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SANDY — Early last week Real Salt Lake fans came together to show support for the Salt Lake club’s playoff season via social media.
Twitter avatars all over RSL nation then started to change to the same one, and quickly the trend caught on, spreading like wildfire.
The idea came from an RSL fan who was just looking to get RSL nation excited for its upcoming playoff series that began last Friday in Seattle.
"I was really just hoping to get everyone super excited about the playoffs," said Liz Johnsen, a long-time RSL fan and Women’s United FC team representative. "It has always seemed that the more the fans get into it, the more the players do. I love the family aspect of RSL and how the players have all adopted it. So when they see something that means so much to the fans, you can see that translate onto the field."
Tuesday evening Johnsen tweeted, "Hey, #RSLNation! What do you say we all change our pictures to the same one for the playoffs? Maybe one from the 2009 MLS cup?"
And from there, RSL fans began to hop on board.
Minutes after Johnsen’s tweet, Real Salt Lake tweeted Johnsen’s WUFC account for RSL, @RSLWUFC, and suggested a picture to use. RSL fan and blogger, Denzel Eslinger, then posted his own photo that shows the MLS Cup Champions ring on top of an RSL jersey just above the crest.
Eslinger also hopped right on board and gave permission for RSL fans to use his photo.
"It was a real honor," said Eslinger. "I loved that so many people jumped on board and it seemed like a perfect way to show support for the team as they make that journey towards getting a second ring in our collection. Seemed like a cool way to remember where we have been and where we want to end up this season."
Johnsen didn’t think her little idea would get as popular as it did — let alone spread like it did.
"When I first tweeted it, it was just an idea I had," said Johnsen. "Some other people saw our conversation and thought it was a good idea, so we started to spread the word. The next morning, I saw so many people had changed their pictures, and I was actually really surprised!"
Both Johnsen and Eslinger have both been long-time fans of RSL — since Day 1 — and both have taken their love of the club further than fandom.
Johnsen, a Salt Lake City native, has taken her love of the game and the Salt Lake club to a women’s organization that shows its support for soccer in general. Johnsen tweets all things RSL from her Women’s United RSL twitter account, giving live tweets during the matches and also RSL news and facts all the time.
Eslinger, a season ticket holder since the beginning, has also taken his love of the Salt Lake club further than the red-and-white seats inside Rio Tinto. He has been blogging about the Salt Lake club since 2007.
Kira Terry is a sports writer covering Real Salt Lake for KSL.com. Follow her on Twitter, @kiraterry.
