Clash of Creators

Clash of Creators was a charity football match between teams of UK creators. Tom co-founded it with Callum Glanville. The first event ran on 25 July 2021 at Aveley FC. It streamed live on Twitch. Tom puts the live audience at 330,000 viewers. It raised £12,754 for Mind, the mental health charity, against a £10,000 target. It took Silver for Best Charitable Campaign at the Football Content Awards 2021.

The starting point

Callum Glanville started Clash of Creators as a teenage YouTuber. Happy Hour describes him as 17, creating the event “with the help of his friend Tom”. Mind mattered to Callum after the sudden loss of his father the year before. Tom says it launched during the pandemic, when creators could not film outside. The pitch to players was one of the first creator events as life returned to normal. Tom was a co-founder from February to August 2021.

What Tom did

Tom built the concept, assembled the talent and drove the production vision. Esports News UK reported the event was organised by New Waves, Who Dis?, the agency Tom co-founded. After the event Tom and Callum went on JaackMaate’s Happy Hour as its founders, in episode 203. On that episode Tom explained why the first event featured only male players. Four clips from the episode sit in Tom’s work, filed under Produced, Format and strategy, and Talent supplied.

How it worked: formats, team, partners, decisions

The format. Four teams of creators played three games across one afternoon. The event ran from 12pm to 6pm. A limited number of guests could attend in person, under Covid rules. Tom puts the crowd at 2,500 people.

The talent. The cast mixed some of the largest creators in the UK with up and coming ones. The published squad list ran to 62 names. They included Wroetoshaw, Morgz, ChrisMD, JaackMaate, Spencer FC, Josh Pieters, Max Fosh, Thogden and Ollie Ball. The former England goalkeeper David James coached the winning side. The Minecraft streamers Jack Manifold and Tubbo presented the trophy.

The partners. The video game publisher Deep Silver presented the event, through its Deep Silver Creator Collective. The event partnered with Twitch for the stream. All ticket sales and donations went to Mind, along with merchandise profits. Donations were taken through Tiltify.

The aftermath. Laurence McKenna mocked the event on a TrueGeordie rerun stream. JaackMaate defended it publicly on Happy Hour, and McKenna apologised. Tom reads that coverage as positive for the event.

The results

£12,754 went to Mind, beating the £10,000 target. Tom puts the live audience at 330,000 viewers. The four Happy Hour videos about the event hold 1,401,843 views between them. The most watched, JaackMaate’s defence of the event, holds 872,447. The event took Silver for Best Charitable Campaign at the Football Content Awards 2021. Clash of Creators ran once. A second event was planned and did not happen.

What it proves

Creator audiences turn up for something real, and a charity gives them the reason. An event is a studio day with the talent, the audience and the proof in one place. Tom teaches that in The event as a studio content day. It also proves the limit of one good day. Proof of concept shows people will come. It says nothing yet about running the format twelve times.

Coverage and links

• Dexerto, 27 July 2021. Clash of Creators football event raises huge amount for charity.
• Esports News UK, 20 July 2021. UK YouTubers to compete in Clash of Creators football charity match raising money for MIND.
• Dexerto, 31 July 2021. JaackMaate slams Laurence McKenna over the Clash of Creators stream.
• JaackMaate’s Happy Hour, episode 203, 30 July 2021. Callum Glanville and Tom Sharman, Clash of Creators founders reveal all.
• Football Content Awards, 14 October 2021. 2021 winners.
• New Digital Age, October 2026. A Q&A with Tom, partner content.

The press release link in data/press.json, clashofcreators.com/press-release, now redirects to a parked domain page.