A club that began in a Sunday league and built a following of more than 250,000 YouTube subscribers came within one match of the FA Cup first round proper this autumn. SE Dons’ run ended on 17 October with a 2-0 defeat at Sholing, but it was a remarkable first FA Cup campaign for a club that started in the Sunday league. Here is how they got there.
How SE Dons Began
According to Flashscore’s profile, SE Dons were founded in 2014 by rapper Andrew McHugh, known as Don Strapzy, and friends in the Orpington and Bromley District Sunday League. They began documenting their journey on YouTube and social media in 2017, and the channel now has more than 250,000 subscribers and 110 million total views.
They won their Sunday league division in 2021 and 2022, then entered the non-league pyramid in 2024/25 by merging with Forest Hill Park and playing under that name. That season they finished third and lost a promotion play-off final, one of three finals they lost that year. After renaming themselves SE Dons the following season, they won the play-off final and earned promotion to the Southern Counties East League Premier Division. Flashscore describes them as a ninth-tier club. We covered an earlier stage of their story in our profile of their journey from Sunday league.
The Run, Round by Round
This was SE Dons’ debut season in the Emirates FA Cup. The competition started for them in the extra preliminary round, the first stage of the tournament.
| Round | Result |
|---|---|
| Extra preliminary round (early August) | 6-0 away win at Lancing |
| Preliminary round | Beat Punjab United in a replay |
| First qualifying round | Home win over Erith Town, in front of 910 fans |
| Second qualifying round | 3-2 away win at Chichester, with both late goals coming in second-half stoppage time |
| Third qualifying round (3 October) | 5-1 away win at Weymouth |
| Fourth qualifying round (17 October) | Lost 2-0 at Sholing |
The Weymouth win was the standout. Weymouth were a National League side at the time, according to Flashscore, and the FA’s match report says SE Dons took the lead after 18 minutes through Dominic Morgan-Griffiths. Joshua Bohui and Ralfi Hand scored either side of half-time, Jordan Gugas-Cowin made it 4-0 on the hour and Walter Figueira completed the scoring late on. The win took SE Dons into the fourth qualifying round for the first time in their history.
The End of the Road at Sholing
Sholing, from the seventh tier, won the fourth qualifying round tie 2-0, according to two outlets that reported the result. One of them records goals in the 33rd and 58th minutes. A win would have put SE Dons into the first round proper, where League One and League Two clubs enter the competition.
Sholing now play Salisbury in the first round proper, one of the ties we cover in our FA Cup first round guide. It is the first time Sholing have reached this stage, according to the Independent.
What the Run Was Worth
By the third qualifying round, SE Dons had earned nearly £14,000 in prize money, according to Flashscore. The FA’s official prize fund pays clubs that lose in the fourth qualifying round £3,125.
The run also shows how far a club with a large online audience can go while playing at the bottom of the non-league pyramid. The attention came from the pitch as much as the channel: wins at Chichester and Weymouth were against clubs from higher levels of the game.