Born in Mexico and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Rodriguez Lira is a Tigres fan by birth; his mother attended the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. As an adult, he made Austin his home, however, and when MLS arrived, he felt called to go all-in on his new local team.
“This is our thing – Los Verdes: Soccer and Community [soccer and community],” said Rodriguez Lira, whose hair has a green ATX streak. “We have to think about all these communities, and what Austin really is, and all those people who come in who don’t gather around UT [the University of Texas]. How do we bring all these people together?
“Austin is a great place to kind of pilot what a support group could be, just because of the nature of it being inclusive and having caring people, and being able to be just so diverse, and everyone wants to be a part of something.”
Increasingly populated by transplants from across Texas and beyond, facing gentrification and other effects of that explosive growth, River City was ready for a unifying experience that could cross those fault lines.
“It was a really good thing that [Columbus] The crew didn’t move here and we had more time to prepare and build from scratch,” said La Murga member Mateo Clarke. “Because I think that allowed us to have a really authentic culture of support that started with people that were involved before we had a coach, involved before we had a DP. [Designated Player]. And so kind of buying into that metaphor of the tree, planting the seed, letting it grow, letting it mature, I think is really important, versus something that’s just transplanted and expected to do well.
“The southern section is all supporters, and I feel like that’s the most authentic section of Austin culture that you’re going to find at any event in the city right now, really,” he added. “But then on the west side, you have suites and a lot of corporate sponsorships, and that reflects this thing that exists in Austin, a lot of new technology influence, a lot of new money. And then I think on the east side, you have a lot more passionate football fans, supporters who want to watch the game from good places. So you have that inside the stadium, I think it represents the cross section of Austin.”
