The Common Language

A Global Game

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC

Football is a common language. This has helped to foster a global industry worth millions of dollars. Over 4.5 million people across 204 different countries watch Premier League football every year. No surprise then that British Football Clubs have scrambled to take advantage of the countless commercial opportunities that these facts provide. But there has been an inevitable downside. As the perceived wealth of the game has increased so has, in many people’s eyes, the gulf between football clubs and their local communities.

However, Wolverhampton Wanderers is attempting to buck that trend. Whilst, unashamedly, Wolves’
goal is to be promoted to the game’s elite, the club has put the local community at the heart of its long-term plans - both at home and abroad. So where’s the evidence?

Well, only recently Wolves announced that its award winning Football in the Community department was to apply for charitable status and become the ‘Wolves Community Trust.’ The new Trust will be able to apply for third party funding to rapidly expand its social inclusion, education and health initiatives in the local community. It’s hoped that by 2010 the Wolves Community Trust will double in size and positively impact thousands of local children and young adults every year.

In addition, Wolves donates £150,000 to local charities and community groups every year.

According to the Football League Trust, Wolves now has the largest charity of its type in club football. For more information visit: www.wolves-aid.co.uk.

One of the club’s proudest achievements has been its participation in the Wolverhampton India partnership, a
collaboration of public and private sector bodies in Wolverhampton, formed to improve links with India.

This initiative has led to the formation of a community-led partnership with Indian Premier League side, JCT Football Club. The aim of the deal is to swap ideas and facilitate exchange visits between the two clubs.

For Wolves, the ultimate aim is to build on the fantastic support of Punjabi Wolves, one of its biggest and most active fan groups.

Over 17% of the local Wolverhampton community is from an Indian background and Punjabi Wolves now has over 300 members. It has helped the club to build its Asian supporter base and to communicate better with supporters from ethnic minorities.

However, you don’t have to be Punjabi to be a member of Punjabi Wolves. Wolves’ Chief Executive, Jez Moxey and First Team Assistant manager, Terry Connor are just two of Punjabi Wolves’ higher profile non-Punjabi members!!

Wolves are driven to succeed both on the pitch and in the local community. But it can’t achieve everything on its own. Wolves and Punjabi Wolves continue to prove that two heads are better than one and they are determined to bring more supporters, from all ages and backgrounds, into the football club for the benefit of the local community.

Punjabi Wolves

Affiliations to football teams have changed over the last decade with the advent of wall to wall television coverage and the globalisation of the game where it matters not where you come from.

As a result some of the big Premier League clubs call upon support from all corners of the globe. However for clubs like Wolverhampton Wanderers, who sit outside the top flight of English football, building support in the local community is vital.

What is interesting is that where clubs are primarily reliant on support from local communities few have responded to the changing demographic picture as well as Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The city of Wolverhampton has been ‘home’ to people from the Indian sub-continent since the 1950s and today hosts one of the largest Indian population in the country, however whereas other cities including Leicester struggled to attract significant Indian support the Wolves Indian following turn up in significant numbers. So what is the key to success?

As the author will testify watching Wolves has not always been a racism-free tolerance activity. Being a black or Asian person at a football match in the late 1970s/early 1980s could be very intimidating. Yet we persisted, mainly because supporting Wolves was testimony to our undivided loyalty to the place that had become ‘home’. Whilst Wolverhampton had become ‘home’ our ancestral roots ensured we never forgot where we had come from Punjab.

A membership in excess of 300, Website, sponsorship of first team players, commendations from senior figures in the government, charitable endeavours

There was never any question of divided loyalties we were proud to be both Punjabi and from Wolverhampton, this led to the coining of the name: Punjabi Wolves. (two years ago PW raised £29k in a single night for a local charity supporting children with terminal illness) and a lead role in developing the first strategic partnership between an English club and a team from India’s professional football league Punjabi Wolves can be very proud of their achievements.

JCT Mills Chairman – Samir Thapar said his club had received a number of approaches to form partnerships from all over Europe but none had come with the backing of such a prominent
Punjabi influence.

Punjabi Wolves were also influential in the decision made by Wolverhampton Wanderers to permit Kirpan wearing Sikhs to watch live professional football. Another first!

All of this would not be possible without the contribution of people who are committed and passionate about Wolverhampton Wanderers and their ‘seva’ (service) to their community, city and football club.

For more information please visit www.punjabiwolves.co.uk