The Wrexham co-chairman, Rob McElhenney, was left bemused after the team’s National League match at Aldershot Town was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch.
With Wrexham leading 2-0, the game at the EBB Stadium was suspended in the second half, with visiting players trying to clear the water from the pitch themselves. Their efforts were in vain, with the referee calling the game off in the 52nd minute – leading the US actor McElhenney to protest vociferously on Twitter.
“I’m watching our PLAYERS MOP THE FIELD to continue the game,” the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star wrote of the rainy scenes in Hampshire. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Official statement from the co-chairman: ‘We need to get out of this fucking league.’”
McElhenney, who co-owns the Welsh non-league side with his fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, followed up with a more contrite tweet soon after. “I’ve been assured that the groundskeepers of Aldershot did everything they could to keep the game on,” he wrote. “Yes, it’s frustrating. But a lot of those people are volunteers who work really hard in brutal conditions.”
I’m watching our PLAYERS MOP THE FIELD to continue the game. I’ve never seen anything like it. Official statement from the Co-chairman: “We need to get out of this fucking league.” @Wrexham_AFC pic.twitter.com/c0R6PADYKu
— Rob McElhenney (@RMcElhenney) October 2, 2021
The Wrexham manager, Phil Parkinson, also expressed disappointment that the game could not be completed. “Can’t do anything about the conditions, but I would have liked to have seen more effort at half-time by the ground staff at Aldershot to clear the water off the pitch,” Parkinson told BBC Radio Wales.
“They were 2-0 down, there was not going to be a great deal of effort to get it on even when the ref gave it another 10 minutes, we were searching for the ground staff but they were nowhere to be seen,” he added. “It was a magnificent first-half performance by us.”
The Aldershot manager, Mark Molesley, backed referee Sunny Gill over his decision to call the game off. “It was never in question it was going to get called off,” he said afterwards. “It was completely unplayable.”
The abandonment leaves Wrexham 11th in the National League table, with a new date and time for the rearranged fixture yet to be confirmed.
McElhenney and Reynolds completed their takeover of Wrexham in February of this year, with the aim of returning the club to the Football League. A documentary about the owners’ first season in charge, titled Welcome to Wrexham, is currently in the works and the team have also been included in the Fifa 22 video game.