Home Crowds - Ideas

[Fat Tom Daley]

Hi All, 

We have been discussing ways to get our crowds over the 1000 mark at the Bridge and are looking for ideas. 

Please list any suggestions below. 

Thanks, 

Jordan. 

[Ian_W]

I wished I lived closer, as I would sponsor the club.

Offered sponsorship to clubs locally and their corporate relations suck - if they can't be bothered to reply to sponsors, then I'm not going to invest!

It is good to see that Hornchurch is still different. 

[AuraShadeSZ]

Whilst it might not be the most popular idea amongst some current match going fans and I accept that and that this might get shot down, honestly, you've got to grow the club online first, kind of like Dorking did with help from BOA at least as a baseline of the idea, because outside of the current match going fans, a small handful of non-fans who care to remember that FA Trophy win and the people who play FM, there's no reason for anyone to really think about Hornchurch FC over other clubs let alone be aware that there is a football club. I mean, I'm local, and I didn't even know the club existed until I started playing FM a few years ago and by random chance, I saw the club on the screen. Without that 1 in 10,000 chance, I probably would have never known about the club and wouldn't have ended up going to any matches.

[Wivenhoe Urchin]

I've seen us already all over Facebook, TikTok and such so it seems the club are trying to promote online more and they are reaching out to fans this way, but that'll get mostly to people afar who will be able to come maybe once a season to the club. What about a pay online to watch the club home games? I've liked the flexi-ticket idea. Years ago I came to almost every game, but now I'm busy on most Tuesdays and some Saturdays, so the flexi-ticket option is ideal for me and I can use it to go when I am free. If the mid-week game night was changed away from Tuesdays, I'd get to most night games too, but that's just unfortunate for me. What about playing on 2 different nights of the week, say on Thursdays too?

Over the years I've heard people say they don't go as many games as they would've done because of how much it costs, so pricing is an issue for some. We charge £15 now for adults, whereas it used to be £10 or just over. I think the gap in cost between older kids and adults is too much. There used to be 6 of us going to most games when I was in college. Once I was back from University, it was 2 of us, then just me. There needs to be a way of keeping people coming when they are adults, particularly those in groups from school and college. What about a new price for say 18-25 year olds that is somewhere between the kids and adult prices? Ideally less than £10. 

[AuraShadeSZ]

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I've seen us already all over Facebook, TikTok and such so it seems the club are trying to promote online more and they are reaching out to fans this way

Yeah, I've seen that too, but it's too basic and doesn't stand out amongst the hundreds of other non-league and even Sunday league clubs like Best. I've seen from Hornchurch are the sorts of moments when Weston fell over the ball or the nutmegs in training, but that's because, especially in the training clips, it's curtain-pulled-back moments that are unique to the club. 

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What about a pay online to watch the club home games? 

I like this idea, but I feel like it wouldn't be allowed, which is why teams only really do radio coverage, and maybe that's something the club could look at doing. One thing that could work whilst not in match coverage is match preview and review analysis videos because I can't really think of any club off the top of my head that offers those kinds of insights into how a match went, and the previews could drum up more interest in what could be a key battle on the pitch between Gibbs vs Carroll, as an example.  

On the topic of getting interest out there, they could have a fan submissions contest for a 3rd kit design, considering we don't have a 3rd kit, at least to my knowledge, and have it that they'll use that kit for x number of games. It's actually something I'm surprised more teams don't do.  

[AuraShadeSZ]

also the previews could be a way to showcase/introduce the players more to new and potential fans so that they aren't just 11 random guys running around on the pitch   

[Jago]

For me the biggest winner would be to allow standing behind one of the goals - or ideally both but appreciate stewarding and organisational costs.  I know this has been kyboshed previously (council approval?) but it doesn't have to be fancy.

And more adventurous food offerings.

[UrchinYid]

It's extremely difficult, but I agree the crowd sizes must increase. We do need to remember that all matchday staff and social media coordinators are volunteers and have full time jobs.

The only way I think we can increase home crowds would be to pay a professional marketing company to promote us online, professionally. It's what they do for a living.

I would say live streaming would have the adverse effect and reduce the home crowd sizes, but look at Hashtag..

Playing 2 x midweek matches isn't permitted by the National League, unless it's under extreme circumstances.

The admission prices are set by the league, who set a minimum we can charge. We are the joint cheapest.

I think we need Steve Newman back to start doing his roast potatoes again!

[Up the chins]

We could all come together and knock down the London stadium, then we get more fans at the ground and I don’t have to watch football at that shithole anymore. What about an offer short term, I don’t know how it would work but like bring someone new and you both get half price tickets. You’d make the money up from drinks and food anyway, then that person could be like yeah I enjoy this and keep coming back obviously not at half price but it gives the person going an incentive and also the person coming or something like that bit like when people share sign up links for banks to both benefit off the invite a friend deal. Yeah you wouldn’t make any money up from the tickets but say that extra person doesn’t come, that person is still paying the full price and this way more will be spent on food and drink or even like spurs/West Ham season ticket holders get discounts, think midweek games attendances especially. I don’t know these might all be stupid ideas but  got to start somewhere. Think the layout of the ground probably doesn’t attract people as it is so yeah stands behind the goals would be good but I’m sure we have possibly looked into this before. Fan Zones are also good but not sure about the logistics. 

[UrchinYid]

11 hours ago, Up the chins said:

We could all come together and knock down the London stadium, then we get more fans at the ground and I don’t have to watch football at that shithole anymore. What about an offer short term, I don’t know how it would work but like bring someone new and you both get half price tickets. You’d make the money up from drinks and food anyway, then that person could be like yeah I enjoy this and keep coming back obviously not at half price but it gives the person going an incentive and also the person coming or something like that bit like when people share sign up links for banks to both benefit off the invite a friend deal. Yeah you wouldn’t make any money up from the tickets but say that extra person doesn’t come, that person is still paying the full price and this way more will be spent on food and drink or even like spurs/West Ham season ticket holders get discounts, think midweek games attendances especially. I don’t know these might all be stupid ideas but  got to start somewhere. Think the layout of the ground probably doesn’t attract people as it is so yeah stands behind the goals would be good but I’m sure we have possibly looked into this before. Fan Zones are also good but not sure about the logistics. 

I'll try my best to conjure something to stop you going back to that place...

I know Enfield & Wingate have done promotional weekends for Spurs season ticket holders in the past, but I think they've been on Non League Day and/or International breaks. I do like the idea though, but I'm unsure on the rules, regs, etc.

Edited November 18, 2025 by UrchinYid