For nearly half a century, a striking concrete bowl at the eastern edge of Capitol Hill has lent its distinctive silhouette to the Washington, D.C. skyline.
It's served as home to Washington Redskins football, two Washington baseball teams, dozens of rallies and concerts, Olympic and World Cup soccer and still houses D.C. United, the most successful club in Major League Soccer.
Once innovative, now antiquated, sometimes reviled but never boring, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium is well into the twilight of its career but still offers a truly unique experience for fans and players alike. Its soaring, dipping roof structure traps crowd noise efficiently and the movable section of the lower bowl sways wildly when fans jump in unison, creating a frenzied environment of sound and movement.
"Any time you come to D.C. you want to play well. They've got great fans, they're always throwing stuff at you and cussing at you, and I love that. It's a great stadium -- I just love RFK," said New England striker Taylor Twellman, who's enjoyed more than a few clutch performances there. "It's a tough place to play, but it's a fun place to play because it's always rocking and always loud."
Sunday's MLS Cup Final -- the third at RFK -- represents another chapter in the history of an atmospheric venue that has served as a backdrop to some of the most memorable moments in U.S. soccer history. That's a distinction few of the league's new generation of soccer-specific facilities can claim.
"There's obviously been a lot of memories and moments in this stadium and it's neat -- you don't get it in one of the newer stadiums," said Houston Dynamo striker Nate Jaqua, whose father roamed the RFK grass as a Washington Redskins player in the 1970s. "You feel that there's definitely some history here."
Twellman and many of his present teammates took part in a scintillating Eastern Conference Championship at RFK three years ago, waging a hammer-and-tongs battle with D.C. before falling to United in a penalty kick shootout that capped one of the most dramatic nights in league history.
"It was just an unbelievable game, back and forth, and unfortunately we couldn't pull it through in the penalties," said Steve Ralston. "But just a great MLS game, and it was pretty neat to be a part of."
Houston coach Dominic Kinnear also paid tribute to RFK, citing the Washington Diplomats, the stadium's long-departed North American Soccer League tenants, and harking back to its first MLS Cup Final a decade ago when United edged the upstart Colorado Rapids 2-1.
"The final that was here in 1997, everybody going into it thought it was going to be a lopsided affair and Colorado made that a really great night," he recalled.
The turf itself -- with the exception of the last two years when baseball's return compromised the grass surface -- is also the stuff of legend.
"I think the venue is going to make a big difference this year," said Revolution coach Steve Nicol. "It's a great field to play soccer on. It's big, the grass is great. There's just something about the place."
Intriguingly, Nicol rued the influence of the fast, short turf at Pizza Hut Park in last year's final -- which he thinks had a negative role on the match's overall quality -- while Kinnear looked forward to the final trim to be applied to RFK's pitch before their rematch.
"We've asked for the field to be cut, because when you pass the ball, if you watch it bounce, it kind of takes the life out of the game a little bit," said the Houston boss. "We prefer a high tempo and the ball moving, so we'd like to see it cut."
With United hunting energetically for a soccer-specific facility of their own, this year's championship is likely to be the last at RFK -- and fans of all persuasions will be hoping that the Revs and Dynamo do the old ground justice on Sunday.
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
