Welcome to Halifax: Wrexham AFC to play U21 series against Wanderers

Wrexham AFC will face the Halifax Wanderers in a friendly match this weekend.

Thousands of people will pack into the Wanderers Grounds Saturday to welcome Wrexham AFC. The under-21 players were training in Halifax Friday. They travelled to the Maritimes as part of the Halifax Wanderers International Summer Series.

“We’re really excited to be here,” said Nick Chadwick with Wrexham Football Club.

Chadwick is the lead player development program coach for the young club.

“We’re very proactive in offering different types of experiences to the young players and enhancing their development as young lads,” he said.

This team features emerging talent from the Welsh football club that has grown into a global sports brand under co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

“We feel like we’ve got a good group. We’ve got a group who’ve been part of the ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ series, so we’ve got one or two young lads that hopefully one or two people might recognize, and it’s a great opportunity for them to showcase their profiles and what they’re all about,” said Chadwick.

One of those recognizable players is 18-year-old Tom Kelly.

“I think an opportunity like this doesn’t come around too often to be able to come to Canada on a pre-season tour, and I think it’s just lots of good experience,” said Kelly.

Learning experience

This is the third time the Wanderers have hosted the International Summer Series, which pits one of the club’s development teams against professional sides from overseas.

“Whenever we go to these events, and it’s the chance to play in front of like 7,000 fans at the Wanderers Grounds, it’s an amazing experience for young players, not just for our players, but even for these players that come from different clubs to see this as well,” said Wanderers sporting director Matt Fegan.

“It’s a learning experience at the end of the day.”

While this is part of Wrexham’s pre-season, this trip is about a lot more.

“We want to be able to show them and identify some key areas and what they’ll need in their development towards becoming fully fledged professional players, and then obviously, enjoying the experience and enjoying gaining new networks out here in Canada, opening up exit strategies eventually if the lads may need it, if they’re not successful in terms of becoming professionals back home, they may have the opportunity to come out and play out here,” said Chadwick.

“There’s a whole range of objectives for us in terms of the short term, medium term and obviously the long term goals.”

Showcasing the Maritimes

Like many of the players, it’s Kelly’s first time in Canada.

“It’s a good experience for me and the lads to be able to do that. I think we’re all very excited to be able to play in such a nice stadium and a large number of fans, and we’re ready to bring our A game,” he said.

Kick-off for the sold-out game in Halifax is at 3 p.m. Saturday. The International Summer Series will then head to Charlottetown for a match Wednesday, July 9 and it will wrap up in Saint John Saturday, July 12.

“Every time we’ve gone to all the different markets across the region, it’s been a great chance for the Wanderers to interact with different communities and obviously show some international clubs what a great place this is to live and to play soccer,” said Fegan.

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