Trailer launched for new Wolves documentary on LA Wolves USA triumph

Wolves' internal production house Wolves Studios has teamed up with Footballco and Mundial to tell the story of the club's involvement in bringing 'soccer' to the masses in America with a new documentary titled 1967: When LA Wolves Conquered the USA.

The story focuses on the summer of 1967 and Los Angeles Wolves' United Soccer Association league title, with a team made up of players from the English club.

The documentary's trailer has released today (Friday) to mark the 56th anniversary of the United Soccer Association’s championship final at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Former Wolves goalkeeper Phil Parkes said: “Ronnie Allen was manager at the time. He called a team meeting and we were in the dressing room and he said we'd been offered this tour to Los Angeles for nine weeks and who wants to go? Well, yeah! Thank you! I’d never been out of England, I’d never even been to Wales!

“It was just a completely different world. You live in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, you know? It's a pair of flip flops, free love, flower power. But what more do you want?”

The tournament, which came 10 years before Pele played in America and 30 years before the MLS was created, saw 12 clubs from across the world invited to play stateside.

Involving players from Wolves 1966/67 squad, LA Wolves' victory in the first major US soccer league was the launchpad for the sport across the pond.

Sports executive Alan Rothenberg said: “The 1966 World Cup was carried by satellite into the United States, and so a bunch of sportsmen decided to start a league.

“People will look back and say what was the history of soccer in this country, and people will have to go back to 1967 and say this is where it all began.”

Kevin Baxter, LA Times sportswriter, added: “The idea of professional soccer in the United States, no one had ever really thought about that, not at that level.

“The US didn't qualify for World Cup between 1950 and 1990, so soccer was dead – and then the Wolves come along.

“There isn’t that tradition here that maybe there is in England or Europe where teams are a hundred years old. Everything has to be new here. There is that legacy. They proved that it could work.”

The United Soccer Association opted to import teams from Europe and South America for their inaugural season to give them time to build up their own squads, and among the Wolves team that had just won promotion to Division One, was a number of familiar faces including Parkes, Mike Bailey, Derek Dougan, Gerry Taylor and Terry Wharton.

Wolves faced a Western Division consisting of clubs such as San Francisco Golden Gate Gales (ADO Den Haag), Vancouver Royal Canadians (Sunderland) and Houston Stars (Bangu AC), but the side were able to progress to the championship final.

Facing off against Washington Whips (Aberdeen) in the LA Coliseum, Wolves won the Presidents Cup with a 6-5 extra time victory.

Mundial’s editorial director Owen Blackhurst, Footballco’s Max Agostini and cinematographer Matt Sellers have been working alongside Wolves’ Yannie Makarounas to bring the story to life.

Makarounas, Wolves video manager, added: “It’s an amazing story and one which we are proud and privileged to be able to share with the wider world, having worked very closely on the documentary with Footballco and Mundial during the last 12 months.

“There are avid Wolves fans who either don’t remember this story or don’t even know it ever happened, which is something almost unheard of when it comes to Wolves.

“Everyone knows the stories of Honved and the floodlit friendlies at Molineux which helped launch European club football, everyone knows about our English league title wins, our FA Cups and our League Cups, but the story of LA Wolves and the influence the club had on football in the US has gone under the radar, but it’s up to us to tell it in the most interesting way possible.

“It’s not been easy because it happened a long time ago and a lot has changed since 1967, but Wolves fans – and fans of football in general – will really enjoy what is a really fascinating and exciting documentary.”

The full documentary will be released in September but fans can find out more through a new website designed to celebrate LA Wolves. It can be found by visiting la.wolves.co.uk.

New commemorative merchandise has also been created, including limited edition jerseys, replica hoodies and caps, which can also be found on the new website.