Admission is free, and team owner Dave Checketts is expected to appear. The Loyalists also will rehearse chants and cheers for the game, which RSL hopes will draw about 25,000 fans.

It hasn't even played a game on its home field yet, and already Real Salt Lake has inspired a local version of a cherished soccer tradition that figures to add a lot of color and character to the inaugural game against the Colorado Rapids at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday:

The fan club.

Or, supporters club, in soccer parlance.

Though every sports team has its hardcore fans, supporters clubs in soccer hold a unique place within the fabric of the game that's different than most mainstream pro sports in America - from the way they chant and cheer throughout games from specific sections of the stadium to the way they organize like collegiate booster clubs.

"We're part of the game," supporter David Hale said.

Hale is a co-founder and vice president of the first RSL supporters club, The Loyalists, who have organized so quickly and

efficiently that they have enlisted scores of dues-paying members with the help of a Web site - www.theloyalists.com - and a close association with team management.

"We will support a lot of groups," said Trey FitzGerald, the team's senior director of marketing and communications. "But The Loyalists may have a soft spot in our hearts just because they were the first organized group to come together and pledge their allegiance."

Not the only one, however.

An Hispanic group called Barra Brava is "in its infancy stage," said Trino Martinez, RSL's assistant director of marketing, having started to loosely organize around some friends and relatives of RSL reserve player Sergio Flores of Smithfield.

"Supporters clubs occur organically," Martinez said. "You can give them direction, but ultimately, it's up to them."

Indeed, the clubs are not officially associated with the team the way that, say, the Crimson Club is an arm of the University of Utah.

But they do provide many of the same functions, from giving fans a forum to socialize and express their views - The Loyalists will sponsor pregame tailgate parties throughout the season, Hale said - and a way for the team to gauge support (or not) for the club. FitzGerald said comparisons to "The Muss" student fan club at Utah are appropriate.

"It's very common in Europe," FitzGerald said. "Most teams have their organized supporters club and then they kind of have their group of radicals. The group of radicals has not yet emerged in Utah."

The world's most popular soccer teams, like Real Madrid in Spain and Arsenal in England, enjoy the support of hundreds of fan clubs - including some that even own stock in the teams and wield a significant influence.

Clubs supporting Manchester United in England, for example, have strongly opposed a bid by American tycoon Malcolm Glazer to take over the team, and have been planning a boycott of the club's sponsors if the takeover goes through.

That kind of activism is uncommon among pro sports franchises in the United States, where fan clubs - if they exist at all - typically are less mobilized or grouped vaguely around season-ticket holders or those who sign up to receive team newsletters.

Exceptions can be found, like the "Dawg Pound" that supports the NFL's Cleveland Browns, but as a rule, supporters clubs in soccer are a phenomenon all their own, with their drums and chants and banners and songs.

"You hear the singing and the chants in the stadium," Hale said, "that's the fan clubs that are starting those things. Traditionally, they sit in the end zones or close to the end zones where they can harass the opposing keeper, just trying to give their team a little bit of an edge. . . . Realistically, we're amateur cheerleaders."

Most teams in Major League Soccer have several supporters clubs, which is something RSL officials would like to see happen in Utah.

General manager Steve Pastorino is a big fan of the concept, and already has become popular with The Loyalists for toasting them by name last summer.

Team owner Dave Checketts is scheduled to appear at a pep rally tonight at the Gallivan Center, and the supporters plan to enlist players to make appearances at their meetings.

"That's one thing you will see is unique about soccer," Hale said, "the players are very, very accessible."

And their fans - obviously - are very, very devoted.

mcl@sltrib.com