Hashtag United Football Club was formed in March 2016 by Spencer Carmichael-Brown, a football
YouTuber better known as Spencer FC or Spencer Owen. 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. 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. The team included
Scott Pollock, winner of the Hashtag Academy competition in 2017, who went on to sign professional terms with
Northampton Town. 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. 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. The club's
first league season saw them reach the semi-finals of Division One Knock-Out Cup. They went on to win the Division One South title, earning promotion to the
Essex Senior League. 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. During their two seasons in the Essex Senior League, the club won 96 points from 38 games. In
2022–23 Hashtag won 21 league matches in a row, going on to win the North Division title and earning promotion to the Premier Division. Towards the end of the
2025–26 season the club requested voluntary demotion, with Carmichael-Brown stating that it had become financially "unsustainable" for the club to maintain its seventh-tier status. They were eventually relegated at the end of the season, finishing 20th.
Season-by-season record ==Other teams==