Women’s soccer is at an all-time high, so Welcome to Wrexham’s second season is here to seize that momentum by putting the female Red Dragons in the spotlight of FX’s football docuseries. And If Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney can accomplish a fraction of what they have done for Wrexham AFC, then women’s football is surely in for a nice marketing boost.
Whether it’s the United States women's national soccer team equal pay disputes, or the lack of coverage their top competitions get compared to the men’s, it’s safe to say women’s football is barely a tiny drop in the bucket of the sport's massive commercial revenue. This is mainly why the Wrexham ladies’ story proves to be so effective as episode 6, “Ballers”, shows life is even tougher on the lower leagues when you are not getting a paycheck.
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As usual, Welcome to Wrexham does a great job at explaining the ins and outs of football to newcomers. So if last week viewers heard about Dorking Wanderers journey from being a team of amateur players to professional athletes, the Wrexham women’s tales bring that premise closer to home.
Part of the beauty of the English League system lies precisely in that any team can rise through the ranks of Sunday league amateurs to see their names on EA Sports FC 24 and -technically- the Premier League, football’s elite club tournament. Hence, why it’s heartwarming for the audience to meet Wrexham players like Rosie Hughes and Lili Jones at this level.
Hughes works as a prison guard at a Wrexham facility, this is the first image the episode treats viewers with as it shows that while these women's dream might be to play and train for football all day long, they are very far from achieving that just yet. Instead, their lives actually resemble the ones of footballers in the sports beginnings more than a century ago, in an age when clubs' rosters were mostly made up of factory workers playing in their spare time.
If women’s football was anywhere close to catching up to the men’s, then Hughes would be a minor superstar, a fifth division hero like Wrexham’s own Paul Mullin; far from the salaries of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé, but still comfortably making a living doing what she loves. Should that be the case? Arguably no, as Wrexham’s women can’t hope to match the men’s crowds in their muddy pitch.
Regardless of that, with Reynolds and McElhenney being the visionaries they are, changing that in the future is also part of the Wrexham project, which is what makes the fight for promotion to semi-professional football all the more captivating. Unlike the men, the Wrexham women's financial advantages over their rivals is not obvious — there are no marquee signings, no plans to move to a better stadium, this is pure heart and guts.
Surely Hughes represents the guts part, but it’s midfielder Lili Jones who brings all the heart as she shares the story of her father, the man that got her into football in the first place, a Wrexham fan of course, and who sadly took his own life not so long ago. It’s here that we are reminded of the advantages of Wrexham being a tiny club, as viewers are almost guaranteed to never miss out on these touching stories throughout the series.
Welcome to Wrexham doesn’t take a full break from the main men’s team, what it does is show how some of the women in football had their lives cross paths with men who are also part of the club’s history. All in all, the entire episode really continues to drive home the notion that the entire city of Wrexham is one big family.
It’s also a reminder that, despite all the hardships, British football does offer a way out for dreamers like Hughes and Jones, who can aspire to become semi-pros, whereas in other parts of the world even proper professionals in women’s football play without getting paid a living wage.
Ultimately, the episode will do a fine job at getting people to empathize with the plight of women’s football. Even if the inclusion of mixed-gender teams in EA Sports FC 24 has proven to be quite controversial among former FIFA players, the life of a Wrexham female player is probably closer to the average football video game enjoyer.
Every Welcome to Wrexham viewer that plays football or soccer casually has probably dreamed of becoming a pro player at some point, however, life often gets in the way. Wrexham women’s team is proof that some people are willing to do anything for that dream, no matter the lack of pay, muddy pitches, dirty uniforms, and tiny of crowds. "Football is life" as Dani Rojas would say.
Welcome to Wrexham
- Release Date
- August 24, 2022
- Network
- FX
- Showrunner
- Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney
- Directors
- Humphrey Ker
Cast
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Rob McElhenney -
WHERE TO WATCH
It's the women's turn this week at Wrexham as the female Red Dragons give viewers a rare look at amateur female football.