In American sports, it's fairly common for a team to relocate.

The Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1972.

Seven years later, the Norleans Jazz moved to Utah, where there isn't that much jazz.

And the Raiders moved to Oakland, then to L.A., then back to Oakland, and then on to Vegas.

And to quote, basketball, no one seemed to notice.

Thank you, basketball.

Relocation has even happened in MLS when the San Jose earthquakes upsticks to become the Houston Dynamo in 2006. One of the many ways that US

sports is unique is that teams are often referred to as a franchise. It positions them as a

business commodity, the plaything of a rich owner rather than the pillar upon which a community is based.

The relocation of teams as franchises, it sucks, but it's accepted as something that happens in the US.

But it's quite unthinkable for a team to leave its city and rebrand somewhere like the UK.

It never happens.

Well, it did happen once and it happened to my team. My name is Ryan Bailey and in this episode of Soccer 101, I'll be explaining the history of Wimbledon F.C., now AFC Wimbledon,

and the exceptionally controversial uprooting of the team that happened in the early part of this millennium. Wimbledon

FC were founded 132 years ago on Wimbledon Common, a stone's throw from the Fox and Grapes pub that

was used as their changing room. In 1912, the team moved to Plow Lane, a ground situated about

one and a half miles from the All England Lawn Tennis Club,

where the championships are held every year.

But Plow Lane was a little less decadent and could hold a little over 15,000 people,

which is roughly the same capacity as Centre Court at the tennis club these days.

Wimbledon have always been an underdog who stood in the shadow of nearby teams,

including Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Fulham, and they didn't become a league team, a professional

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