LS17’s own Jake Sorkin is a driving force behind the ultimate app for football fans.
A social media entrepreneur from Leeds 17 has set up an app so football fans can get all the essential information on the game in one place … and then chat about it online.
The app, called hoof, is a game changer for anyone who loves the beautiful game, and has been designed by 27-year-old Jake Sorkin from Alwoodley, a GSAL alumni and son of Gaynor and Jeremy, along with London-based fellow co-founders Ben Simpson and Tommy Leasor.
It’s all free to download and use and once on the homepage fans see a range of topics clearly set out like mini social media feeds where they can post on chats ranging from the January transfer window to opinions about who is the best ever British player – a topic inspired by Gareth Bale’s retirement. There are also hubs for supporters wanting to chat about the Premier League, the Championship or their favourite teams. The app has tackled the issue of online abuse with a zero-tolerance policy.
The topics will keep on changing depending on what’s popular or controversial right now but the aim is to have separate topic pages for all teams and talking points from around the world.
Other sections include all the latest up- to-the-minute scores and tables for teams in the UK, Europe and the USA and masses of information on individual players such as Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe. This includes appearances, goals, assists, total shots, shots on target, fouls committed, yellow cards, tackles and much more. Information on teams includes fixtures, statistics and squad.
But it’s the online banter fans love that’s at the heart of the app with hoof, short for Home Of Online Football. hoof is cleverly designed to ‘hoof’ racism and discrimination out of any of the chat the fans post on there. It uses a programme called Google Perspective to analyse all the posts and block any from being published deemed to break the rules. Swearing, though, is allowed as that’s accepted as part of fans’ banter. There is also a Report button so swift action can be taken against any posts deemed offensive.
Jake is the app’s Chief Marketing Officer: “All the essential football information fans want to search for and discuss is on hoof. Fans would have to trawl through six or seven other apps to find what hoof has right at your fingertips. hoof is a centralised social media platform for football.
“The topics will be ever changing to deal with breaking news and the kind of controversies and themes fans want to talk about.” Jake added: “The modern fan is driven by an insatiable appetite for content, constantly looking for new information to digest and discuss. As well as providing a safe space for users, we want to give every supporter the ability to become their very own pundit, equipped with best-in-class tools to discuss the beautiful game. We have created the ultimate playground for fans to experience social media like never before.” The hunger for the app is certainly out there. After hoof was profiled on popular radio station talkSPORT the number of users rocketed.
hoof Co-Founder and Chief Executive Ben Simpson adds: “We have an unwavering zero-tolerance policy towards abuse of any kind and any user found to be engaging in forms of discrimination will be immediately banned. The big social media platforms have shown time and time again they are entirely unwilling to pursue any kind of solution to the issue of online abuse – that is where hoof steps in.
“The key to combatting this problem revolves around being proactive, rather than reactive. Abuse is not difficult to mode. It is, in fact, one of the most predictable and preventable trends online.
We actively encourage people to hold us accountable and we want to work with organisations and institutions across football to tackle this issue as firmly as possible.”
Since leaving Leeds Jake has since gone on to build several highly successful football twitter accounts with a combined total of 20 million followers. He is now concentrating fully on hoof. But which team does he support?
“I may come from Leeds but I support Liverpool as my dad followed them through the 70s and 80s. That, I’m sure, will spark some banter in itself,” he admits.
The hoof app is now available on the Apple App Store and Google Play or you can download it at Install. hoof.app/welcome