'Wrexham' captures a slice of small-town life and passion

Do you like sports? I have always loved sports. I love watching the games and I love the competition. But more than that, I love the way sports pulls people together. You see it often at big events in the wake of tragedy. But you also see it in myriad smaller ways.

That’s the beauty of Welcome to Wrexham, the docuseries that is now in its third season on FX, streaming weekly on Hulu. The series chronicles the Wrexham Football Club, a team in a little city in Wales that just happens to be owned by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

The documentary makes sense. It is a cool story to follow these actors as they invest in the team and the community, hoping to build a winning culture and earn promotion. The first season had its ups-and-downs, but in the second season the team found its footing and, finally, earned a promotion.

Now in a new division, the team continues to thrive and is pushing toward yet another promotion. Each episode features interviews with Ryan and Rob, as well as those who help run the club and the players. We see games and we track the progress of the franchise.

I’m not a big soccer fan—or football as they call it in the United Kingdom. So, I wasn’t sure this series was for me. But after just a few episodes, I became hooked. It wasn’t because of the action on the field so much as the stories the series has to tell.

In addition to tracking the progress of the team, this series is a celebration of the people and the town of Wrexham, itself. The episodes provide history on the town, the franchise, the people, their special celebrations, and even the Welsh language. And through it, we see how this franchise has touched the people that live there in a special way.

That’s the power of sports—to bring people together, to provide an outlet, and to give us something to believe in. More than anything, that’s why I tune in for Wrexham each week.

Welcome to Wrexham airs on FX on Thursday nights and streams the next day on Hulu and Disney+.