In 2002, Wimbledon lost their football team when it was moved to Milton Keynes in one of the most disgraceful decisions in the history of English soccer.
Supporters of the club that had been Wimbledon F.C. responded by starting a new team, AFC Wimbledon. The team was (and remains) owned and operated by its fans.
They began in the ninth tier of English football. Just nine years later, they found themselves only a penalty shootout away from returning to the football league as a full-time professional team*.
The supporters you see, the radio announcers you hear—these people started the team from scratch and funded it themselves, and now they had one penalty shootout to be back in the football league.
Even if you don’t enjoy sports at all, you will enjoy these eight minutes. I promise.
* One of the big differences between American sports and European football is promotion and relegation. If the Chicago Cubs finish last in the major leagues, they still get to play in the major leagues next year. But in English soccer, the bottom teams in a league go down to the league below, and the top teams from the lower league go up to the next league. This means that theoretically any time from anywhere in England can form and slowly work its way into the professional football league, although in practice it almost never happens.
This afternoon, AFC Wimbledon won their first game as a team officially sponsored by the hankgames YouTube channel.
After nearly getting relegated last year, they are now in tenth place in League Two.
(Source: http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/)