YouTube star Ellis Platten helps Witham Town smash attendance record

By Tom Cunningham

Get down and make history was the message from YouTube star Ellis Platten to his subscribers – and the rally call worked as more than 1,200 people set a new crowd at Step 4 Witham Town.

It was an ambitious plan, to say the least, for yesterday’s Isthmian North clash against Gorleston.

On FA Cup weekend, Platten set his sights on helping make Town history by combining his subscribers with Witham’s locals to exceed the club’s record crowd of 898.

In fact, it’s not the first time the YouTuber – whose Away Days channel boasts 587,000 subscribers – has attempted such a feat, either.

Record

He revealed it was back in 2018 he first attempted to break the record only to endure a disappointing afternoon.

Eight years on, however, with his popular videos and vlogs covering all levels of football and seen across the world, they returned to the Simarco Stadium.

Unlike in 2018, this was not a disappointing day. Witham welcomed fans from as far as Chicago and smashed their attendance record with a total of 1,205 supporters.

From an idea in his phone’s notes page and the failure of 2018, Platten came full-circle by making history at Witham against Gorleston – the town where he grew up.

“I tried to do this exact video in 2018,” Platten tells The NLP. “We tried going back (to Witham) and getting as many people as possible, but only ended up getting three or four people. It didn’t quite go to plan.

“But I’ve had this idea on my notes page for a while. A lot of people said you shouldn’t have done it in the international break, you should’ve done it in the Midlands or in London, but we’re doing it where we’re doing it because they’re playing Gorleston, which is where I was born. It’s a nice full-circle thing.”

CROWD PLEASERS: Witham Town’s Sam Bantick celebrates and Ellis Platten, inset below, with his Away Days merch

PICTURES: Ed Boyden

Remember

The record was always the aim, but Platten admitted that it wasn’t his only motivation.

After meeting ‘Mr Witham Town’ himself, James Beard-well BEM, in 2017, he wanted to give the club’s super fan a day to remember too.

“I met James Beardwell, the Witham fan, in 2017 when I went there,” he said. “I actually didn’t know of James’ existence and I was there and he was just this one fan chanting by himself.

“Back then it was just him, but now he’s got a few people around him who are doing it which is good.

“Even if we don’t break the record, there’s going to be 500 people there chanting back when James does a chant which is something that I think he will remember forever and that’s bigger than a YouTube video can be.”

The pigs

They did break it and chant is exactly what the fans did, belting out “there’s only one James Beardwell” throughout a memorable 90 minutes.

“It means a lot to me, especially for Witham Town Football Club”, Beardwell explained.

“This will be the first time we have more attendance since the play-off final against Harlow Town in 2014.

“A club like Witham Town deserves more of this support.”

With inflatable pigs in hand – representing Away Days’ mascot – Witham’s new found supporters created history and witnessed an entertaining 2-2 draw to boot.

This, in Platten’s mind, is what Non-League is all about.

“I think the English pyramid is the best in the world for many reasons,” he added. “But one of the reasons is you can go to anywhere in the country and within five minutes there will be a team which has a community to it.

“I don’t think there is anywhere else in the world that can rival that.”