The soccer team that serves a town

Posted to the website of the Wrexham Supporters Trust is something of a manifesto – the digital stone tablets upon which fans of the Welsh soccer club have written their dearest hopes. In a time of multibillion dollar megateams and owners who rule with everything short of an orb and scepter, one word stands out above all others: serve. 

The trust must “strengthen the bond between Wrexham AFC and the community it serves.” It should “benefit present and future members of the community served by Wrexham AFC.” And it should “ensure Wrexham AFC takes proper account of the interests of its supporters and of the community it serves.”

When was the last time anyone talked about the Dallas Cowboys or Los Angeles Lakers existing to serve their community?

In our recent cover story, Stephen Humphries went to Wrexham, Wales, to tell the story of the beleaguered soccer club bought by two Hollywood stars – and the Hollywood ending they brought to a hardscrabble Welsh town. But what he found was a story beyond sport. 

For Americans, the history of professional sport is inextricable from its owners, the men (almost invariably rich, white, and male) who built American sports leagues into economic juggernauts. George Halas. Paul Brown. George Steinbrenner. Jerry Jones. Modern American sports are as much their creation as the players’ – perhaps more, by some measures. 

But in England, soccer – or football as it’s known there – is no one’s, or, perhaps more accurately, everyone’s. In medieval times, entire towns played it, though it looked nothing like today’s sport. Mobs rampaged through the streets to try to get an inflated pig’s bladder to markers outside town. The rival teams – often from different cities – could kick, punch, and bite their way to get the ball to the goal. King Henry VIII once banned the sport in an attempt to maintain public safety.

In the 19th century, soccer clubs began forming to turn this lawlessness into something constructive. “The clubs became the organic extensions of the communities who were in turn (literal) supporters (and not just ‘fans’) of the clubs,” notes a blog on the King’s College of London website. Workers at armament factories in London formed the club now known as Arsenal. Coal miners in the German city of Gelsenkirchen formed Schalke, the blog notes.

As much as American fans love their sports teams, there is a deeper connection between European soccer clubs and their communities. And this is the story of Wrexham, founded in 1864 and the third-oldest professional soccer club in the world.

As owners of the club since 2020, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have learned what it means to serve. Their story shows that when modern ownership meets community, soccer can help resuscitate some beautiful part of a city’s soul. As foreign billionaires buy up more of England’s top clubs, it’s a welcome reminder that in soccer’s roots are a timeless lesson. The joy from sport becomes some brighter jewel when it has the humility to recognize that pride and glory are best burnished by service.