AceShowbiz - Sports fan Sean Bean is putting a small British soccer team on the map - he has joined the board of directors of a club in his hometown. The "Lord of the Rings" star, who played Boromir in the hugely successful film trilogy, will now help run the local team in Handsworth, England, where he was born.

And he's hoping to take the players out of the low-level Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division and into the top tables. Handsworth chairman John Ward says, "It is great news for us. He has been supporting Handsworth for years but now wants to come on board officially."

"He won't be a director who is just a name in the program. He was born in Handsworth, not far from the ground."