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Attendance Figures: Oh Dear


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Premier Division<BR> 01-02 00-01 <P>Aldershot Town 2008 1973 +2%<BR>Billericay Town 579 467 +24%<BR>Canvey Island 558 544 +3%<BR>Sutton United 558 535 +4%<BR>Bedford Town 540 577 -7%<BR>Gravesend & Northfleet 505 458 +10%<BR>Kingstonian 493 970 -49%<BR>Braintree Town 400 292 +37%<BR>Basingstoke Town 394 468 -16%<BR>Purfleet 391 248 +58%<BR>Hitchin Town 351 311 +13%<BR>Grays Athletic 341 241 +41%<BR>St Albans City 326 493 -34%<BR>Chesham United 280 338 -17%<BR>Hampton & Richmond Boro 268 327 -18%<BR>Harrow Borough 257 251 +2%<BR>Boreham Wood 245 253 -3%<BR>Hendon 244 229 +7%<BR>Heybridge Swifts 233 269 -13%<BR>Maidenhead United 215 307 -30%<BR>Croydon 127 158 -20%<BR>Enfield 97 206 -53%<P>I should say that apart from fans of Aldershot the figures above make pretty miserable reading. Can any other club in this league really claim to be big enough for the Conference or even higher. Just a few things worth a mention.<BR>ENFIELD, just what has happened to your support 97 is appalling for one of the non-league giants. CHESHAM only 280, for promotion candidates (at least so says the Chairman) frankly its embarrassing. Next up GRAYS at 341, a big improvement. They have played home matches against both Gravesend and Aldershot however. They are 3rd in the league. What happens now if their current run ends. Nice improvement from PURFLEET and BRAINTREE though a long long long way to go yet. KINGSTONIAN may give everybody hope, last years figures are nearly double. Does that mean all clubs will automatically double in the conference. GRAVESEND, my own team is improving, but it’s taking a long time. The fan base is there. As long as they sustain there form the numbers should increase. Can that be said for CANVEY who top the table and average 558? More worryingly for them on Saturday they played a home FA Cup 4th qualifying tie and produced the 4th lowest attendance of the round (two were not given, so you never know they may have beaten five others). That just may suggest that they can go no further. BEDFORD are as I would expect for another sleeping giant. You have to assume that if they had had a decent start they would be pulling more fans and have to be a promotion prospect in future years. BILLERICAY are moving in the correct direction. Is there room for them to improve? ALDERSHOT you are not of this league and I expect all your fans wonder just why you are still here. These are just my opinions, do you disagree.

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Who made you attendance police then?<P>You're like that old hag in the Frankie Howards Up Pompei<P>"Woe woe and thrice woe"<P>or the Scottish git in Dad's Army<P>"We doomed- we're all doomed" (apply scottish accent)<P>You're obviously bored - looking to rile the supporters again<P>So who's going to bite first?<P>S*** it was me!! Doh!!!!<BR> shocked.gif" border="0

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Hey Irony, Standard reply from Essex Man. <BR>Youre correct this board has been just a tad boring lately. The sad thing is that your club comes out rather well. Are you able to talk or just throw insults. The latter I should think. Why were your attendances so low last season. Its not hard to improve them is is. The point is that you fancy yourselves for promotion, what happens if things dont work out. Are the 200 crowds likely to return. ENGAGE YOUR BRAIN.

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Farnborough won the league last season with gates that were nothing spectacular, the match before they clinched the title, at home to St. Albans there was a crowd of 677. Whilst there failing to live up to Westley's prediction that they would win it at the first attempt, Farnborough are having an OK season, currently 9th. Looking at the equivalent stats for the conference (look at confguide.com if you're interested) 10 clubs have an average attendance of below 1000, whilst Leigh RMI have an ave attendance of only 531. Whilst a small gate would make things difficult financially, it is no bar to playing in the conference.

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average attendances can be deceptive at this time of the season.. for example some teams havnt played the shots at home yet..this is especially relavent to clubs close to aldershot..also some local derbies have yet to be played (ricay/canvey for example).....we have had to switch our game at grays to a tuesday night, as its a top of the table clash grays could have expected a better than average crowd if it had remained a saturday fixture... our game at home to braintree will attract a good crowd as both teams are doing well, would this be the case if we were both mid table? .. there are so many variables that can affect potential big crowds.. having questioned its usefulness, i must admit i love looking at all this statto stuff

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Carjam

I would disagree in part you seem to be saying that Canvey do not have the potential fanbase, but we do, this has shown in previous cup games, the FA last year when the attendance's were high.

The thing we need is to get them turning up for league games as well. If Canvey do get the promotion this year and also do well in the cup games I believe it will help towards attendance ipmrovement coupled with some good PR work.

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The trouble with looking at FA Cup attendances is that although you get a lot of new people through the gate, by and large they don't come back again.<p>Our trip to Villa was a prime example, we took some 7,000 fans with us but the following Saturday, home to Cheltenham we had a gate of about 700, which was about the average for the time.<p>One interesting statistic is your attendance for the FA Trophy semi-final against Chester, which, and I know you will correct me if I'm wrong, was less than 1,000.<p>The problem is that fans would rather travel 40 or 50 miles to see West Ham or, in our case Charlton, in the Premiership rather than go to a local game.<p>I'm not sure about you, but at work I get the "I can't understand people supporting little clubs, I'm an Arsenal fan" Mind you only by watching them on the telly.<p>The bottom line is that small attendances mean that we have to spend far more effort in raising money than we should, unless you are able to attract a millionaire with more money than caravans. (Unlike my fellow Fleet fan however, I don't have a problem with that. Good luck to you)<p>Enough ramblings for this post smile.gif" border="0

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Totally agree with you Dave about the West Ham /Arsenal thing. I was helping to promote the FA cup game last Saturday in Billericay High St, and was amazed to find people who were more interested in watching Leeds v ManU in the pub than coming and watching Billericay. <p>What has been interesting wrt the Cup attendances is that despite the Trophy success, Canvey's attendances have remained much as they were last season in the league. I'd be (genuinely) interested to know what Canvey are doing to increase attendances. <p>Do the Canvey fans think that the decision to increase admission prices to £8 has deterred people from coming?

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Carjam,<p>Are you saying that Aldershot are too big for this league? When some Shots fans say that they are accused of being arrogant?<p>The fact is that large attendances do not guarantee success (ask Man City, Wolves, etc.) - and as I understand it the costs of maintaining the Rec are also high.<p>Having said that this is now the Shots fourth season in the Ryman Premier and we do expect us to at least maintain a championship challenge. Most fans were pretty content with our overall perfomance in years 1 and 2<p>Year 1 - top 6 in the league; Ryman League Cup & County Cup

Year 2 - top 3 in the league and FA Cup second round.<p>Year 3 was disappointing in that we didn't maintain a challenge and Farnborough walked away with the league.<p>Year 4 - who knows? I believe that at the moment the Championship is too close to call and will depend on such things as confidence, injuries, etc, as well as footballing ability. Whilst I hope we will win the league and am sure that we Can win it, I am also aware that we face serious challenges from both Canvey and G&N (I can't see other teams maintaining a challge) and will be satisfied if we maintain a realistic challenge.

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Completely agree with you Simon - its really difficult drumming up interest in Non League football when you are competing with the likes of West Ham - and televised football!!<p>But I remember the days when Billericay used to pull crowds of 150+ and that was only about 1996 so you must be doing something right.<p>Its very difficult balancing wages etc against a low gate entrance fee and £8 does seem a lot at our level - I honestly believe that you have to start young and get the kids in on a quid a time - they will be the supporters of the future - also if the recession does bite then one of the first concessions is league football - thats also the time to offer gpood local football.<p>For clubs like Canvwy they will be forever competing with the likes of Southend where as quite frankly Aldershot have no leagure opposition worth talking about. We have Colchester banging on the door offering kids free tickets - whats a club to do?? frown.gif" border="0

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Dave, Did I read some anti Canvey into that last post. Be careful or you might get picked on.<p>Irony, its a decent subject. I’m afraid that you are now the banana of the group...not me.<p>Simon. Farnbrough are up and down like a yo yo.<p>It seems to, me that most supporters don’t care about the crowds as long as success comes. It happens but rarely lasts while support is not forthcoming. The fact that your club may be paying far more than it can afford clearly does not worry some of you. If you want your club to survive it should.<p>Oh and Badger, just read your page. That explains a great deal. I remember your fans singing 'We are Enfield, and no one likes us'. They were right. Not now though. When a club such as yours hits hard times I for one wish you all the best in pulling it back. I like Enfield. Couldn’t have said that just a few years back. COME ON ENFIELD!.<p>Oh and all that you chaps that have been giving me bad marks. Please change them Ive only got 3 footballs now. It’s not called for. Mark me up please.

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And Andy, you are too big for this league. If the Fleet fall away I genuinely hope that you win it. I suppose your club must be wary of overspending after what happened. All the same though with your support you must return to a higher level soon. Failure will become embarrassing.<p>CarJam

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<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> Dave, Did I read some anti Canvey into that last post. Be careful or you might get picked on. <hr></blockquote><p> smile.gif" border="0 I don't think so, I'm not particularly anti-Canvey any more than I'm anti-Aldershot or any other club that thinks that they should finish higher than us in the league. smile.gif" border="0 <p>In fact, two of the people who have given me most help with Northfleet on the Net are Ian at Canvey and Tony at Aldershot (thanks lads)<p>The point about the FA Trophy attendance was just to show that there is "The magic of the FA Cup" and that it doesn't often transfer into higher attendances for other games even high profile ones like FA Trophy semi-finals.<p>[ 01 November 2001: This message was edited by: Dave GNFC ]</p>

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carjam, the Enfield attendances have been hit firstly by a nomadic existence around several grounds culminating in a groundshare at Boreham Wood, and secondly by a large number of the supporters forming their own breakaway club where they now all go.<P>Do you know how the attendances compare to, say, 5 years ago (at least for the teams who have stayed in the same league)? Is it a general downward trend or what?

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Badger, <BR>I was well aware of Enfields ground share problems. An average of 97 though is desperate. Enfild used to take more than that to away games. Just what is the breakaway club. Thats news to me. 5 year figures I dont have you can be certain in your own case though that attendances then were far away higher than at present. Your attendances now are closer to a Ryman league 3rd division club. It makes me wonder if Enfield can ever be a force again.<P>Carjam

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Engage my brain umm<P>Well to commence, the basis for your somewhat rather lightweight research would indicate that you are in fact only able to operate the frontal lobe – this, as all scholars know, is the part of the brain that become non functional after, for instance a knock on the head or excess exposure to the **** and written effluence that is known to originate from the Northflleet and Gravesend area.<P>Researches have proven that such non function can lead not only to the victim making a total a*** of themselves but also suffering out of body experiences – such as seeing themselves in the Conference – or severe delusion manifesting itself through a superior persona (layman’s language – thinking they are better then everyone else)<P>Diagnosis – GNFCefflueninitis<BR>Prognosis – no cure<BR>Treatment - indulge said patient until such time as only resolution is to commit into mental institution <BR>Rehabilitation – allow patient to have access to various web boards and indulge his “superior persona” – it wont cure him but doesn’t cause him any harm. <BR> wink.gif" border="0

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