The social media whizz who helped clubs go global

The man behind the Bunch of Amateurs social media accounts, which have helped non-league clubs gain an international following, has said it means so much to him that he is "made the clubs' lives easier".

Rich Phippen runs the social media accounts, which across multiple platforms have around 750,000 followers, and some videos on the accounts have clocked up around nine million views.

He began the content creation when he left Sky after working for the media company for 16 years - but said he had no plan, just a computer and a camera.

He said: "I liked grassroots football so spoke to a friend and they said they were keen, so I went to Charlwood FC in Step 7."

But, it was his barber who put him touch with Dorking Wanderers' owner and manager Marc White.

"Dorking is a great story and for making social media content, it is perfect - the stories write themselves at the club," he said.

"During the pandemic, I had to stop filming at Charlwood as their season was curtailed but Dorking's continued for a bit.

"I made videos for the players to see on YouTube and they all loved it so I made them public but going on to TikTok saw huge levels of interest".

Some of the movies, including the Dorking's 3-2 win over Ebbsfleet United in the 2022 National League South play-off final got a screening at the local cinema in the Surrey town.

One of his favourite moments that he got on film was when Wanderers forward Luke Moore riled away fans by not placing the ball down correctly on the quadrant for a corner.

He said: "I knew that was going to do well the second I filmed it as all the fan reactions I had in the background covered a bit of everything.

"Luke was fantastic at getting them wound up too."

Another personal favourites of Rich's was when he was filming at Charlwood and one player turned up saying he was "ill" - before confessing to his team mates that he didn't go out the previous night but drank "a few bottles of wine".

He said there was also a woman who complained to the goalkeeper after a football struck her - despite being parked directly behind the goal.

At matches, Rich has fans come up to him who have travelled from overseas and go to watch Dorking.

He was filming at one match and someone from the Isle of Wight began to speak to him about the Bunch of Amateurs content and gave him some fudge.

"However, I felt bad for him when he was usurped by a man who had came from Canada after seeing the videos!" he said.

Rich plans to dive deeper into non-league and wants to cover more matches at Step 7 of the English football pyramid.

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