The Active Club (AC) network is a transnational grouping of fascist martial arts clubs that has established multiple branches in the UK. 

The ACs have roots in the Rise Above Movement (RAM), a US far-right street-fighting group founded by Robert Rundo in 2017. After RAM suffered a number of arrests, Rundo introduced the notion of decentralised “Active Clubs” in 2020. Scores of small, localised training groups under the name quickly emerged across the US, Europe, Australasia and South America, inspired by Rundo but without central leadership.

ACs combine physical exercise with extremist ideology in order to foster a militant fascist elite. Members – who use fake names – meet in parks and gyms to prepare for violence, drilling martial arts under white supremacist flags. Stylised images of their activities are then posted on social media while carefully preserving the anonymity of AC members. 

The first significant British groups to adopt elements of the AC philosophy were PA Fitness Club and White Stag Athletics Club (WSAC), both of which emerged from The Judgement Zone, a defunct fascist fitness group, in 2021. 

However, the UK’s first official AC, Active Club Scotland, formally launched in May 2023. HOPE not hate exposed its leader, Scott Cowan, as a former Scottish Defence League activist and that other members have pasts in Patriotic Alternative, Blood & Honour and the now-banned neo-Nazi terror group National Action. AC Scotland has since rebranded as Caledonia Club, following internal rifts. 

An Active Club England umbrella account launched in February 2024 and regional chapters have since emerged for Yorkshire, North West, London, the Midlands, South West, Anglia and Wessex. A linked youth group, Albion Youth Club, also launched in October 2025. 

Whilst operating with autonomy, chapters often coordinate activities across regions, nationally and, occasionally, overseas. In September 2025, members from across England met to trade punches in an interbranch competition, clad in matching Will2Rise gear emblazoned with the fasces symbol.

In September 2024, Ian Michael Elliot — a representative of the US white supremacist group Patriot Front — visited the Scottish branch. Members also met with overseas ACs in Stockholm for the Holmgång 2024 fight competition.

ACs have recruited across the fascist fringe and in turn influenced the activism and aesthetic of the extreme right. This includes groups like Vanguard Britannica and White Vanguard, and better-established organisations like the British Movement and Patriotic Alternative (PA). 

AC members acted as security at the PA’s national camp and conference last year under the direction of Matthew Darrington, PA’s East Midlands organiser who, as HOPE not hate revealed, is also the key figure behind AC Midlands, which trains out of a gym in Newark-on-Trent.                  

The dangers posed by these secretive, militant brotherhoods should not be underestimated. Blending physical training with political extremism is a powerful radicalisation tool. ACs are cultivating a capacity for violence because they expect to use it in clashes with their political and racial enemies.

During the riots of 2024, AC England pumped out a stream of inflammatory content, telling followers to “hit the streets”. An ITV exposé reported that AC England had grown to more than 100 members following the disorder.

ITV subsequently outed Matthew Gravill, from Leicestershire, as a key propagandist for AC England and organiser for Vanguard Britannica. Gravill, who previously worked as a visitor guide at Buckingham Palace, travelled to the US in September 2025 for the Patriot Front conference, at which Rundo was also present. 

Unsurprisingly, ACs have attracted violent individuals. AC London member Jay Barlow has convictions for racially aggravated harassment, and GBH following a knife attack in a supermarket. 

We have also previously revealed that Andrew McIntyre, a key instigator of the racist riots in Merseyside last summer, was a member of AC North West. The neo-Nazi is currently serving a seven-and-a-half year sentence for inciting violent disorder and possession of a knife after being exposed by HOPE not hate.

We have also previously uncovered individuals involved in AC Scotland as having served jail time for making bomb and death threats against left-wing activists, and for marching with National Action, a now-banned neo-Nazi terror group. 

Moreover, in 2024, Swansea-based fascist Alexander Edwards discussed starting an “active club” before being jailed for over five years for a brutal unprovoked attack on a transgender woman, on top of terror-related offences. Edwards had previous convictions for his role in the British Hand, a neo-Nazi terror group exposed by HOPE not hate in 2020.

Additionally, in 2025 police found a gun at the home of the neo-Nazi drug dealer John Beaver, a member of AC Scotland.