AFC Bournemouth and Wrexham AFC Battle to 1-1 Draw Before Sold-Out Crowd at Harder Stadium

A much anticipated contest between British Soccer Clubs Wrexham AFC and AFC Bournemouth electrified Santa Barbara soccer fans who packed into a sold out Harder Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The 13,322 in attendance were treated to world class soccer as Bournemouth of the Premier League and up-and-coming Wrexham of League One battled to a 1-1 draw.

“That is a Premiership team we played tonight that had a great season last season,” said Wrexham coach Phil Parkinson. “I thought we went toe-to-toe with them until probably 15 minutes into the second half, and they made five changes, and you could see that little bit of lift in energy. Then we made our changes, and we got a hold of the game again.”

Among those in attendance was Michael B. Jordan, who is a minority owner of Bournemouth as a part of the Bill Foley–led ownership group that purchased the club in 2022. Bournemouth debuted one of its two special edition kits that were designed in part by Jordan for its “Bourne in the U.S.A.” preseason tour of California. 

In addition, Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney was in attendance and seemed to relish interacting with fans.  McElhenney is perhaps best known for his role in the sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Wrexham scored the first goal of the match off a corner kick that bounced off of Bournemouth defender James Hill for an own goal. Wrexham’s James McClean delivered a nice ball into the box that set the stage for the goal.

Bournemouth evened the score in the 53rd minute after a bicycle kick by Philip Billing was headed into goal by Marcos Sensei.

Wrexham subbed in an entirely new lineup in the 65th minute, and the two teams went back and forth until the final whistle, much to the delight of the crowd.

“It was a good atmosphere and it was nice to be part of it,” said Bournemouth coach Andoni Iraola. “In our case a lot of fans came a long way to be here.”

Bournemouth will continue its California tour against Arsenal at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson on Wednesday, July 24. Wrexham will also play on July 24 against Chelsea at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.