Former NFL star JJ Watt wasn’t going to let the Real Salt Lake MLS squad get away with snubbing his wife and former soccer standout, Kealia.
The Watt family was in town to watch a soccer match between Real Salt Lake and the team they have partial ownership in: Burnley F.C.. The Salt Lake City team did their best to welcome the Watts to the stadium, and even made a social media post about it and snapped a photo of the Watt family as the entered.
The only problem? They kind of forgot to mention… the soccer star of the family:
“Welcome to the Riot, JJ Watt and fam.”
Yikes… social media intern might have gotten the axe after that one.
Here’s the deal. JJ Watt’s wife, Kealia, is a very accomplished athlete in her own right. To make matters worse for Real Salt Lake, she’s from Utah, and is one of the most decorated female soccer players to ever come out of the state. As JJ explained in his response to the social media post:
“The woman in the photo grew up literally down the road, won four Utah state championships (one in this exact stadium), Gatorade Player of the Year twice, National Player of the Year, scored the fastest first goal in USWNT history… Could probably be worth a mention, but I don’t know.”
Won a championship in that very stadium and didn’t even get an ounce of recognition… tough look for Real Salt Lake.
After JJ Watt fired off that rightfully accusatory post, it didn’t take long for the MLS’s official social media account to come back with an apology. In it, Real Salt Lake pointed out all of the great things that Kealia accomplished during her soccer career, what she’s still doing now for the sport, 4and profusely apologized to the Watts:
“We made an honest mistake yesterday and we are sincerely sorry for that. When we welcomed the Watt family to America First Field, we should have recognized Kealia Watt for exactly who she is. Kealia is a Utah native and one of the most decorated players to ever come out of this state. Kealia won four state championships with her club and four more in high school, and was a two-time Utah Gatorade Athlete of the Year. She was a U.S. youth national teamer at 13.
At the U-20 level, she scored the game-winning goal in the World Cup final. She started four years at North Carolina, won a national title with the Tar Heels, then went No. 2 overall in the NWSL draft to the Houston Dash, and was the franchise’s first-ever college pick. She then became their captain with 114 appearances and 28 goals. Kealia finished her career with the Chicago Stars (then known as the Red Stars) and is now a soccer analyst for Amazon Prime Video. Kealia Watt and JJ Watt, we are deeply sorry. Thank you for all you do for the sport.”
And to think they could have saved themselves from that just by… recognizing the former soccer star and member of the USWNT. Good on JJ Watt for calling them out, and respect to Real Salt Lake for doing their best to correct their mistake.
