The businesses behind AFC Wimbledon: How one badge unites a community
AFC Wimbledon shows how a fan-owned club can unite charities, businesses, volunteers and supporters across Southwest London.
Football clubs are often measured by what happens on the pitch. But at AFC Wimbledon, some of the club’s biggest successes happen from the touchline.
These successes happen in food distribution hubs, local warehouses, small businesses and volunteer groups across south-west London. Together, they tell a broader story about the role a football club can play in its community, not simply as a sporting institution.
And that’s what we talk about in this article, as follows:
A charity built on the spirit of a football club
Watch the video above to hear from Don’s Local Action Group (DLAG), Bark Group founder Ben Adams, and the team behind AFC Wimbledon sponsor Cappagh to discover the impact of football beyond the badge.
Founded in March 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, DLAG is one of the organisations to be born from the AFC Wimbledon badge.
What started as a small initiative delivering food to vulnerable residents quickly revealed a much larger challenge. As volunteers arrived at homes across Merton, Kingston, and Wandsworth, they discovered that food was often only one part of the problem. Families needed furniture, children needed laptops to continue learning, and ultimately, people needed support.
As a result, DLAG evolved from an emergency food response service into a wide-reaching community organisation that now distributes food, furniture, digital devices, school uniforms and other essential support across south-west London.
As Craig Wellstead, co-founder of DLAG, puts it: “The food started the journey, but the food also highlighted there was more.”
What made that growth possible wasn’t just demand. It was the community that formed around AFC Wimbledon. The organisation itself emerged from the same volunteer network that helped support the club’s return to Plough Lane. Fans who had previously united around bringing their football club home came together again to help their community when it needed them most.
The growth of DLAG shows just how communities built around shared purpose can become powerful networks when challenges arise. Relationships formed through one initiative can create opportunities and impact far beyond their original intention.
The volunteers making the difference
Today, DLAG supports hundreds of families every week with the help of an army of volunteers. While a small paid team coordinates operations, the charity relies on people from around the community to give their time, skills and energy to support others.
The volunteer community is every bit as valuable as the services it provides. For volunteer Niamh, DLAG originally offered something many people seek: purpose, connection and belonging.
After spotting volunteers collecting donations in her local supermarket, she got involved and never looked back. Today, she helps across both the food and furniture programmes.
The impact is something she sees first-hand: “You see people coming back and saying, ‘I was sleeping on the floor, I had nothing, and now you’ve delivered beds and furniture’. They’re so grateful and appreciative.”
The volunteer community now includes students, retirees, professionals, business owners and people from every background. In many cases, the relationships formed through volunteering are just as valuable as the work itself. It’s this sense of purpose that has become part of what makes DLAG special.
The volunteers mean everything to Don’s Local Action Group. They are Don’s Local Action Group.
Tim Marshall, Hub Manager, Don’s Local Action Group (DLAG)
When sponsorship becomes partnership
But AFC Wimbledon doesn’t only connect the community. It also connects businesses. Long-time club sponsor and construction business Cappagh has supported Wimbledon AFC for years and shares the club’s deep roots in south-west London.
When DLAG needed a home after the pandemic, Cappagh stepped in and provided the space the organisation needed to continue growing. What began as unused industrial space has since become a thriving distribution hub supporting thousands of people each year.
But the support doesn’t stop there.
Whether it’s access to forklifts, vehicles, office space or fundraising initiatives, Cappagh continues to help wherever it can. The relationship has evolved far beyond a traditional sponsorship arrangement. As Cappagh’s Plant Manager Tom Clark explains: “We treat Tim and Craig like they’re members of the family.”
It’s a powerful example of how businesses can contribute to their communities using more than financial support. Sometimes the most impactful contribution is opening doors, sharing expertise or providing resources that enable others to scale their impact.
Helping local businesses grow
AFC Wimbledon’s community network has also created opportunities for local businesses. Bark Group, a Wimbledon-based print, design and installation company, launched just after founder Ben Adams was made redundant during the pandemic. At almost exactly the same time, AFC Wimbledon was opening the doors to its new stadium.
Wimbledon was our first client. We opened the stadium doors the same time the company started up, so it was a match made in heaven.
Ben Adams, director, Bark Group Ltd
The relationship helped Bark Group establish itself while creating valuable connections throughout the wider Wimbledon network. Today, the company works across the stadium and supports a range of organisations connected to the club, including DLAG and other community initiatives.
It’s an example of something often overlooked in discussions about local economies: community organisations and football clubs don’t just support charities. They can also help create jobs, strengthen local supply chains and provide opportunities for small businesses to grow.
It’s a real community hub. We’ve got loads of different events, loads of different stuff happening in all the different areas in the stadium.
Ben Adams
More than a football club
The phrase “community club” appears frequently in football. At AFC Wimbledon, it feels less like a slogan and more like a reality.
The club has helped create an ecosystem where charities, local businesses, volunteers and supporters work together towards a common purpose. It has provided visibility, momentum and connection for organisations that are changing lives every day.
As Tom Clark explains: “What makes AFC Wimbledon completely different from pretty much any other club in the EFL is the fact that it’s fan-owned and community-led.”
That community-led spirit can be seen everywhere: in volunteers delivering food, in businesses opening their facilities to charities, in local entrepreneurs building successful companies and in families getting support when they need it most.
Final thoughts
More than a football club, AFC Wimbledon has become a network of people, organisations and businesses proving what’s possible when a community pulls together.
The businesses behind the badge
Want to discover your local heroes of the English Football League? Sage’s interactive map uncovers their stories.
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