Source:
Leah Oatway, Wales on Sunday
CHEEKY Welsh football fans will go Caribbean crazy this summer via the totally tropical hot-spot of... Wrexham!
After Wales failed to qualify for the World Cup, a barmy army of supporters will be backing Trinidad and Tobago, solving the age-old dilemma of whether or not to cheer on old rivals England.
But this is no petty dig at Sven's men, who are in the same qualifying group in the tournament which kicks off on June 9.
The fans are behind T&T because defender Dennis Lawrence is the only player out of the 32 teams in the World Cup to play for a Welsh side - that's Wrexham FC!
Now, they're urging you to join them as the club skipper - nicknamed Shaft by Dragons fans - takes on Sweden in the nation's first game of the finals on June 10.
And to make their point, they've even designed special T-shirts starring Soca Warrior Big Den, Wrexham's first ever World Cup player.
It's thanks to the 31-year-old scoring a play-off goal against Bahrain that the Caribbean side - the smallest in the competition with just a 1.3 million population - booked a place in their first ever final. But with games against qualifying group favourite England on June 15 and Paraguay five days later, bookies have given T&T captain Dwight Yorke a 1,000-1 chance of lifting the Jules Rimet trophy.
But one man whose enthusiasm can't be extinguished is Wrexham fan Simon Johnson.
As the England boss prepares to name his squad tomorrow, the Wrexham Supporters' Trust member said: "Dennis is a big hero at the club and there are also two other former Wrexham players in the T&T side - Carlos Edwards and Hector Sam. To see these guys become the first Wrexham players to ever compete at the World Cup is amazing.
"The Dennis T-shirts have been selling like hot cakes here. And on the day of the first game we're erecting a giant screen at the club and launching our own beer in honour of Wrexham legends - one's called Benno after Gary Bennett, and the other Tommy, after Tommy Banford - to raise money here. It should be a great atmosphere.
"It would have been great for Wales to be in the finals but this is the next best thing. And they're up against some fantastic sides so it should be great football."
T-shirt makers are just as keen to get behind T&T. Shannon Hope, of YC Sports in Roath, Cardiff, who designed our model's T-shirt, said: "We'd be more than happy to run them up for any Wales football fans wanting to show their support to Trinidad & Tobago. It's great to see people getting enthusiastic about the World Cup even if Wales didn't manage to qualify this time."
It's gone down well with the man himself too.
Geraint Parry, Wrexham FC secretary, said: "Dennis loves this. He thinks the support he's been getting is fantastic. He's become a part of both communities - Wrexham and Trinidad - and his daughter is even learning Welsh.
"So to see this level of support from the people of Wales, and especially Wrexham, has really touched him.
"When Trinidad played Iceland recently he saw several Welsh flags in the crowd and it really buoyed him up."
