Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought a Welsh football club, or soccer team if you prefer the American lexicon. It just so happens to be the third oldest professional football club in the world, Wrexham AFC. Why Wrexham? Why Rob and Ryan? Those two questions and many more can be answered, to some degree, in Welcome to Wrexham.
The series Welcome to Wrexham is part business documentary, part travel documentary, part history documentary, and part sports documentary with a throughline of the human condition. It’s a testament to sport. Not just one sport, but all of them because, as I can personally attest, fandom for sports franchises, local or otherwise, is a part of life for many individuals the world over.
The first season, now streaming entirely on HULU has already won accolades and awards, but this isn’t your ordinary critically acclaimed stuffy docuseries. It is full of authentic people and two of the more charismatic people you’ll ever meet behind the camera in Rob and Ryan.
Throughout the course of those 18 episodes, you’ll get to know more about the new owners as well as the players and fans of the club, the community of Wrexham, and the country of Wales.
The presentation is playful and, as you may expect from football fans, the language can be at times colorful.
This isn’t just It’s Always Sunny in Wrexham with your pal Deadpool. This is about learning how important sport can be to culture and society. This is about friendship and how two people can become friends while doing the unlikeliest of things, such as buying a Welsh football club.
And you don’t have to worry about spoilers. I knew how season one ended before I started watching it and it did not change my enjoyment of the series. In case you’re wondering, while I am a fan of soccer, I’m not the biggest fan. Since the ownership was announced, however, Wrexham scores have started appearing on the “bottom line” of scores on such channels as ESPN and Fox Sports.
So yeah, this little club working it’s way up the promotional ladder is getting a little more attention than those teams it plays on the pitch, but of course that’s what happens when Hollywood comes to town.
I have to say that while this was fairly close to what I expected as a fan of sports and sports documentaries, it appears to be something that can bridge the gap to those out there who aren’t fans of either. This is something that crosses over the divide into general entertainment, and it’s worth checking out for anyone interested.