Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham walk away as winners, on and off the ...
The Whitecaps' second-largest crowd of the season turns out for an exhibition game against Wrexham AFC
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Published Jul 27, 2024 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 6 minute read
You knew, or at least I did, that The Man himself was in the house. You could feel it. The energy.
That, and the vest-wearing, gun-toting police escort that quickly led Ryan Reynolds from the locked-off media elevator directly into his guest suite at B.C. Place.
‘Welcome to Wrexham’ had been welcomed to Vancouver.
The fans, too, sensed his presence before the exhibition game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and documentary darlings Wrexham AFC, swarming up the stands like reverse lemmings, clamouring for selfies and autographs from below the suite before security descended and cleared the section.
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Reynolds clearly looked tired from the busy press junket that had him criss-crossing the continent as he promoted his latest Deadpool movie, but he would have had to have been dead to miss his team’s return to his hometown and obligingly took cellphones for selfie pics. He stuck around long after the final whistle and the rest of the stadium had emptied out for pictures with fans.
Reynolds was heartily cheered by the massive 34,738-strong crowd when he was flashed on the Jumbotron, and B.C. Place announcer Don Andrews cheekily announced “his friend” Rob McElhenney was also in attendance, and the Wrexham co-owner also got his share of love from the crowd, as did Alphonso Davies.
“I’m so pleased they were here,” said Wrexham coach Phil Parkinson, adding Reynolds visited the locker-room before the game.
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“Rob’s been with us on tour, and obviously Ryan’s been incredibly busy with his movie and the PR for that, but if they say they’re going to be somewhere, they’re there.
“(Reynolds) has done a lot of travelling in the last few weeks, you could see that. But I think it was enormous credit to him to make sure he was here today. Hopefully you’ll come out for a beer with us tonight if we can get in the nightclub. I’m not sure if they’ll let him in.”
From a game standpoint, Saturday’s match was entertaining. There was no truly comparing levels of play between Major League Soccer and England’s League One, with both sides missing key players to injury — Ryan Gauld for Vancouver, the famed Paul Mullin for Wrexham — and Vancouver scattered some youth call-ups and depth players in their starting lineup.
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Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson made liberal substitutions at halftime, deploying as many players as he could as they prepared for the regular season in their penultimate pre-season game. The Whitecaps played the second half with the six players they’d called up for the game, and five more players who don’t get much playing time.
The 4-1 final score did nothing to flatter the visiting side — that would be Vancouver, technically — but Whitecaps coach Vanni Sartini said it was unfair for observers to use it as representative of MLS.
“It’s OK. If you just look at the score, say ‘Oh Wrexham beat Vancouver Whitecaps 4-1. MLS is like, I don’t know, the Southern Yorkshire Conference League.’ And it’s not true,” he said. “In minute 60, it was 1-1, and we probably had more chances than them. Then it happens, the classic thing that sometimes happens in pre-season. They put in all the experienced players, we put all the young players and then there’s a little bit of mismatch. In the end, it is what it is.
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“Maybe we can invite Wrexham to the League Cup next year. So you see with the real game if they can go through or not.”
Vancouver Whitecaps’ Ralph Priso is upended by Wrexham’s Sam Dalby during international friendly soccer match in Vancouver July 27, 2024. Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESSSartini did his best to get his spot in the next season of Welcome to Wrexham. He was irate after a throw-in he thought was Vancouver ball went to the Red Dragons, and they scored off the ensuring play. He threw his water bottle at his feet and it caromed onto the playing surface for an automatic red card.
He was also in prime quote machine mode post-game, quipping about the turf. When asked how it looked and smelled, he said: “Visually, it was really good. … How did it smell? It smells better, some other kinds of grass … from some shops in Vancouver. That’s much better. This one, it was OK.”
The game wasn’t about the result, but the show. Documentary cameras scoured the concourse and stands, taking B-roll footage for the next season of the documentary. There were far more red jerseys in the stands than Vancouver colours, and the usual drone of drums and chanting from the Southsiders was absent, with the supporters’ section given over to general sales. There was but a single “You fat bastard” off a goal kick the entire game, a half-hearted effort from a few dedicated Whitecaps fans.
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The lineup for the Wrexham merch on the concourse was longer than the beer lines, and the cheers and chants for the Welsh side were frequent, including a “We want Ollie” chant before fan favourite striker Ollie Palmer checked in with 20 minutes left in the game.
“What another really good workout for us. Fantastic atmosphere, great stadium. The lads have revelled in it today,” said Parkinson. “It was fantastic. Driving to the stadium and being around the city this morning, there was loads of red and white. It was just amazing to see. We got an incredible reception when we arrived at the stadium, and it meant a lot. It really did. I said to the lads it’s really important that we put in a display, to show all the people who have paid hard-earned cash today, what we’re all about as a team.
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“We’ve come into the U.S. and now Canada, there’s been a lot of exposure about the club, but it’s important that the most important thing is on the football pitch that we show what we’re all about. The documentary is great and it’s what a great profile for the club, but equally we’re all about that 90 minutes when it matters most.”
The Red Dragons circled the pitch after the game to acknowledge the fans who came to watch, while the Whitecaps meandered piecemeal into the locker-room. A few stuck around for jersey swaps, like Bovalina, Levonte Johnson and Liam Mackenzie, but most departed for the sanctity of the locker-room.
“The documentary, the fans, I think it’s good for the city, good for the people around here,” said Bovalina, whose 50th minute bar-down golazo needs to also be in next season’s show.
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“From Wrexham coming in here, bringing out some different supporters, new supporters, they’ve got their own fans and maybe travelling with them but the atmosphere tonight was very nice. The documentary, atmosphere, the fans — even the pitch — it was something different than myself. That was a good experience. It was a really, really nice night, besides the result.”
It will be a well-rested Whitecaps team that flies to Los Angeles to take on LAFC in the first group stage game of the Leagues Cup game on Tuesday, while Wrexham has one more friendly versus Fleetwood on next Saturday before their regular season begins the following weekend.
Having so many visiting fans in attendance wasn’t lost on Sartini.
“This tells you the power of storytelling,” he said. “Wrexham tells a story with the documentary … how people get behind something, even if they’re so far apart (geographically), even maybe they’re not soccer fans or whatever.
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“As a team, we put our story, our identity out every time and that (should be) a reminder to us … we are not certain kinds of clubs. We are kind of a working club that doesn’t pay a player $100 million to come here. … We need to stick to the story and to be proud to do it. Because that’s what I think in the long run brings fans — like it did with Wrexham.”
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