Melbourne to Molineux – the love for Wolves is the same

If Nuno Espirito Santo's side are playing then they are watching, even though the time difference usually means they have to stay up very late, or get up extremely early.

The club's appeal is massive, with supporters' groups dotted all around the globe, and the Victorian Wolves are as dedicated as they come.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, they have been going strong for a few years now and boast more than 100 members.

Andy Round is the chairman, after founding the group along with Rob Powell, and said: "Rob and I met through Twitter.

"Given our handles are Melbourne Wolf and Downunder Wolf it was hardly surprising, really.

"This was early in 2017, and as the 2017/18 season started, we both found we were watching games at home via Wolves TV, so we decided it would be more fun to watch games together.

"It was during these games we thought that given how many ex-pats there were here in Melbourne, there must be more Wolves fans out there which we could track down. This is when we created Victorian Wolves Supporters Club.

"We became official members of the club’s Worldwide Wolves Supporters Club programme towards the end of 2018 and grew our numbers pretty quickly. We are now sitting at 115 registered members."

The Victorian Wolves are based out of the Imperial Hotel on Bourke Street in the city, or the 'The Impy' as they affectionately call it.

All Wolves' matches before the coronavirus outbreak were screened there regardless of day and kick-off time – Premier League or Europa League – as well.

"We were having regular international and interstate visitors until the Covid-19 crisis stopped the world," said Round.

"We had over 60 people attend our FA cup semi-final game. The back room of the pub was just like the Hogshead in Wolverhampton on matchdays. Full of gold and black shirts, the favourite songs being belted out at full volume. The mood was buoyant until the 77th minute – I don't need to go on, you know the rest of the story.

"This season has been a little more challenging for us all to get together with the schedule of the games.

"As you know, most Premier League games are being played at ridiculous times on a Sunday, which means very early Monday mornings for us.

"This makes it hard when folks are up at 2am and then have to go to work that morning. Europa League games haven’t been too bad as they have been at a reasonable time on a Friday morning.

"The Impy really love having us as we add a lot of character to the place, singing our heads off and generally having a great time together.

"We enjoy a great relationship with the Melbourne-based Man City supporters' club. Except they weren’t very happy on a couple of occasions this season. The Impy is also home to Liverpool, Spurs and Southampton, whose fans leave a little to be desired. No more to be said, really."

Of course, the Covid-19 crisis has thrown a spanner in the works, but the group are doing their best to find a solution for when the top-flight campaign restarts at West Ham a week on Saturday.

During lockdown, they have been keeping in touch with fortnightly Zoom calls and have even been joined by some former Wolves players along the way, with Mel Eves taking part last weekend.

And the Victorian Wolves hope they can reunite at the The Impy in a few weeks, with restrictions working a bit differently Down Under.

"The restrictions around pubs and clubs are based on people having to have a meal to be in them and as most of the games are at times when there is no meal service, it makes it very difficult for us," said Round.

"We are trying to work something out for the Villa game given it’s a 9.30pm kick off on a Saturday night for us. The biggest challenge is how many they can have in a given area.

"We are very fortunate to have all Premier League games screened on Optus Sport, so watching the games at home isn’t that difficult. We have thought about setting up Zoom meetings before the game starts and then again at half time and full time to chat amongst ourselves and dissect the action.

"It's not ideal, but it’s all about being creative given the limitations we are working with."

Round added: "If we make the final of the Europa League, we will have to see what options are available to us. Even if it means having a BBQ breakfast at my place, we will do anything to get the gang together for it."