The incredible story behind the rise of AFC Wimbledon as a fan-owned football club is such a great tale that it was only a matter of time before someone wrote a play about it.
In June 2023, as part of a 3-day celebration to mark the return of AFC Wimbledon to its historic home of Plough Lane, Wimbledon in Sporting History (WiSH) put on a production of that play, “A Fans Club – Birth of a Phoenix”, in the new stadium itself.
Matthew Couper, the Dons fan who wrote the play originally in 2004, just a couple of years after the events it portrays, updated the play slightly for the new production at the Dons’ Cherry Red Records stadium.
WiSH raised the money to stage the production through a crowdfunder campaign which saw fans chip in a total of more than £2,000.
In the video below the play’s director, Mark Stevenson, explains how the drama tells the AFC Wimbledon story through the eyes of the fans who struggled and sacrificed to help create the new club, and discusses the way it was staged in the stadium.
