Who is Steve Bracknall?: ‘I set up a fictional Sunday League Club. I’m the king of Sunday League, and now we have our own real club shop - it’s historic’
More than a thousand people nationwide went to meet the self-proclaimed ‘King of Sunday League’ yesterday at Meadowhall Shopping Centre. Still, many intrigued passers-by were asking, ‘Who is Steve Bracknall?’
We sent our reporter Sophie Mei Lan to meet ‘Steve Bracknall’ at his first Royal Oak FC pop-up shop.
Anyone who has stood on the sidelines of Sunday League football matches, or even been in the thick of playing in one, understands the passion, sweat, and tears of amateur players.
One man who has embraced the fierce passion of the grassroots game is Steve Bracknall.
Bracknall, whose real name is Chris McClure, set up his own fictional team online called Royal Oak FC.
Bracknall’s online persona is much more than a passive FIFA-playing endeavour; it has been a 15-year-long slog making hilarious spoof videos about his beloved team.
Bracknall, in character, said: “In 1997, we started a football team to get customers into the (Royal Oak) pub.
“15 years ago, we started putting videos on YouTube, and then last year, our Olivia runs us TikTok and put videos on there, and it blew up massively, it went global. And now we’re here in our first-ever club shop. It's historic.
“The queues went all the way around out into the car park. The best fanbase in the world.”
Bracknall and his teammates, including Carpet Dave, Bob, Firestick Dean, and Paul Sampson, have grown a cult following in the millions across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with their daily skits.
So much so, they’re ‘official’ 25/26 kit has almost sold out at their pop-up shop in Meadowhall, with only limited sizes left.
Unbeknownst to many, however, Royal Oak FC’s frontman ‘Bracknall,’ who lives in Crystal Peaks in Sheffield, was also the face of one of the most iconic album covers of all time - Arctic Monkey’s Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.
Bracknall’s face features on the Arctic Monkeys’ debut studio album, smoking a cigarette.
When asked about his claim to fame, in his character, Bracknall replied: “Absolutely not, that’s a kid called Chris McClure, no comment.”
What does Chris McClure have to do with the Arctic Monkeys?
Many will have spotted frontman Reverend and the Makers Jon McClure at the opening of the Royal Oak shop yesterday alongside Bracknall.
Bracknall previously explained his link to musical stardom on the UK Armed Forces station, BFBS Radio.
He said: “Let me try and do this in simple terms, there’s me, my brother Jon McClure the Lead Singer of Reverend and the Makers.”
People have also mistakenly assumed that actress and founder of the Day Club event Vicky McClure is their other sibling.
Bracknall said: “Then there’s Vicky McClure - actress - and there's no relation there but we’re good friends as well as with Vicky’s husband Jonny Owen, who had this ridiculous idea of starting a day club.”
Eagle-eyed social media scrollers may have put two and two together as Jon McClure has his brother’s Instagram link in his bio ‘Business @stevebracknall’, and is a well-known football fan.
The Steel City is the birthplace of football and musical talent
Sheffield is renowned as the city of musical talent with bands such as Reverend and the Makers and Arctic Monkeys, as well as being the home of football itself; alas, this combination, entwined with Bracknall’s incredible talent, may explain why they’ve become such a global phenomenon.
The pop-up shop is open today (Friday August 29) until 8pm. Here’s all you need to know about the Royal Oak pop-up shop.
Meadowhall Centre Manager Darren Pearce, said: “We've got this phenomenon, which is Steve Bracknall, launching his only pop-up shop selling the merchandise from the Royal Oak. You can come here to Meadowhall - the whole team is here.”