Full name | Hashtag United Football Club | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Tags, Hashtag | ||
Founded | March 2016 | ||
Ground | Len Salmon Stadium, Pitsea | ||
Capacity | 3,500 (500 seated) [1] | ||
Chairman | Spencer Carmichael-Brown [2] | ||
Manager | Jay Devereux | ||
League | Isthmian League Premier Division | ||
2022–23 | Isthmian League North Division, 1st of 20 (promoted) | ||
Website | Club website | ||
Hashtag United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Essex, England. They are currently members of the Isthmian League Premier Division and play at the Len Salmon Stadium in Pitsea.
Hashtag United Football Club was formed in March 2016 by Spencer Carmichael-Brown, a football YouTuber who went by the name of Spencer FC. Carmichael-Brown had begun making YouTube videos in 2007 as a student at the University of Reading, and the team initially consisted of friends from school and university. [3]
From their foundation, the team primarily played five, seven, and eleven-a-side exhibition matches, which were filmed and uploaded to their YouTube channel. By September 2016, the team's Instagram account had over 100,000 followers, their Twitter account 41,000, and a 'penalty challenge' video uploaded to YouTube had accumulated over two million views. Hashtag United played various teams including a Comedians XI whom they beat 19–1, Google, the GB Deaf Team, Barawa, and a Manchester City staff team, with opponents fielding former professional footballers such as Paul Dickov, Graeme Le Saux and Ray Parlour, and celebrities including Omid Djalili. At one point in 2016, the club was rumoured to be interested in signing professional footballer Adebayo Akinfenwa. [3] In 2017, the club won the EE Wembley Cup, a competition that Carmichael-Brown had created in 2015. [4] The team included Scott Pollock, winner of the Hashtag Academy competition in 2017, who went on to sign professional terms with Northampton Town. [5]
In early 2018 Chelsea captain and Spanish international César Azpilicueta invested in the club and became a co-owner. Ahead of the 2018–19 season, the club joined the English football league system, initially being placed in Division One of the Spartan South Midlands League, before being moved to the Eastern Counties League after appealing that it was more suited to their Essex roots. [6] After joining the pyramid, Carmichael-Brown stepped down as manager and was replaced by former East Thurrock United assistant manager Jay Devereux. Their first competitive match was a 3–2 away loss to Little Oakley on 4 August 2018. [7] The club's first league season saw them reach the semi-finals of Division One Knock-Out Cup. [8] They went on to win the Division One South title, earning promotion to the Essex Senior League. [9] The 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the club second in the league, a point behind league leaders Saffron Walden Town and with three matches in hand. After the 2020–21 season was also curtailed due to the pandemic, at which point Hashtag United were top of the league, the club was promoted to the North Division of the Isthmian League based on the points per game accumulated over the two abandoned seasons. [10] [11] During their two seasons in the Essex Senior League, the club won 96 points from 38 games. [12]
In 2022–23 Hashtag won 21 league matches in a row, [13] going on to win the North Division title and earning promotion to the Isthmian League's Premier Division.
Season | League | Level | Position | FA Cup | FA Vase / FA Trophy | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018–19 | Eastern Counties League Division One South | 10 | 1/19 | – | – | Promoted |
2019–20 | Essex Senior League | 9 | – | – | Second qualifying round | Season abandoned |
2020–21 | Essex Senior League | 9 | – | Second qualifying round | Second round | Season curtailed, promoted |
2021–22 | Isthmian League North Division | 8 | 8/20 | Preliminary round | First qualifying round | |
2022–23 | Isthmian League North Division | 8 | 1/20 | First qualifying round | First qualifying round | Promoted |
The club operates a Sunday league team, which was established in 2017 under the name West Oviedo and joined Division Two of the Brentwood Sunday League. [14] They were runners-up in their first season and were promoted to Division One. They went on to win Division One in 2018–19. [15] The club also had a team named Hashtag Academy that played in the seven-a-side Next Level Football League. [16]
The club currently operates a reserve and development men's side, as well as a number of development men's and women's youth teams. [17] [18] The youth section of the club was merged with Forest Glade for the start of the 2020–21 season. [19] [20] In April 2020 the club announced that they would have a women's team, Hashtag United Women, from the start of the 2020–21 season as a result of a merger with AFC Basildon. [21] [22] [23] The women's team plays in the FA Women's National League, the third tier, and won the Essex County Cup in 2022 defeating Billericay Town 2–1 in the final. [24] The club also has an eSports team. [25]
Hashtag United's colours are yellow and blue. [2] The club's first kit was a yellow shirt, with blue sleeves, shorts and yellow socks. In January 2017, the club signed a kit deal with Umbro until the end of 2018. This saw the club's colours changed to blue, with yellow streaks down the side of the shorts. The club's first shirt sponsor was EE. [26] From 2017–18, the shirt sponsor was online game Top Eleven. [27] The online gambling company 188 Bet were briefly the sleeve sponsor of the club. Ahead of the 2018–19 season, the club signed a new kit deal with Adidas, which saw the club's home shirt returned to the traditional yellow and blue they had originally worn. [28] Ahead of the 2021–22 season, the club signed a new five–year kit deal with Hummel. [29] This saw the kit's colours reversed again to be a blue shirt with yellow sleeves, blue shorts, and yellow socks. The away kit was predominantly white and black, featuring a blue lightning bolt design. The sponsor of the men's shirts was initially kept a mystery, with the shirts instead featuring a QR code that could be scanned to find clues about the upcoming sponsor. The sponsor was then revealed to be the upcoming free to play football simulator UFL. The women's team were sponsored by food chain TGI Fridays. [30] After the 2022–23 season, the club announced their kits would be manufactured by Adidas again, as a result of not receiving any kit sales revenue from Hummel's exclusive brand partner in the UK at the time, Elite Sports Group, which had entered into administration. [31] [32] [33] During the 2023-24 season, Canna was announced as the new shirt sponsor for the women’s team. [34]
The club's badge is yellow and blue, with the club's name emblazoned on the horizontal lines of a hashtag symbol.
Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt Sponsor |
---|---|---|
2017 | Umbro | EE Limited |
2017–2018 | Top Eleven Football Manager | |
2018–2021 | Adidas | Football Manager |
2021–2023 | Hummel | UFL / TGI Fridays (Women's) |
2023– | Adidas | |
UFL / Canna (Women's) |
After joining the Eastern Counties League, the club began playing at the Coles Park Stadium, groundsharing with Haringey Borough. [35] In April 2019, following promotion to the Essex Senior League, Hashtag United announced that the club would move to Tilbury's Chadfields for the 2019–20 season. [36] In March 2020 the club stated that they would move to the Len Salmon Stadium, home of Bowers & Pitsea, for the 2020–21 season. [37] Since the merger, the women's team played at Canvey Island's Park Lane ground; but in April 2022, it was announced that the Women's team would move to Aveley's Parkside Ground from the 2022–23 season. [38] In February 2024, it was announced that the men's team would be joining the women's at Parkside from the start of the 2024–25 season. [39]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Position | Name [42] [43] |
---|---|
Owner, Founder & Co-Chairman | Spencer Carmichael-Brown |
Co-Chairman | Steve Carmichael-Brown |
Co-Chairman | Derrick Pearson |
Commercial Director | Seb Carmichael-Brown |
Media/Operations Director | Neil Smythe |
Men's First Team Manager | Jay Devereux |
Men's Assistant Manager | Joe Keith |
Men's Goalkeeping Coach | Ben Sewell |
Men's Reserve Team Manager | Billy Cove |
Men's Reserve Team Assistant Manager | Paul Prosser |
Men's Development Team Manager | Denis Simpson |
Men's U18s EJA Team Manager | Cain Brougham |
Women's First Team Manager | Jason Stephens |
Women's Assistant Manager | Craig Davidson |
Women's Coach | Wayne Rothon |
Women's Reserve Team Manager | Marc Wilson |
Women's Reserve Team Assistant Manager | Jack Costin |
Women's Ambassador | Siobhan Chamberlain |
Physiotherapists | Tyler Overton and Alan Richards |
Kitman | Mikey Rumin |
Director of Youth Football | Mark Skipp |
Basildon is a town in the the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159.
Lincoln City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Clapton Football Club is a football club based in Plaistow, East London. The club are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Division One South and play at the Terence McMillan Stadium in Plaistow following their 2019 eviction from their long-term home, the Old Spotted Dog Ground in Forest Gate.
The Essex Senior Football League is an English men's football league. It contains clubs from the Essex FA, Hertfordshire FA, London FA, Middlesex FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. It is a feeder league to Division One North of the Isthmian League and has a single division which sits at Step 5 of the National League System.
Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team competes in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. The club's nickname is "The Stones" and they play in black and amber.
Leyton Football Club was an English association football club based in Leyton, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. The club withdrew from the Isthmian League Division One North in January 2011 due to severe financial difficulties, and disbanded. The first club to go by the name was founded in 1868, and the last incarnation of the club, which began playing in 1997, won a High Court action in 2002 in support of its claim to be a continuation of the original team, making it at that stage the second oldest existing club in Greater London, after Cray Wanderers.
Basildon United Football Club is a football club based in Basildon, Essex. They are currently members of the Isthmian League North Division and play at Gardiners Close.
Bowers & Pitsea Football Club is a football club based in Pitsea, Essex, England. The club are currently members of the Isthmian League North Division and play at the Len Salmon Stadium.
Pitsea is a town and former civil parish in the Borough of Basildon in south Essex, England. It comprises five sub-districts: Eversley, Northlands Park Neighbourhood, Chalvedon, Pitsea Mount and Burnt Mills. It is part of the new town of Basildon.
Aveley Football Club are a semi–professional football club based in Aveley, Essex, England. They are currently members of the National League South and play at Parkside.
Hullbridge Sports Football Club is a football club based in Hullbridge, Essex, England. They are currently members of the Essex Senior League and play at Lower Road.
The 2015–16 season was the 45th in the history of Essex Senior Football League, a football competition in England.
The 2016–17 season was the 102nd season of the Isthmian League, which is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from London, East and South East England. Also, it was the eleventh season for the current incarnations of Division One North and Division One South. The league constitution was announced on 12 May 2016 and concluded on 1 May 2017.
The 2019–20 season was the 105th season of the Isthmian League, which is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from London, East and South East England. This was the second season to consist of four divisions after the league reorganised the former South Division into the new South Central and South East divisions.
The 2020–21 season was the 106th season of the Isthmian League, which is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from London, East and South East England. The league operates four divisions, the Premier Division at Step 3, and three divisions, North, South Central and South East at Step 4 of the National League System. This was the third season since the former South Division was subdivided into the South Central and South East divisions. The league is also known as the Pitching In League under a sponsorship deal with Entain, formerly GVC Holdings.
The 2020–21 FA Women's National League was the 29th season of the competition, and the third since a restructure and rebranding of the top four tiers of English football by The Football Association. Starting in 1992, it was previously known as the FA Women's Premier League. It sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the FA Women's Championship and above the eight regional football leagues.
The 2021–22 season was the 107th season of the Isthmian League, which is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from London, East and South East England. The league operates four divisions, the Premier Division at Step 3 and three divisions, North, South Central and South East at Step 4 of the National League System. This was the fourth season since the former South Division was subdivided into the South Central and South East divisions. The league was also known as the Pitching In League under a sponsorship deal with Entain, formerly GVC Holdings.
Tobias Ademide Aromolaran is an English television personality and semi-professional footballer, who plays as a forward for Isthmian League club Hashtag United. In 2021, he was runner-up on the seventh series of Love Island, and has since appeared on the spin-off versions Love Island Games and Love Island: All-Stars, as well as the first series of Celeb Cooking School.
Basildon Town Football Club is a football club based in Basildon, England. They are currently members of the Eastern Counties League Division One South and play at Rookery Hill, Corringham.
The 2022–23 season was the 108th season of the Isthmian League, which is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from London, East and South East England. The league operates four divisions, the Premier Division at Step 3 and three divisions, North, South Central and South East at Step 4 of the National League System. This was the fifth season since the former South Division was subdivided into the South Central and South East divisions. The league was also known as the Pitching In League under a sponsorship deal with Entain, formerly GVC Holdings.