facebook-pixel

RSL fans pay tribute to goalkeeper Nick Rimando at his last regular-season home game

  | Sep. 30, 2019, 5:14 a.m.
| Updated: Oct. 10, 2019, 2:49 p.m.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando (18) saves the ball, in MLS action at Rio Tinto Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando (18) saves the ball, in MLS action at Rio Tinto Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019.

Sandy • The days leading up to Sunday’s match between Real Salt Lake and the Houston Dynamo were chockfull of various celebrations of goalkeeper Nick Rimando’s career.

The RSL legend had a road leading to Rio Tinto Stadium named after him. Sept. 27 was declared Nick Rimando Day by Sandy City. He gave a news conference to local media with his two children, Jett and Benny, by his side, and discussed his 20-year Major League Soccer career.

But the fans at the game Sunday had one more tribute: a tifo (a visual display by fans) that spanned nearly the entire south side of the stadium depicting Rimando from the back with the words “Thank You” in capital letters.

The tifo was designed by BJ Viehl, an RSL supporter who works as a designer and developer. It came together like all tifos do — with the help of many from the various RSL supporters groups.

But the Rimando tifo that fans saw unveiled Sunday wasn’t the display that was originally planned. It was actually supposed to be bigger.

In the original plan, the main section was to be bookended by two smaller sections, each depicting the numbers 1 and 8 to correspond to Rimando’s No. 18 jersey number. But scheduling, manpower and even weather conditions made it impossible to finish the two extra sections on time.

However, the biggest section was the one that really mattered, Viehl said last week.

“Our main goal was to finish the main piece because we didn’t want to mess that up,” he said.

Viehl’s idea for the design came from two color schemes: the black-and-grey Rimando often wears, and the colors of RSL. He said he wanted to figure out a way to incorporate all of those in a way that will be simple to paint. That’s where the triangles came in.

“There’s anything symbolic about the shapes,” Viehl said. “It’s just kind of a creative way to show the black mixed with the colors and kind of have it all mixed together.”

Another idea that was kicked around to honor Rimando in the stands involved four tifos representing the four phases of Rimando’s career: UCLA, Miami, D.C., and RSL. They would have been shown throughout the stadium.

But, Viehl said, the group liked the idea of showing Rimando’s back to make it seem like he was walking away from his career.

“It’s really nice to be able to have people come together in different supporters groups and make this thing happen,” he said.