Zimbabwe News Update
zifmstereo
3 min read
Still, it’s hardly a natural subject for an obsession from abroad. The only clue on matchday are the two green cameras extending up on long poles between the dugouts. On tuesday evening, they witness one of the greatest goalkeeping performances i’ve seen live as afc sudbury somehow cling on for a 2-2 draw. There were around 400 people at the game; two clubs in this division regularly get more than 1,000. Of more significance are the 12,000 people watching live online on twitch and youtube, all of them in spain. In the football manager community, dominating a game without winning is known as “being fm’d”. For thousands in spain, the football manager experience is being lived out for real.
I chatted to harborough chairman peter dougan before the game, who explained how this bizarre community was formed. In 2024, one of his colleagues overheard a conversation in the car park about a spanish client of a solicitor involved in brooke house football academy, one of the club’s partners. The client was interested in involvement with a non-league club.That spanish audience lives the harborough town experience (photo: r_bmedia) the man was ilie oleart, the owner of la media inglesa, the largest platform in the world for english football coverage in non-english language. He and colleagues attended matches, including a glamour fa cup tie at reading. By february 2025, a relationship had been formed. “we had the idea of buying an english club,” oleart tells me.
“but then we thought that if we did that, we would be imitating the model we had criticized so much: a foreign investor who buys a club as if it were a toy, like vincent tan or roland duchatelet. So we started looking for clubs to partner with or where we could contribute in a meaningful way. That ambition raises an eyebrow, but la media inglesa has a massive following. When dougan arranged for a game to be streamed entirely free, 48,000 viewers in spain watched a seventh-tier english fixture. Only two clubs in england got a higher home attendance that weekend. “when the spanish come over, our supporters meet them in town, drink with them and sing with them,” dougan says. “last time, two members of the spanish embassy in london came too. It’s mind-blowing really, but it’s also great for the town.
They use the hotels, the restaurants and the pubs. We all come together.” carlos gonzalez – known as “falcao” – was a city banker who did a masters in sports journalism when he wanted to change career. He applied for a job at la media inglesa in 2024 and didn’t get it, but when ilie spoke to him about harborough, he jumped at the chance. Falcao left his job and became a full-time employee working on harborough town from spain. Falcao runs the official club spanish language account which, at 17,400, has more followers than the official english language account of most clubs in the league (including harborough’s). He has a place on the board to allow for ideas for further attracting a spanish-speaking audience to be forged.
This partnership is only nine months old, but la media inglesa believe the audience can grow exponentially. “our relationship is growing day to day,” says falcao. “that’s thanks to our community which are behind the la media inglesa project and also volunteers of harborough town, the board, the staff, the players. “everyone in the club has welcomed us as part of this bees’ family. When ilie was studying which club could fit perfectly with our ethos, i cannot imagine any better than harborough town. Source: zifm stereo
