Connor Cuppers (38 years old, Newport, Wales) is a music promoter. He organizes concerts in small venues, from 100 people to large arenas across the United Kingdom. But Cupper is, above all, a strong advocate of local consumption.
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“Although I organize concerts in Bristol, London, and across the country, I have always stayed in Wales, in Cardiff. So, in a way, I have always remained loyal to my roots. I am from what we call Los Valles, in Newport. I come from a very small community, a little town of about 200 people. So, when the opportunity arose to do something in Cwmbran with people of very similar backgrounds, I basically couldn’t say no,” explains Cuppers in a video call with EL PAÍS.
The Cwmbran Celtic, not to be confused with the one from Glasgow, is a semi-professional football team, founded in 1925, and has about 500 players ranging in age from four to 84 years old, from youth to senior categories and with a women’s section. Everything in this club from this Welsh town of 48,000 people, which was once a Labour and industrial stronghold, is managed by volunteers.
But despite the fact that going to see them costs no more than five pounds for the men’s first team and four for the women’s, about the price of a pint of beer in any local pub, it has not been a very pleasant experience lately. “It’s a team that has ups and downs, and frankly, we are in decline now,” admits the promoter and volunteer director.
Celtic was relegated to the Welsh third division after a very long season that ended with ten points, only one win in 30 matches, and a negative goal difference of 56, 26 for and 82 against. Then, tired of suggestions on how to modernize the team and bring it closer to the young ‘cwmbranites’, Cuppers and his friends were invited to talk less and do more.
And they got to work. Together with Matt Jarrett, the owner of a record store in the neighboring city of Newport, they gave the club a makeover. With a new website, eye-catching jersey designs, and an idea that hadn’t occurred to the club in over 100 years: selling jerseys. They also used their contact list and asked several bands for permission to appear as sponsors.
“We wanted a Scottish band because of the green and white stripes. We talked to a musician friend of ours, Martin Carr — a member of The Boo Radleys — who was friends with a few bands and knew Mogwai. And basically, we took a big chance and they said: ‘Yes, let’s do it.’ This is incredible. We have been very, very lucky. These are bands we love, but with whom we also had a personal connection. They have all been amazing and have supported the club,” Cuppers acknowledges.
It was then that through some friends, sound technicians of the Irish band Fontaines D.C., one of the most important current rock groups on the international scene, they sent them a copy of the away jersey.
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“He liked it,” they replied by text message. Jarrett and Cupper’s hopes then rested on some post on their social media, like a story uploaded from the backstage, but what they didn’t expect was the next message from their friends: “He’s going to wear it.” Before they could ask where, notifications kept coming.
They were from their own players, young and veteran. They were amazed because their favorite singer, who headlined one of the country’s most important festivals, Reading, had gone out to sing wearing the jersey they defended every Sunday. Cupper turned on the TV, put on the BBC, and there it was: Cwmbran Celtic, proud bottom of the Welsh second division last season, at the top of the UK cultural scene. The Irish have announced a tour for their new album Dopamine Chamber, and will perform in Madrid and Barcelona on October 22 and 24, respectively.
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A merchandising ‘boom’: from not having sold a single jersey to shipping them to 33 countries
The call effect of their moment of glory in Reading has had an impact. From the hundred people who usually attend to see the team, they have gone to hosting about 600. When they met with the veteran directors, they asked them a question: “How many jerseys do you think we have sold?” They said numbers: 24, 30, 32… When they told them they had sold more than 450, their minds were blown. Now they have doubled the last figures and in recent weeks, they have probably sold 1,200. Profits go entirely to the club and 10% of the proceeds will be sent to a UK concert venue fund. Club members are forbidden from charging for their work.
“You have to keep in mind that our board members are over 80 years old, and many of them have been volunteers for 60 to 70 years. They handle the accounts, set goals, and prepare match day. So taking the club’s name global is not something they would have imagined, but they are incredibly grateful,” adds Cuppers.
Their biggest success, the away jersey, is a tribute to the legendary Celtic of Glasgow, with the Scottish postrock band Mogwai as sponsor. There is also another in the white and green stripe line, which looks more like a rugby jersey, from the Manchester-based Loose Articles. One of their mothers is from Cwmbran.
The home jersey, which resembles Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia, actually sports the colors of the crest. There is no relation, they assure, but “if Cristiano Ronaldo wants to take a photo posing with it, I have no problem,” laughs Cuppers. They have two band versions: Panic Shack, a punk women’s band with a lot of pull in Wales, who presented their album in Madrid and Barcelona last year, and Super Furry Animals, a cult band from Cardiff from the nineties.
For the volunteer couple, everything has exceeded their expectations, they wanted to make noise and try to mobilize their parish, but they did not expect this impact: “We are selling jerseys in 33 countries, even in New Zealand. There are people around the world who will wear our crest who have never set foot in Cwmbran or wouldn’t know how to point out where it is on a map. There is a lot of excitement in the city now, and we want it to spread and, if we play away, we always encourage people to watch our rivals, Cwmbran Town, who play 41 meters from us. It might be the closest derby in the world,” concludes Cuppers.
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