Good going that. I think i saw that Stockport had a 10000+ gate for a game this season. Where else do fifth tier clubs get those attendances?
I know Notts county had over 11k at one point. And grimsby around 6-7k I think. Some cracking support. I think Wrexham have a fair bit due to their new celebrity owners.
All ex football league clubs so they've always had that support and now doing well fans are flocking back.
It seems that when they end up in the National League, all the locals turn out to support them. They reckon non league attendances have been on the increase for some time; maybe it's an example of how certain fans think the Premier is crap? In the Northern Premier, Brighouse had over 800 for their game with Liversedge.
I popped up to watch Hallam FC last night. It was one of their lower crowds of the season, but they've been regularly attracting over 700, in the 10th tier. They had 1,200 on Boxing Day.
Never has there been a better argument to make the 5th tier professional. I heard on a podcast the other week that there's only about 6 teams in that division that aren't professional already now. Even in mid table, you've got Yeovil and Southend who have been in the Championship in the last 15 years or so. I think it's because its a difficult league to get out of, but the gulf between the top half of the national league, and the bottom 8 in league 2, isn't very big. Which is why you have teams like Salford, Forest Green and Harrogate who have come up and are doing reasonably well.
On a cold night, 300 plus is pretty good, especially if you factor in that the blue pigs were at home.
Decent article in When Saturday Comes this month about Hallam. I'd always intended popping up when I lived in S6 (about as far away as you can get in S6 from the theatre of rust) but never got round to it. Really need to get down to watch Wombwell soon.
It just proves to me,no matter which division you`re in,if you are winning games,people will come & watch.
Yeah it wouldn't be a bad idea to rebrand it EFL League 3 and have it as part of the Sky TV deal when the league becomes available again as BT Sport don't give it enough live coverage.
BT are contracted to show a minimum of 30 live National League games this season. I'd be very surprised if Sky show anywhere near that number of League 2 and three games.
When i first moved round here, Hamlets were getting around 300. They've had 2 promotions since and are now in national league south, but they are now sometimes getting over 3,000.
It's all about results. Penistone used to get 30-40 folk at best. Had 3-400 some games this season as they're flying high.
Not so sure, been to Hallam a few times and Church once this season, couldn't give a fig about results. At £3 entry and access to a decent pint it's a decent afternoon/evening out.
Not saying it is for some. I've been all over watching Rec. The few will always go. But the mass increase is always in line with results.
