Hate Thy Neighbour Part 3: Crossing the Borderline

Rivalries in British football are often forged within close proximity and for local bragging rights. There are differences but in most cases the opposing clubs have some sort of shared identity, Manchester United and Manchester City are both proud to be Mancunian and the cultural history that comes with it, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday share pride in the Steel City's industrial heritage.

Wrexham and Chester do share a short distance of just 12 miles from each other, but there is no comradery in identity. The Welsh and English divide has allowed them to forge a unique derby which has led to regrettable incidents, controversial police presence, but a promising future.

Wales vs England: Class and Country

Of course the stand out feature of the derby is the difference in nationality, with both clubs and supporters incredibly proud of their Welsh and English identities respectively. At Wrexham's Racecourse Ground, the world's oldest international football stadium, St David's flags are a common sight as are St George's flags at Chester's Deva Stadium.

Paul Wheelock of the Liverpool Echo, who used to cover both sides of the Cross Border derby, said:

"Nationality is what makes it unique. It's interesting because half of the Chester ground is in Wales! It goes under the radar how much hatred there is."

Wrexham is a working class town in North Wales, with a strong history in mining and steam engine production during the industrial revolution. Like much of industrial Britain, the town struggled during the back half of the 20th century and saw little investment.

On the other hand, Chester is regarded as a much more affluent area. The city has a rich history with it being a prominent location during the Anglo-Saxon inhabitance of England and it's strong historical relationship with English royalty.

This is as much of a dividing factor between supporters as nationality, as Wrexham fan Kevin Taylor said:

"It's all about pride. Wrexham is a very working class place whereas Chester are more posh and affluent. We're proud of being working class."

Wheelock told me in our interview that often Chester "look down on Wrexham" and John Richardson, football writer for the Mirror and Chester supporter gave some legitmacy to this, he said:

"There's a lot of envy from Wrexham in calling us posh. My daughter said she was going out in Wrexham and I said 'what would you want to go there for?' It's all very unfair but it's how it is."

The perception could be starting to even out though as fan and former Chester media team member Alex Bullions said:

"Now it's thrown back because Wrexham have a Tory MP and Chester have a Labour MP, so has it switched?"

Non-League: Rebuilds and Bubbles

In 2008 Wrexham were relegated from League Two into the Conference and were joined by arch rivals Chester City a year later. The two have not played league football since.

The Blues were hit the hardest. Just nine months after their relegation, Chester City were no more. The club fell into administration during the ownership of Stephen Vaughan, who throughout the process was disqualified from acting as a director of any company for 11 years following a £500,000 VAT fraud scandal. This led to Vaughan becoming the first owner to fail the FA's fit and proper person's test. Chester City were wound up in March 2010.

Out of the ruins came Chester FC, a fan owned club after the supporters voluntarily decided to start fresh amongst the turmoil of City's demise, a decision Bullions is proud of:

"We had to raise a lot of money in a short span of time, but we refused to do it because it would've gone back into the hands of the owner that was killing us and we'd have gone out of business regardless. If anything we looked out for the long term future of football in the city."

Bullions also mentioned that despite the hardship, there was little sympathy from their rivals, as Reds fan Taylor admitted:

"Whenever we've played since the chants of you let your club die or you're not City anymore come out."

In those games that have been played since, supporters feel some edge has been taken away due to the games being categorised as 'bubble' matches. This meant a heavy police presence at the derbies and away supporters having to travel by coaches or police escort only.

The most regrettable incident in recent years came at the Deva Stadium in September 2014.

During a minute's silence to mark 80 years since the Gresford Mining disaster, a handful of Chester fans interrupted the silence with chants mocking the recent death of a young Wrexham fan, Scott Torrens.

Scott, 21, had passed away due to a seizure in 2013. The chants caused extreme shock and upset and the individuals responsible were condemned strongly by both sides.

Chester banned the offenders and that's a decision backed by supporters, with Bullions saying he hopes "they never come to another game again".

In late 2020 and early 2021 the future of Wrexham AFC and potentially the rivalry itself recieved a huge shot in the arm as Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney (stars of Deadpool and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia respectively) announced their purchase of the Welsh outfit.

Subsequently a documentary series titled Welcome to Wrexham was announced and this near 15 year non-league club started to feel very big. The club signed a shirt sponsorship with global social media giant TikTok in the summer of 2021 and the ambition kept evolving with the appointment of former Bradford, Bolton and Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson.

21-year-old Wrexham fan Connor, who had a zoom background of the two new owners photoshopped next to Kylian Mbappe holding a Wrexham shirt, sees it as a long term but exciting plan:

"The takeover is the first step in properly rebuilding. Rome wasn't built in a day, but neither was Wrexham."

This isn't a case of owners coming from afar with little knowledge as the choice to takeover Wrexham was supposedly made due to it's working class and mining history, with McElhenney's grandfather having been a miner.

They also didn't shy away from the rivalry, as the phrase "Always beat Chester" was used three times in their official mission statement. This caused some laughs and also some rustled feathers, Connor said:

"We found it funny. Just a cheeky little pot shot at them. Beating Chester has always been the main thing, so for them to put that in shows they understand the club."

On the blue side of things, there's perhaps a bit of fear about the new investment as Richardson said:

"It does feel like they're gonna leave Chester behind."

However, Bullions doesn't feel the clubs are too far away form each other:

"We just have to do us. The fact they've mentioned us that many times shows we are going to play each other again."

Supporters and owners of both clubs understand how big the derby is, but may be reluctant to see similarities past that especially given the differing financial situation now. Neutral Wheelock seems to see a lot more in common between them:

"They have a weird kinship with similarities but nobody wants to admit it. They've both had terrible owners but the biggest similarity is they both feel like football league clubs.

"They exist for each other."