Did RSL fans cross a line during scoreless draw with Seattle?

In the first minute of stoppage time of Saturday's 0-0 draw, Sounders midfielder Kelyn Rowe had to be helped off the field with a knee injury — and RSL fans booed, drawing the ire of Seattle players.

There are two sides to every story, but neither side of what transpired late in Real Salt Lake’s scoreless draw with the Seattle Sounders paints a particularly pretty picture of a group of RSL fans fed up with several moments from Saturday’s scoreless draw.

In the first minute of stoppage time of the 0-0 final, Sounders midfielder Kelyn Rowe had to be helped off the field with a knee injury — and RSL fans were booing, which drew the ire of Seattle players.

The 31-year-old MLS veteran had crashed to the turf shortly after Andrés Gómez was whistled for a foul by head referee Nima Saghafi. While Rowe received medical treatment near the Sounders’ sideline, RSL fans — no doubt frustrated by a chippy match that has become all-too-common between the two Western Conference rivals, and a number of perceived embellishments by Seattle players during the foul-filled contest — let loose, voicing their displeasure at a match that held no goals, a 15-12 shots advantage, just three shots on target, and would finish with eight total yellow cards — including five of them against the home side.

Understandably upset, but still no reason for the boos that fell on Rowe’s ears as he was aided to the locker room in significant discomfort, leaning on the medical staff to a hurried (or as hurried as he could be) exit through the center tunnel.

Which likely explains why Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei let loose on RSL fans after the match in a stadium where the Sounders haven’t won since 2011.

“I’m a sucker for a good environment, a good atmosphere, and I think it was very good today,” said Frei after the match, unprompted as Seattle media were wrapping up a video conference. “But I was very upset to see one of our players go down with a potentially season-ending injury, and the taunting and the stuff that I heard. Very classless. I love a good atmosphere; I love heckling and all that. I get it as a goalkeeper all the time. But there’s a line that is crossed. I’m upset about that.

“Stay classy out there. We’re people; we’re humans. There’s livelihood at stake, there’s careers at stake, there are a lot of things going on, and I was upset about that. I just want to say that.”

The Sounders will know more of Rowe’s injury in the coming days. But suffice it to say, everyone around the unfortunate incident hopes for a healthy recovery from the 31-year-old midfielder.

Seattle manager Brian Schmetzer took a slightly more compassionate tone for the RSL fanbase, while also condemning the act of booing an injured player amid the ruckus as he confirmed a knee of an unknown degree to the his veteran midfielder.

“Sometimes those injuries can look like it’s not a lot, but that’s how a lot of ACLs are torn. And I’m not saying he has a torn ACL; it’s too premature. But there could be some significant damage there,” Schmetzer said. “I think what Stef was alluding to, and I felt the same way, was as the game progressed and the referee was trying to maintain control — whether he showed too many yellows, not enough yellows, not enough fouls; it’s irrelevant — their fans felt the ref was not doing a great job. Home fans sometimes do that; our fans do that as well.

“They felt that Kelyn was embellishing some part of his injury. That’s not correct; I remember the same thing happened when Steve Zakuani had his horrific injury in Colorado (that included a broken fibula and tibia in 2011), there were many fans that were taunting him.

“It’s just not appropriate for any fanbase — RSL, our fanbase, any fanbase — to make light of any player’s injury. I just don’t believe that is good sportsmanship. And I think that’s what Stef is alluding to … But those are some of my feelings about what happened at the end of the game.”

Post-publishing Update: After several tests and reports over the weekend, Rowe revealed Monday that his knee suffered no major ligament damage and will not require surgery — which can only be construed as a good news update.

Embellishment should have no place in the game, but unfortunately, it does. Likewise, neither should booing an injured player. There’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed, though sometimes that line can seem a bit blurry in the heat of competition — particularly a rivalry like the one RSL enjoys with the Sounders, which is certainly not anywhere near the level of Cascadia rivals Portland or Vancouver but on some form of level.

Former U.S. men’s national team star Alexi Lalas, now of FOX Sports, put it well on Twitter (here’s the part where I would embed Alexi’s tweet, but Twitter still isn’t playing nice with Substack, so a quote will have to do):

Players have cried wolf for so long that it’s understandable for fans to be cynical and assume it’s just theatrics when a player goes down.

The match was disjointed; both teams can agree to that. A total of 22 fouls were called, including 15 against RSL, with eight yellow cards and a second-yellow red shown to Pablo Ruiz in second-half stoppage time that caused Salt Lake to finish with 10 men and go to Houston next week without the creative midfielder.

Frustration, indeed. But such it was for both teams, and Seattle tried to spin it in the positive.

“I thought we created enough chances,” said Frei, who made three saves and completed 80% of his passes for the Sounders. “I thought we had spells where we had good possession, good combination, good challenges and good crosses. We were just missing that final touch, and getting the ball on frame before pulling the trigger.

“But away from home, especially at a place like this, you’re not going to be cruising to a victory. I think the amount we were able to carve out was pretty easy. On a tiny bit sharper day, we walk away 2-0.”

Back to the awful incident. Rowe, a native of Federal Way, Washington, who played seven years with New England before joining RSL and Sporting Kansas City prior to returning to his hometown in 2021, could only grimace as he limped off the field with an awful injury.

That RSL fans were frustrated with the quality of the match — specifically, the officiating, even — can be understandable. But even as chants of “Ref, you suck!” rang across the stadium on several occasions, there was no excuse for booing an injured player.

Certainly, there were other circumstances that played into the fan reaction, such as Nico Lodeiro’s reaction to foul that seemed slightly more embellished. All of those added up to what looked like a horrific reaction from the RSL fanbase, and deserved or not, Utah sports fans have a reputation, as well.

But when Rowe was on the sideline, the medical staff working over an injury that halted play for nearly three minutes of a match that only included three minutes of second-half stoppage time, and once it became evident that Rowe couldn’t make it to the locker room under his own power, the chanting should have been unacceptable.

Eventually, humanity has to take over. And that is where fandom crosses the line, as Frei stated in his usual blut Stefan Frei-like way.

Of course, that’s easier to say after the facts are better known. Hindsight is always 20/20, and while that shouldn’t be an excuse, it’s also a reality.

To quote RSL fan Mike, who says he was in the crowd:

When he went down, booing made sense. As a RSL fan that was there, the booing needed to stop when we saw he was being carried off and back. Can't apologize for others, but hope they do better. Really do hope Rowe a speedy recovery and it's not the end of his career.

For their part, the animosity and ill-fitting act didn’t spread on to the field. Even after the questionable officiating and tough on-field result, RSL and Seattle players came together at midfield in usual ceremonial solidarity. Former RSL midfielder Albert Rusnak greeted his one-time teammates, and manager Pablo Mastroeni embraced Sounders assistant Freddy Juarez — Mastroeni’s predecessor in his RSL role.

Former RSL front-office mate Craig Waibel, who succeeded Garth Lagerwey as general manager, visited with several former Salt Lake colleagues in the press lounge prior to Saturday’s match. Whatever the view on the outside of sometimes-perceived intra-league “defections,” there is no ill blood found from RSL’s side, team employees have said.

As they often do, Mastroeni and center back Justen Glad focused primarily on the positive of an at-times chippy match — fan behavior aside.

“I think there’s obviously a history with Seattle; every game we play against them is always a tough match. Currently, they’re top of the league, and we’re a team that is continuing to fight for points,” Mastroeni said. “Three points against a team like Seattle would’ve been fantastic. But I thought the guys hung in there and fought real hard. Losing two players that would’ve started this week in the last two days wasn’t easy, but it speaks a lot to the character of the group. Scottie (Caldwell) stepped in and did a good job, and (Braian) Oviedo playing on the right side wasn’t easy. But I’m proud of the effort.”