Dorking Wanderers and social media fuel renewed interest in non-league football
October 7, 2026 16:01
WHAT HAPPENED
Marc White, 52, says the YouTube series Dorking Uncovered, produced by the Bunch of Amateurs channel run by Rich Phippen, has helped raise the club’s profile. White told BBC Sport that the content around the club reached “half a billion views in 2025.” He is the founder, owner and manager of Dorking Wanderers and is the longest-serving manager in the top six tiers of English football. Since the club was founded 26 years ago they have been promoted 12 times; their only relegation came in the National League in 2024.
KEY CONTEXT
With local newspapers covering less non-league football because of dwindling resources, clubs are creating their own content — from highlights and interviews to in-depth features — to build community links and market matches. Attendances in Dorking’s division rose to an average of 1,221 in the 2024-25 season, a 134% increase on the average a decade earlier, the source reports.
Other digital examples include Aaron Hunt, who gained thousands of followers streaming Football Manager on Twitch about his local club, Daisy Hill FC in Westhoughton, Bolton. He was later invited to be chairman of a North West Counties side whose stadium was sponsored by YouTuber AngryGinge and renamed GingePower Stadium after a streamed visit that attracted over one million viewers. The Wrexham example — with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney leading the club from non-league to the Championship — is also cited as inspiration for renewed interest. More recently, YouTuber KSI bought a stake in Dagenham & Redbridge this year and has claimed he can take them to the top tier.
WHY IT MATTERS
Club figures say social media is connecting clubs with people who might otherwise only follow the Premier League, offering lower-cost, local matchday experiences and stronger social ties. White described the platform effect as taking “the clubs to their own target market and also taking the target market to the clubs.” He added that high-profile, socially connected names can bring wider attention to the product.