Rugby influencer isn’t really a term that’s coined regularly, but perhaps that’s about to change. Leading the charge in the new form of Rugby media is 22-year-old Max Brown – an amateur rugby player from Walsall.
With his brand of ‘relatable rugby’, Max has amassed a huge following across his social media accounts with his unique take on rugby. Speaking exclusively to RugbyDump, Max has been discussing the incredible impact that his new form of content has had on the younger generation.
Max Brown celebrating a YouTube milestone. Credit Instagram: maxbrownyo
Spotting a gap in the market for humour-based rugby content, this lad from Walsall has brought his own brand of content to a sport that desperately needs refreshing. Speaking about the creation of his brand, Max said:
“I’d post a few tries online just because I was posting fitness content, and it kind of just aligned with it a little bit. I’d always played rugby, but never posted much about it, and then people started to enjoy it when I did. So it was received well, and I spotted a bit of a gap in the market.
“There wasn’t much rugby content out there. If you searched on YouTube for rugby, it would just be prem highlights or some boring videos. So I was like, alright, I’ll try and push into it a little bit more.
“As it started to grow and I started to get a good response from it, I realised that a lot of people are enjoying my content because I am just a normal lad from Walsall, playing with my mates.
“It was that what people really enjoyed, that it was just relatable that you play with your mates, get on the piss afterwards, and that’s what rugby is about.
Speaking about the difference between his content and the in-house content that clubs are able to provide, Max realised that, actually, he had an opportunity to provide a view that others could not.
“If you’re looking at prem clubs and England, they’re obviously posting the highlights and things like that. But you don’t see much else of the professional players. They do as much as they probably can do.
“I can post whatever I want, I’ve got no one to answer to.
“I made that a mission of mine, right. Let’s show people what rugby is about. Let’s show people, you know, drinking dirty pints, and being on tour and people are loving it so far.”
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Being a committed player himself, Max found himself in the perfect position to bring rugby culture to a new generation of audiences.
The question is, though, why is Max’s content important? Why does rugby need to attract a whole generation of new talent and support?
As Max says himself, the new generation need to be treated differently.
“I know a lot of younger kids are watching YouTube videos. They’re watching social media. So I definitely do appeal to a lot of those.
“I think if more isn’t done to kind of really hit that audience, you know, in 10 years time, it’s it’s just gonna fizzle out more and more.”
With all his efforts over the past couple of years, what impact has Max had on the younger generation?
“I’ll get messages from people saying they’ve started playing rugby because of my videos,” Max said. “They might never have played rugby before, or they played football and then they’ve just joined their local rugby team as a result.
“I’ve also had a lot of young kids as well, saying I’ve kept them playing rugby, you know. They were thinking of giving up, and this and that, but then they’ve carried on playing.
“On the flip side, I’ve had a lot of older people message me saying, ‘I haven’t played for 5 years, but I’ve just gone back to my club’.”
The impact that Max has had on the younger generation doesn’t stop in front of the computer screen, in-fact the 22-year-old has experienced his newfound fame in the streets.
“The amount of kids that are coming up to me, absolutely ecstatic, asking for autographs, photos and things. It puts into perspective that they are actually all real people watching me. So that response is great, and that always reminds me what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.”
So how does this young man go about doing something that the largest papers and TV channels have failed to do in recent years?
Well, it’s plain and obvious that Max is, himself, relatable. As previously claimed, he is just a normal lad from Walsall. A talented rugby player, no doubt, but a player not at a high enough level to be governed by media managers or any higher powers that can tell him what to say and what not to say.
His infectious enthusiasm is also a far cry from the miserable pessimism that plagues many social sites by self-important journalists, or fans that perhaps need to check their armchairs for soft spots.
“I think it’s just good to be making a positive impact in the industry” Max explained.
“I love making videos. I love full of all the nerdy bits, the editing, everything like that. It’s amazing that I can do that for my job.”
What does the future hold for Max?
“I wanna try and do as much as I can in all of the spaces of rugby, from elite level through to grassroots.
“I can show what rugby is like at the grassroot level through playing more games for my club, and that way I can show that grassroots level. But also if I’m connected with English rugby, the RFU, then I can get the elite-level players in a situation that they’re not normally in – whether I’m doing a challenge against one of them or things like that.
“I can show their personality, and put them in a YouTube format, or social media format that probably won’t be out there in other forms of media, and I just want to make rugby, like cool.
“You don’t have to be a posh, boring, red chino, old man, it can be cool.”
Finally, as our conversation turned to the exciting rugby opportunities that this summer has on offer, Max informed me that his own sevens season was just around the corner. Recovering from injuries of his own, Max was keen to talk through his plans in the off-season.
Asked to detail a sevens tournament for an uninitiated audience, Max painted a sunny picture of the offerings.
“It’s about 70% festival, 30% Rugby. There’re people that aren’t interested in rugby at all, there are people that love it, but they’re all just there to have fun and have a piss up.”
Finishing off the conversion we discussed the 70%, including socials, tours and all the parts surrounding rugby that don’t involve a a ball.
Whilst every rugby club is different, the real way to experience the life of a rugby player, is to join a club.
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