English football is a game full of historic clubs, many of which are a hundred years or older. These clubs make up most of the English football pyramid, both in the EFL and non-league football.
However, every so often, a unique club comes along and is slightly different. One of those clubs is Hashtag United. Here is their story so far:
Founded in 2016 by a YouTuber
Considering the nature of modern life, it was only a matter of time before a social media personality would want to dip their toes into the world of being involved in a football club.
In this case, Spencer Carmichael-Brown, also known as Spencer Owen, had the idea of forming a football team. He had been making YouTube videos in 2007 while he was a student at Reading University.
Carmichael-Brown was not new to football, as his dad was a physiotherapist at non-league clubs such as East Thurrock United and Brentwood Town. His channel gained popularity by 2013, fuelled mainly by his videos on FIFA.
The club started as an informal group of Spencer’s school and university friends, evolving from his earlier school team, Carmichael-Browns Athletic.
He started to film the team’s exploits, and a video from a 2016 memorial match went viral on YouTube. The success of the video saw Spencer and his brother Seb turn the casual team into a proper football club.
Initially, the team only played seven-aside, with an assortment of other footballing YouTubers, such as Theo Baker, playing for the team in games.
From 2016 until 2018, the team wasn’t actually affiliated with the English football league pyramid. Instead, it debuted a distinctive, gamified structure modelled after FIFA video games: global exhibition matches featuring escalating “points targets” established by Spencer, where hitting milestones unlocks progression and exclusive perks.
This gained immense interest from the viewing public, as Spencer’s channel grew to its current subscriber count of 1.9 million thanks to the fresh take on football. The team continued to tour and play one-off games.
Entry into the football league and their rise
The team’s success on YouTube led to negotiations with the FA in 2017 regarding Hashtag entering the English Football League pyramid. The team began their time in the football pyramid in the Eastern Counties League Division One South for the 2018–19 season, after initially being placed in the Spartan South Midlands League.
However, because of the Hashtag’s location, the Eastern Counties League Division One South made more sense since the club was formed in Essex. Not only was it Hashtag’s inaugural league, but it was also the league’s debut following a restructuring of non-league by the FA.
The Eastern Counties League Division One South is the tenth tier of the English game, and Step 6 of the National League System. ‘The Tags’ were not in the division long, as they ended their inaugural season as champions.
Winning the league title saw them promoted to the Essex Senior League. Their first season in the higher tier was going well, as they were sitting second in the table when the campaign was abandoned due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 2020/21 season was also curtailed due to the pandemic, with Hashtag league leaders at the time. However, this time, they earned promotion after the league took into account the points won from their two previous seasons in the division.
🆙 WE GO!
Having secured the title last weekend we’ll be promoted to tier 7️⃣, the Isthmian League Premier Division for the 23/24 campaign!
Check out a visual representation of the leagues above in the image below too 👀👇#UPGOTHETAGS pic.twitter.com/dx347QDC5v
— Hashtag United (@hashtagutd) April 19, 2023
Next stop was the Isthmian League North Division. After finishing eighth-place in the table in their debut campaign at that level, Hashtag won the league title the following campaign, which led to promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division.
Holding their own in the seventh tier and looking to the future
Hashtag United have now been in the Isthmian League Premier Division for two seasons, finishing 13th and eighth-place in the last two seasons. They have more than held their own in what is a tough division.
No doubt the club and the team will continue to push on up the leagues. Hashtag has established itself as a legitimate football club, and not just some novelty flash-in-the-pan media stunt.
They are a club with foundations to cement themselves in the upper echelons of the non-league game and maybe even make history by eventually earning promotion to the EFL.
The club demonstrates that anything is possible with the right circumstances and a lot of hard work. They are an example that others will no doubt attempt to copy in the future. However, Hashtag United are and always will be one of the most unique football clubs in the history of the English game.
Matt Tomiak
