We caught up with our official supporters’ group from across the pond Owls Americas to discuss their first National Meet-up in which they will unite Wednesdayites Stateside to watch our game against Derby County next month.
Paddy Jones is the Owls Americas founder based in New York City.
Paddy, tell us about the national meet-up in February?
Our first ever National Meet-up will happen in New Orleans, 29 February 2020. We want fans to come from anywhere in the world and join us to watch the Derby County match live on iFollow at the New Orleans supporters’ group home bar, Finn McCool’s, and then spend the day with us partying in the "Big Easy". It's a celebration of the worldwide Wednesday family and the many fans that make up Owls Americas.
How much do you enjoy organising a meet-up like this? It must take a lot of planning?
It can be stressful because you never really know if anyone will turn up! It's a big ask of people and they've got to trust that it'll be worth their hard-earned money. But I've got the best help in Jamie in New Orleans who knows the city like the back of his hand and already got some really fun things planned. It would be awesome if we can get people connected with the club to come too, we've reached out to a few of our American based ex-players and coaches, so we'll just have to wait and see!
How much has Owls Americas grown since we last caught up?
It's been really great hearing stories from all over the continent about new and old Wednesday fans. We try to feature as many as possible on our podcast because some supporters have some weird and interesting reasons for being a Wednesday fan. We've now had meet-ups in Toronto, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco and Charleston as well as our regular groups in Portland, New Orleans, Florida and New York.
Our newest group is in a tiny town in North Manchester, Indiana, an American fan bought a bar called Main View Inn and is showing all the Wednesday games for whoever is around. Amazingly, a guy turned up out of nowhere for their very first meetup! We really are everywhere!
The four-camera iFollow footage and commentary must have really improved the viewing experience for the group?
iFollow is now as good as watching a TV broadcast, it's almost indistinguishable. They've ironed out all the previous issues with feeds and we haven’t had any streaming issues at all this season. It's a fantastic service that every Wednesday fan abroad should subscribe to.
Where can people find out about the National Meet-up and your Supporter Groups across the Americas?
You can register for the National Meet-up now at owlsamericas.com and see where all our groups and city reps are based.
Also, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @owlsamericas. Search on Facebook for Owls Americas – that’s where we add all our weekly meet-ups. Our podcast "Owls Americast" is available on all the main podcast applications in Apple and android stores.