Gamechanger

by Spencer FC

  Simply playing the game against other YouTubers had, in the Playa’s own words, become ‘too easy’. Xtreme FIFA would change all that, as it would now involve playing in extreme conditions to make things more interesting. The show even came with a warning:

  The first episode saw the Playa take on an old foe, GudjonDaniel of Iceland. To put the extreme into the challenge, they’d be playing in sub-zero conditions in the Ice Bar in London. To make things truly Xtreme, however, they had to shed an item of clothing if they failed to score within various timeframes, and each time one of them conceded a goal, they had to eat an ice cube. Brrrr! Down to their T-shirts in the freezing cold, the Playa had his revenge on ‘chicken’ GudjonDaniel and made it clear that, when things got Xtreme, the Playa got Xtremer.

  Things got even more extreme soon after when the Playa faced the world’s strongest footballer, Adebayo ‘The Beast’ Akinfenwa, a proper FIFA legend and someone who has gone on to become a true friend of mine. In the words of the Playa: ‘He’s the strongest player in FIFA, and I’m the strongest at FIFA.’ Fittingly for a specimen like Akinfenwa, the game was played in a gym and each player took turns to do a physical challenge like bench-pressing or doing arm curls at the blow of a whistle while his controller lay idle.

  Akinfenwa was a great sport, and he smashed the physical challenges, of course. We had some other great footballers on, too, who really got into the spirit of it. KSI and the FIFA Playa went round to Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs’s house to do a two vs two match, along with Wojciech Szczęsny, who was Arsenal’s keeper at the time, on KSI’s channel and then Xtreme FIFA. We blindfolded the Arsenal players and KSI had to guide Gibbs while I did likewise with Szczęsny, then we switched the blindfolds so that the Playa and KSI were blindfolded. That was just a great night, and it was brilliant when the footballers got what we were doing. Gibbs was more than happy to welcome the hooded wrong ’un that is FIFA Playa into his home.

  FIFA Playa even faced off against Spurs and England defender Kyle Walker, who was pretty bewildered to say the least. We played at the FIFA 14 launch event where Walker and his then teammate Kyle Naughton joined a long list of footballers who had fallen prey to the tantalising skill and confusing charisma of Stevie Scissorhands.

  Things got particularly tasty with the aptly named CapgunTom, a YouTube weapons expert, when it was his turn to play the Playa on Xtreme FIFA. We had our match in a place the Playa described as a warzone, which was actually a paintball venue (fun fact: this same venue was used again in episode 6 of The Wembley Cup 2016), while a paintball gun was being fired at them. When I say ‘them’, what I really mean is that it was a complete stitch-up. The FIFA Playa must have taken 27 shots to hardly any on CapgunTom. The Playa still managed to win the match and CapgunTom had an apology to deliver, which he did willingly – or at least as willingly as anyone with a paintball gun pointed at them can.

  FIFA in a paintball warzone was a tough act to follow, but the Playa found himself in far more danger later when Xtreme FIFA went to the racetrack – well, the go-karting track, to be precise. In this maximum-velocity game of FIFA, Bateson87 and the FIFA Playa would be riding recumbent bicycles (or FIFA Pursuit Vehicles, to give them their technical name) around the circuit, with wireless controllers in their hands, and pursuing a golf buggy (FIFA Utility Kart) with a screen on its back. The driver of the FIFA Utility Kart was none other than superfan, and now sidekick, Thomas Gray.

  Keeping up with the buggy was paramount to any kind of success in the game, of course, which presented enough of a physical challenge in itself for those gamers more used to the comfort of the sofa. And to make things more interesting – aside from Thomas Gray’s inability to keep his eyes on the road – cardboard-box obstacles were put around the track by the interfering crew. Half-time couldn’t come quick enough for the two players.

  The second half was a real test of stamina, and when the FIFA Playa sealed a 2–0 victory he celebrated in his own inimitable, cocky style, pedalling around his lap of victory with his hands in the air, giving it large, high-fiving Thomas Gray on the move and daring the crew to throw a cardboard box at him. Which they promptly did.

  The box crashed straight into the front of the Playa’s kart. He turned into it – a defensive-driving move he might well have learned from thrashing a second-hand Fiat Seicento around in years gone by – and went straight into the front of the golf buggy, which took him clean out, running him over and sending him flying from his bike. He lay battered and broken on the road, while Thomas Gray simply said to the camera, ‘Sorry, mate.’

  The slow-motion replay confirmed everyone on YouTube’s worst fears: it wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. The FIFA Playa was completely fine.

  Wearing a mask was one of the most liberating experiences of my life. It made me fearless. It gave me complete freedom to do what I wanted, to be as ridiculous and embarrassing as possible, but with no comeback because, aside from my friends and family (and, OK, maybe KSI too), no one knew it was me.

  Being the FIFA Playa also gave me my first taste of the kind of ‘fame’ success on YouTube can produce. And it was a really nice kind of fame – the kind with no repercussions in my everyday life.

  I remember one amazing moment with it when I went to the EuroGamer exhibition at Earl’s Court in London. I walked through the doors and crossed the floor, saying hello to the odd YouTuber here and there who knew me from behind the scenes on Copa90, but aside from them, no one knew me.

  I was there to do a shoot as the FIFA Playa, so I went into the toilets and got changed in the cubicle into the by now all-too-familiar outfit. It was a bit like a comic-book hero getting into costume, and when I walked out of the cubicle I had a real superhero moment. I had all the gear on but my snood was down as I came out, and there was a kid standing at the sink. He stood there looking at me in the mirror, shocked, while the tap was running, and then he turned and fixed his eyes on me. This lad was clearly a fully fledged soldier in the Playa Army. I pulled my mask up, put my finger to my lips and said, ‘Shhhh …’

  This time when I walked across the floor, hundreds of kids came up to me asking for selfies and autographs. It was just night and day. It was incredible. It wouldn’t have happened anywhere other than at a gaming convention, but it still gave me a little taste of what real fame would be like, even if it was also nice to take the mask off at the end of the day and be anonymous once again. I don’t think real fame has a similar ‘off’ switch.

  Of course, anonymity came with its own drawbacks. I’d beaten the two-time FIFA world champion fair and square during my time as FIFA Playa, but I couldn’t shout about it. Did it bother me that my alter ego was getting all the credit?

  One thing for sure was that there wasn’t much in the way of long-term prospects on YouTube as myself when it was only my secret identity that everyone recognised. If I wanted any kind of future on YouTube without a mask, I’d be starting from scratch all over again.

  Working for Copa90 had been amazing – I’d learned so much and been given the opportunity to do things I undoubtedly would have struggled to do solo – and the FIFA Playa remains one of the things I’ve done that I’m most proud of today. But I still had that itch to make my own content and strike out on my own.

  I’d spent the last year building a separate FIFA Playa channel. Copa90 had been good enough to let me use the character on my own channel in a mutually beneficial arrangement: I would get subscribers thanks to the character, and I would push the subscribers towards the main show and give Copa90 a shout-out for anything they were trying to promote.

  For that year, I uploaded a video nearly every day. I would finish work, go home, record and then edit the videos of the Playa doing little challenges or playing FIFA. I basically had no life outside of that character, but it paid off: I ended up with something like 130,000 subscribers on the channel by the time I quit my full-time role at Copa90.

  I think what some people outside of the YouTube community don’t always realise
is just how much hard work and dedication is involved in building a channel. I’d be up until all hours editing videos and then have to get up for work in the morning. You have to be constantly making and editing content, posting it and engaging with the community. You can’t take much of a break from it while you’re growing because you’ll lose momentum, so you just have to keep going at it. It’s relentless, and it’s not for everyone. Sure, what ends up on camera often looks more like fun than work, but it still takes a lot out of you.

  I can’t say I didn’t love it, though.

  It all came back to the mask. No one knew who I was, so I couldn’t really get any other work outside of the FIFA Playa character, which was a problem now that I’d left my normal job behind. I wanted to concentrate on building my own career but FIFA Playa was simultaneously the only success I’d had while being the one thing holding me back. Copa90 had their hands tied in that they couldn’t really have me present another show on the channel as it would immediately give away the secret identity of the FIFA Playa. They knew I wanted to do my own thing too, which was becoming more and more clear. The character was theirs – they owned the rights to it as we’d come up with it while working for Copa90 – but surely we could come up with a solution that allowed me to go out alone as Spencer and maintain the integrity of the character – if you can use such a word about the FIFA Playa.

  In the end, we decided that removing the FIFA Playa from my channel entirely was the only way to make a clean break. This would then allow me to rebrand my channel as my own. And we did it with a video that took a little inspiration from the Lindsay Lohan film Parent Trap, and a touch of Reservoir Dogs.

  The final FIFA Playa video, and the only one that would remain on my channel in the future, would bring things nicely – and tantalisingly – to a close. FIFA Playa had been kidnapped and tied up by his superfan Thomas Gray, who reveals himself to be less of a superfan than a crazed obsessive determined to find the formula for the perfect FIFA YouTuber out of KSI’s sweat, Joe Weller’s protein shake, NepentheZ’s beard, Batson’s hair (not from his head) and the final ingredient … a piece of FIFA Playa’s snood.

  And who was the guinea pig for this diabolical scheme? Well, that would be me, Spencer. I was zapped into existence, Frankenstein-style, and came face to face with the FIFA Playa for the first and last time. I said, ‘This channel isn’t big enough for the both of us. I’m taking over.’

  And with that, I freed the FIFA Playa and he walked off to disappear into the internet sunset. He’d left something for me to remember him by, however. In a video that only ended up being online for a few days, I had the name for the FIFA Playa’s diehard fans, the #PlayaArmy, tattooed to the bottom of my foot as a punishment for losing a FIFA challenge. Not so much a lethal injection, more a permanent inky stain.

  And Copa90 have gone from strength to strength since then. No longer making much gaming-related content, they’ve concentrated on cementing their place within the football community and I must say they’ve done it tremendously well. It makes me very proud to see how far Copa90 have come since a few of us started working on it in 2012. In my opinion, the football content on Copa90 is now among the finest you can find anywhere today, not just on YouTube.

  Will the FIFA Playa ever return? When the time comes and he’s the hero YouTube needs once more, at least in his own mind, who can say? The FIFA Playa might just rise again …

  As for me, the mask had made me fearless, but I needed the fear once again. It was time to go it alone as Spencer FC.

  TOP 10 STADIUMS

  Signal Iduna Park (Westfalenstadion, Borussia Dortmund, Germany)

  Without doubt the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced. The yellow wall is something you need to witness in your life.

  Camp Nou (Barcelona)

  I was lucky enough to come here twice, and for El Clásico, to see Messi work his magic in the flesh in this incredible arena.

  Wembley

  I’ve seen England and West Ham play here in huge games, but this stadium is particularly special to me because I’ve played and won here three times myself.

  Boleyn Ground (West Ham United)

  Doesn’t compare in terms of stature to some of the other stadiums on this list, but was and will always be the true home of my boyhood club, West Ham.

  San Siro (Milan)

  A unique stadium, and I saw the Milan derby here, which was intense.

  Veltins-Arena (Schalke 04, Germany)

  I was here for the England–Portugal World Cup quarter-final in 2006, where I saw the Rooney red card and us crash out on penalties. A painful memory, but it was still incredible to be there.

  Carlos Tartiere (Real Oviedo)

  A really cool stadium that holds a special place in my heart, as I’ve had some incredible experiences here with Oviedo and their fans.

  Hashtag Arena

  The smallest capacity by far on this list, but I’ve been able to create some amazing memories at the Hashtag Arena. Also the only artificial surface in my top 10!

  London Stadium (West Ham United)

  It might take us a while to settle in, but this place could hold the key to future success at West Ham.

  City Stadium Koševo (FK Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

  One of the most intense, aggressive and scary football experiences of my life. Not for the faint-hearted – and watch out for bullet holes!

  Special mentions: East Thurrock (the Rookery), and some amazing stadiums I’ve played at besides Wembley and the Boleyn Ground: St Mary’s, Anfield, the Emirates, Selhurst Park

  So there I was in April 2014, just me, myself and I. Oh, and the 130,000-plus subscribers I’d acquired from having what was originally the FIFA Playa channel.

  I’d never monetised the channel previously, but now, as I changed the channel’s name to Spencer FC and rebranded it with a new logo, that would all have to change. This would be what I made my living from, and something was very clear to me: if I messed things up as myself and people unsubscribed or lost interest, I would basically be done for. I’d have to go and get another job and be back to square one.

  My first task was to hold on to those subscribers. I could have done something similar to what had been on the channel before. I could have done a poor man’s FIFA Playa, but I wanted to go in a completely different direction. Just like when I first turned up for the Heybridge Swifts youth team all those years before, I was worried about whether people would like me. But I’d put myself in this position enough times since to know that I had to give it the best go I possibly could; if I smashed it, get in, and if I didn’t, well, at least I’d have no regrets.

  One of the earliest big decisions I made was to eradicate any trace of foul language from my content. Do I swear in real life? Of course I do sometimes, but it’s not a part of me that I wanted to feature in my videos. I wanted to make things more family-friendly and not close any doors on either potential viewers or brands that might take an interest. YouTube is a young person’s medium, so why risk losing the younger part of your audience to parental controls? Sometimes it’s easy to slip into using swear words for the sake of a cheap gag, but I always felt that if you’re relying on using rude language to entertain then you’re probably in the wrong game!

  While I might have been going in a completely new direction, I wasn’t stupid enough to abandon what had been the foundation of the success I’d enjoyed so far on YouTube: the beautiful game of FIFA. My online life was completely rooted in this, and it was time to play ball.

  One of my first videos as ‘Spencer’ was part of a FIFA 14 Road to Glory series, in which you take a team in Division 10 of Ultimate Team and try to take them up through the divisions to the promised land of Division 1, somewhere only the world’s best players get entry to. Lots of other YouTubers did these kind of series, and KSI did some funny ones where he would rap about the players and make it all very comic, but I wanted to apply some geeky football-related rules on mine unique to myself.

 
The show was called Forever Blowin’, after my team West Ham United’s club anthem ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’. What made this particular Road to Glory different was that I could only do it with players that either currently played for West Ham or had done so in the past.

  I brought a few little DIY touches to the show, too, in the form of some props. I took the virtual player cards in FIFA and actually printed them off and made real player cards out of them. I would then put them in a pot – called the pot of destiny – and every time I won a game or my opponent ‘rage quit’ (a pretty self-explanatory method of ending the game) I got to pick a random player to add to my squad out of the pot. If I lost a game, I would lose a player, which would make it even harder to get out of the division.

  The pot of destiny was an emptied tube of Slazenger tennis balls. My stagecraft and production values would eventually go up, of course, but like most YouTubers starting out, I was making my videos in my bedroom. In the first Forever Blowin’ I’m sitting at a desk at the end of my and Alex’s bed in a flat we shared with a couple from New Zealand. God knows what they must have thought when they heard me shouting at the top of my voice at random times from my bedroom. To be fair, though, Joe and Lisa were very understanding of my new career path and we couldn’t have wished for better flatmates.

  It was pretty lo-fi stuff, but I had grander plans – and I did have some skills to back that up. I’d been on internships for television companies like Channel 4, and I’d done plenty of editing and camera work with Copa90 and in my other jobs. I started editing when I was at university, with Windows Movie Maker, which was pretty basic and a great place to start, and then progressed to Sony Vegas. When I started working with production companies I got introduced to Final Cut Pro and then I finally moved over to Adobe Premiere. I had a basic kit, too. I had the Canon 70D, which is the classic YouTube camera with the flip-around screen so you can see yourself while you film and a half-decent microphone.