SALT LAKE CITY - The following statement from Real Salt Lake Owner David W. Checketts responds to tonight's post-game taunting from Colorado Rapids players towards Rice-Eccles Stadium patrons:
Statement from Dave Checketts:
We at Real Salt Lake have spent nearly two years building a soccer culture here in Utah, one that characterizes the sport as a unifier of all cultures and holds sportsmanship and respect for the game in the highest regard.
It is especially appalling to me that tonight, as we celebrate Youth Soccer Night, in front of a crowd in excess of 17,000 fans, that a group of players involved in Major League Soccer would exhibit the obscene behavior towards our fans during and after the Colorado Rapids' Rocky Mountain Cup celebration.
We have spent countless hours in recent weeks and months working with the world's most accomplished club - Real Madrid - to assure them of the character values held in American soccer. I am both outraged and embarrassed that players in this league - especially a World Cup star like Pablo Mastroeni - would engage in obscene behavior towards our fans, and am dismayed that noone from the Colorado organization was present tonight to discourage such boorish behavior.
This is NOT what this league is about, nor is it representative of what Real Salt Lake or MLS stands for as we provide family-friendly entertainment and spirited competition.
I personally will provide video evidence and detailed accounts of what happened here to the league's highest levels, with the express intent of ensuring that incidents like this do not mar our competition or overshadow our role in this community.
