the games! PS Why are you moving to Utah?

upstreamist · 02-11-2007, 01:44 AM

I've heard of Pope. now that I think of it. Sounds like the team has some good players.

Tailgating sounds like a laugh, count me in.

We are moving to Utah, because of a job/new life/sick of overcrowded england and because the wife misses America (she's a California girl)...

Balanceut · 02-11-2007, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Czar Jake

A couple of other guys that we have who you might remember from the US Nats: Eddie Pope and Chris Klein. We also have some promising youth: a kid from Morocco named Mehdi Ballouchy, a couple of up-and-coming defenders (one of the best names in the league, Willis Forko)

Klein I should have mentioned!

But, Pope, I don't mind omitting. Honestly, I think of him as a non-factor.

He seemed to be playing last season preparing for World Cup duty, then recovering from World Cup duty. RSL's improvement started as soon as he left for the World Cup and didn't change for better or worse after he returned.

Love Mehdi and Forko.

Legend09 · 02-11-2007, 01:46 PM

I have heard of Freddy Adu, he was wanted by Manchester United a couple of years ago.

Balanceut · 02-11-2007, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legend09

I have heard of Freddy Adu, he was wanted by Manchester United a couple of years ago.

and, they may get him, yet! In June (July?) he turns 18, meaning he is legally allowed to negotiate a new contract with MLS, or anyone else in the world. as I understand things, that is.

xlyte · 02-11-2007, 07:11 PM

most things have already been covered. One thing i will add is thatthe atmosphere at the stadium is nothing like the atmosphere watching in an english stadium. If you're like me and enjoyed singing along to chants while in england i'd advise you sit with either the rcb or the loyalists as we're about the only two sections in the stadium that actually sing, although it is slowly spreading, but i do mean slowly. Having said that though we have some of the better fans in the league. Some games i have watched when we played away the fans just sat there almost silent the whole game until a goal was scored. =/

atleast if you sit witht the RCB or the loyalists you'll get chanting and drum banging all game.

If you don't mind me asking, where in utah are you moving to?