Hashtag United: Women's team complete club's promotion double

Grace Gillard has been part of the Hashtag scene since a merger with her former club AFC Basildon

Why settle for one title when your club can win two in the same season?

It has been very much a case of anything you can do, we can do just as well for Hashtag United in 2022-23.

Their women's team won 4-1 against Queens Park Rangers on Sunday to become National League Division One South East champions.

It was an especially proud day for skipper Grace Gillard, who marked her 100th appearance for the club with one of the goals.

"I'm still trying to get it to sink in. We were one point from promotion last season. To come so close and to have to regroup, to get it over the line this time is unbelievable," she told BBC Sport.

Their victory came just eight days after the Hashtag men clinched the Isthmian League North Division title with a 6-0 victory over Great Wakering.

And the double success has been achieved just seven years after the club was formed by YouTube celebrity Spencer Owen, who has attended virtually every game both teams have played.

Chelsea won the Women's Super League (WSL) title in 2015, the same year the Blues became Premier League champions under Jose Mourinho - but similar promotion doubles are fairly rare.

Spencer Owen's Hashtag United brand themselves the 'one of a kind football and Esports club'

As Hashtag do not yet have their own ground, the men play home games at Bowers & Pitsea and the women at Aveley FC.

"One of the things that makes the club special is that the men and women are treated equally, we all get the same stuff. The only difference is that we don't train in the same place," said Gillard.

As well as QPR, the league includes other 'name' clubs including Norwich City, AFC Wimbledon and Cambridge United, but it is Hashtag who will make the step up to the third tier of women's football next term.

Gillard said: "To play against teams with those sorts of names and win makes it more of a statement."

So have the men and women of Hashtag United been egging each other on in recent weeks?

"We are all in a group chat and very focused on being one club," she said. "We are all very supportive and some of the men are coming on Sunday when we receive the trophy for some group pictures.

"Everyone is on a high. It makes it more special rather than one being on a high and the other disappointed."

Gillard is known for providing what the club website describes as "pre-game cheesy pop music".

Her two go-to tunes this season have been I Want It That Way by Backstreet Boys and The Weather Girls' It's Raining Men.

And although Sammy Rowland is their prolific top scorer, Gillard herself has pitched in with 14 goals despite playing at centre-back.

"Up to this season, I haven't really been a goalscorer, but there have been free-kicks, penalties, it's not just been down to one thing," she said.

"Because we have been such an attacking team this season, that has allowed the defence to be higher up the pitch at times."

"Double promotion. Record-breaking season for both sides. Couldn't be prouder. 2023 - the year of the Hashtag," Owen posted on Twitter on Sunday.

And he is looking at providing a shared permanent home for both teams in the future.

"There have been a few options, I think, but nothing has come to fruition. That's one of his big things going forwards," said Gillard.

Right now, though, both owner and players are happy to be sharing "cloud nine".

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