Two thirds of the way into Wrexham’s Australia and New Zealand tour, few could argue the venture hasn’t been a mighty success. Co-owner Rob McElhenney wasn’t joking when he said the region was the third-highest market for their ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ documentary, screened here via Disney+; almost 80,000 attended this week’s matches in Melbourne and Sydney combined, with a trip to Wellington to come.
Some that would (and do) argue are those with allegiance to Australian football, mulling the perennial question when high-profile clubs tap our market to fill their pre-season coffers: ‘what’s in it for us?’ Wrexham don’t have the traditional ‘big club’ status of former tourists Manchester United or Juventus, but are now clearly at the forefront of its modern context.
Said concerns were given voice by Sydney FC defender Alex Grant after the Sky Blues’ 2-1 win over the Welsh side on Tuesday night, with 40,242 in attendance: ‘It’s a shame that we can’t get these crowds in the A-League. It just shows people will come out to the games. I think people up above need to take a look at what’s on offer, and get people out to come and support the local teams’, Grant told Network 10.
He’s in a strong position to argue that the level of football Wrexham, heading into the Championship off the back of an extraordinary three consecutive promotions, offer is not so different to A-League, having spent time at Macclesfield Town, Stoke City and Portsmouth.
The subsect of theatregoers in Australian sports fadom is forever lurking, and fair enough when Liverpool or Real Madrid roll into town. At the core of the Wrexham debate (and perhaps Grant’s statement) is not just why fans have packed the stands mid-week, mid-winter to see a club many wouldn’t have heard of two years ago. It’s why those fans, equally, don’t see any theatre in a late-season A-League fixture, in high-summer, when trophies are on the line – or at least not enough to rock up. Only once last season did Sydney draw more than 20,000 for a non-Derby fixture.
‘People are willing to get up at three in the morning to watch the Premier League but they’re not willing to drive ten minutes to watch their local team and have a singsong. There’s not many codes in this country where you can have a chant with your mates, have a few beers, and have a great time’, said Grant.
If Wrexham presents a different appeal to the masses, will the Australian Professional Leagues be able to manufacture a different result off the back of their visit? Few would have much faith they’re in shape to unlock the answer and funnel Wrexham-mania into a boon for the A-Leagues.
‘It [will] probably be the same as all the other ones’, The Sydney Morning Herald’s Vince Rugari told Box2Box.
‘The old APL regime – those that drove the KeepUp initiative, etc – we can be critical of what they did, but one thing I liked is they used to agree to these friendlies on the basis they’d get their hands on the ticketing data, to be able to directly market the A-League to them.
‘I think it’s the only way to get something substantial out of these games, for the domestic game. I don’t know if that’s been happening for the last year or so, since the significant turnover at APL. I hope so, because unless you get something like that out of that, there’s not really a direct legacy that comes out of these games other than that a rising tide lifts all boats; if it’s good for football, maybe a tiny bit will trickle down to the A-League.
‘The key for me is harnessing that info so you know that these are the people buying tickets for these things, so why aren’t you coming to the A-League, what can we do? You need that stuff to actually win them over.’
The A-Leagues’ glory days are long gone, finances tight, administration chaotic and largely mute in public relations. Only die-hards have remained to watch the green shoots grow post-Covid-19, primarily the league’s shift towards pride in export, integrating its young talent firmly into the global transfer market.
When the league returns in October what remains tangible from Wrexham’s visit, or how many will have walked the unlikely path from initially watching Disney+ to later buying a local club membership, is unlikely to be the point. Perhaps the hope that Wrexham themselves embody will be the legacy: if a working-class club founded in 1864 that’s spent much of it’s recent history plumbing the depths of non-league football, can be revived to this degree of life, dreaming of the Premier League, than perhaps sunnier times for the A-League might not seem so unrealistic.