Thanks to the influence of two Hollywood stars, the idea of a small football club in Wrexham having a committed fanbase outside of north Wales doesn't seem overly far-fetched anymore.
But long before Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney had even heard of The Robins, a group of friends from Exeter University were already flying the flag for their neighbours, despite living more than 200 miles away. Alex Morrison and his friends started supporting Cefn Druids in 2002 after one of their results popped up on TV and ever since have made an annual pilgrimage to North Wales to cheer on the team, with some even travelling from as far as New Zealand to be there.
At the weekend, 20 years after their first visit to Cefn Mawr, they returned to watch their team beat Penrhyncoch 4-1 in the Cymru North League. With the coronavirus pandemic disrupting their tradition over the last two seasons, this year's visit was an opportunity to relive some of the fantastic memories they have of supporting the club, from dramatically escaping relegation to "once in a lifetime" European away days.
Read more: Rob McElhenney tears up in Welsh pub as Wrexham fans sing his name
Founded in 1872, the Druids are one of Wales' oldest football clubs and enjoyed a long stint in the Welsh Premier League before being relegated to the second tier last season. However, back in 2002, Alex and his friends in halls didn't have a clue that the team even existed, until their unique name caught the freshers' eyes during an episode of Final Score and the unlikely love affair began.
"We didn’t know anything at all about the club back then," said Alex. "To be quite honest, it just stood out to us as it had a funny name, Flexsys Cefn Druids, as back then they were sponsored by a company called Flexsys. We were just drawn to this crazy name and none of us are Welsh, so we thought that while we weren’t going to change the teams we already supported, we could all support a new Welsh team.
"When we saw that they had lost 6-0, that just sealed it for us. We thought, yep, that’s our team."
From there, the group wrote a letter to the club, asking if they could be their "Exeter fan club". While they weren't really expecting to get a reply, the club called their bluff and sent them a box of shirts, scarves and hats, while also extending an open invitation for the friends to come to North Wales and watch a match - just as long as they didn't bring more than 2,000 people.
"We thought, well, they've gone to all this effort, we've got to make this thing happen now," he said. "So we got out an A-Z and immediately realised that we'd picked somewhere that’s more or less as far away from Exeter as it’s possible to be in Wales. I think some of us thought we should have probably picked someone like Cardiff Met instead, but we stuck by our decision and planned our first trip to Cefn Mawr."
While they had been impressed by the club's response, the group still had no idea what to expect as they made the long drive up to North Wales. However, they would be pleasantly surprised by what they found. While the stadium wasn't much to look at, nor the game much to write home about, they were wowed by the hospitality that they received in person.
"To get to the ground you had to go down this tiny little lane that took you behind some garages, so when we turned up we were thinking, is this the wrong place?," Alex added. "But we found this small, tumble-down stadium and went into the clubhouse and were given a really warm welcome.
"Ours is quite a weird story and they could easily be forgiven for thinking, who are these lot who only turn up once a year and don’t know anything about the club. But everyone was really friendly and they already had a load of beers poured and a table of sandwiches out for us too, so we were up and running straight away."
The club and its hometown supporters had made their mark on the group and they knew they would have to come back again before too long. But with a weekly commute looking unlikely, they decided to start a new tradition which would see them return to Cefn Mawr once a season to watch a game.
The 'Druids 'Til I Die' competition was born, with each member of the group required to attend a game together each season or be knocked out. Alex admits that there are only two of the original 15 who have kept up the 100 per cent record, but they have continued to turn out in force most years - with some travelling across the world in order to make the yearly fixture.
"We had 15 in the first year, and the most we've ever had is about 25," he added. "I had my stag do on the Druid’s trip so a lot of people came that year. There's two of us left in the competition now, but people who have been knocked out obviously still come back most years.
"There's a fair bit of travel involved. We've had friends come over from America, one guy came from New Zealand, but we’re all dotted around the UK as well now, so a lot of us are also making the trip from London and the south east, while I'm coming from Exeter."
Their annual presence at the club's stadium, The Rock, has been welcomed by the home crowds, who Alex says are one of the main reasons the group have returned to North Wales year on year. Their attendance has also proved somewhat of a lucky charm, with the Druids winning more than half of the games they have gone to see, despite sometimes being in relegation form.
"When we’ve gone there’s generally been crowds of around 100," said Alex. "So we’ve made up quite a big proportion of that crowd and made a lot of noise, having been drinking beer in the bar two hours before kick-off. We always try to make up new songs for the Druids players and doing stupid stuff like that. We definitely add quite a bit of atmosphere when we’re there."
He added: "I think their record when we’ve been there is 10 or 12 wins from 18 games, which is pretty good really. Maybe we’ve just been quite lucky but I like to think we helped them along."
As is the territory with supporting any team, there have been some major highs and lows for the group along the way. Luckily they were spared seeing the Druids relegated last season due to coronavirus restrictions, but were there to watch them avoid the same fate a few years earlier, with the wild scenes at full time living long in the memory.
"There have been a couple of amazing moments," said Alex. "There was one game against Port Talbot which we needed to win to avoid relegation. The manager came and chatted to us before the game, and it was really serious for the club and him as obviously they would lose a lot of funding and stuff if they went down, and they wouldn’t have enough to keep him on as a full-time manager.
"He said he’d been sick that morning because he was so nervous about the game. But the Druids won it, and after the game, he dived into the crowd and gave us all a massive hug. Being part of what turned out to be a massive day for the club was really special, I don't think we'll ever forget it."
Then there was the smaller matter of the Druids qualifying for the preliminary round of the Europa League in 2018, which saw the team travel to Lithuania to take on FK Trakai. Naturally, Alex and Co were there with them. While the Welsh side were cruelly knocked out on aggregate, it marked another chapter in the remarkable story of the 'Druids Til' I Die' gang.
"Maybe they will get there again," Alex said. "But at the time it definitely seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime deal. It was quite far from the glamour of the Champions League, to be honest, there was a burned-out car in the car park - but it was still great fun."
Saturday's game saw 10 of the group make the journey to watch their first game since 2018. While the last two seasons' trips have been cancelled due to the pandemic, the last time they went to Cefn Mawr, the game was snowed off - and not for the first time.
The 4-1 victory over Penrhyncoch was special for a number of reasons Not only did it move the Druids into fifth place in the Cymru North, it also marked 20 years of the group's support, and an opportunity to reflect on how this tiny club had helped them to maintain their friendships with each other despite the demands of adult life.
"I hope we would have stayed in touch anyway, but it’s definitely a really strong, unique thing that binds us together," said Alex. "I think we’d still all be friends but it’s easy to lose touch and you can have good friends that you don’t see for five or six years, but we get to see each other every year at least.
"It always sparks other things and we arrange other stuff off the back of it. It just gets us talking and helps to keep those friendships strong."
And despite everything that has happened a few miles away at The Racecourse Ground, Alex and his mates have never once been tempted to switch allegiance to Wrexham.
"I love seeing what’s happening to Wrexham, I know it’s a really important community club and it’s great to see them recognised in the way that they have been," he added. "But I think it's also everything that we weren’t about right from the beginning.
"Our support of the club was always about local football, local lads playing for their hometown team so we’re just happy with that. We don’t need Hollywood stars, we just need the Druids."
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