Ryan Reynolds has made his thoughts clear on the World Cup problem that a BBC host slammed. The Wrexham co-owner was in attendance for Canada's World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Reynolds at the World Cup
Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds watched Canada at the World Cup. The Deadpool star is accustomed to attracting attention at football matches as a co-owner of Wrexham. The 49-year-old travelled to Toronto for Canada's opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, while fellow actor Mike Myers was also spotted in the stands.
Reynolds was delighted after Cyle Larin's equaliser sealed his country's first-ever point at a World Cup. Posting on social media, he wrote: "I was not gonna miss this match. Planes, trains, automobiles to get here but completely worth it. Toronto showed up. Canada showed up. One of the greatest atmospheres the sport has seen. So proud of @teamcanada @fifaworldcup @canadasoccer."
Reynolds on Spotlight
Reynolds teamed up with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Rob Mac to purchase Wrexham in November 2020. The famous duo have since helped the club garner worldwide support through the Welcome to Wrexham docuseries, charting their rise from the National League to the Championship, but Reynolds previously made it clear that he did not want to steal the spotlight from the team.
"If you're just reading the headlines, you probably think, 'Oh, this show is going to be funny,'" Reynolds told Variety in 2023. "It's gonna be a fish-out-of-water story about two schmucky showbiz morons going in, falling on their a****, learning as they go. But the show literally does not centre us. It centres the town."
The fifth season of Welcome to Wrexham is currently being released and the show was recently renewed until 2029. Despite the co-owners' star appeal, the programme has also focused on the stories of players, fans and club staff.
"That's always the wonderful thing about doing a docuseries, is that your job is just to listen," Reynolds said to Variety. "You can either jam something into your pre-existing vision or you can listen and allow it to become what it's meant to become. Thankfully we did the latter. Ultimately, we got very lucky because even if you're not rooting for Rob or Ryan, it's pretty hard not to root for this town."
BBC Host's Criticism
The actor's previous comments show that he would not want to divert cameras from focusing on Canada's efforts during live broadcasts. Tom Cruise, Jay-Z and Tom Brady are other famous faces who have been spotted at World Cup games. Neither the BBC nor ITV is responsible for the pictures provided, which are supplied by the host broadcaster. BBC Sport presenter Mark Chapman recently slammed the focus on celebrity fans at matches.
"Although, am I being a bit grumpy here when I say I'm fed up of cutaways to famous people in the crowd?" Chapman asked on The Sports Agent podcast. "I mean, listen, we do it in this country as well, and it winds me up."
Chapman continued: "But now it's like [David] Beckham and [Tom] Cruise… Rod Stewart 27 times the other night at Foxborough!" He added: "Occasionally on some live games that I've done, when you do the build-up, and occasionally they've then cut someone up in the crowd, and I've looked out and I've thought, 'I've absolutely no idea who [that is].' And then they'll tell me in my ear who it is, and I'm thinking, 'I still have absolutely no idea who that is!'"
