March attendances hit by weather and adversity- but we're still ahead for the year!

March is a critical month for sides at both ends of our divisions, but this year it was perhaps less critical than usual- because many of the scheduled matches just didn’t get played. We had snow, we had ice, we had rain, we had enough mud for an army assault course, and now we have an April in prospect which is likely to bring us football almost every single day as everyone plays catch-up.

Our attendance statistics were also hit by a non-weather related event- the eviction of Dulwich Hamlet from Champion Hill. Hopefully this will be short term, but when the biggest crowds in the league are displaced to Tooting then the numbers are always going to suffer. Despite that, however, there are a number of positives to report.

Firstly, our aggregate attendances for this season are almost 7000 up on this time last season, despite the weather and the Hamlet-factor. Secondly, a number of our clubs recorded their best attendances of the season last month. And finally, we’re still showing an overall increase of 7.5% for the year so far!

Last month we put together a growth league table, showing the clubs with the biggest percentage attendance increases. This month we’ll do something more traditional, and give you a top twenty list of biggest average attendances. It will start as you might think, but a number of the clubs listed might surprise you:

Top Twenty Average Attendances- up to end March 2018

1st: Dulwich Hamlet 1492
2nd: Billericay Town 1030
3rd: Guernsey 621
4th: Worthing 564
5th: Margate 518
6th: Lewes 516
7th: Tonbridge Angels 424
8th: Folkestone Invicta 400
9th: Enfield Town 388
10th: Lowestoft Town/Leatherhead 375
12th: Hastings United 362
13th: Carshalton Athletic 326
14th: Burgess Hill Town 321
15th: Needham Market 300
16th: Dorking Wanderers 288
17th: Leiston 279
18th: Aveley 269
19th: Bury Town 260
20th: Ashford United 256

Check back next month for more- and hopefully the fact that many of our sides will be playing three matches a week in an attempt to catch up won’t hit the numbers too much.