A North attendance round up

The 24-25 Pitching In Isthmian League season was an enormous success, with increased attendances in every division. Overall, our total attendance across the league was 728,327, increased from 616,028, and our average attendance was up to 394 when you divide the total by our 1848 matches. 

Continuing to look across the entire League, it’s also heartening to note that the number of matches which welcomed more than a thousand spectators also went up. We had ten attendances over three thousand, thirty which exceeded two thousand, and one hundred and thirty four which exceeded one thousand. Last season the number which exceeded an attendance of one thousand was one hundred and three.

If we were to look at the top thirty attendances from across the league, Billericay Town appear as hosts on one occasion, and as visitors on another. Dulwich Hamlet appear as hosts seventeen times, and as visitors once. Dover Athletic appear as hosts three times and as visitors three times, Chatham Town appear as hosts three times and as visitors on one occasion, whilst Horsham appear as hosts twice and as visitors once. Cray Wanderers, Folkestone Invicta and Dartford also make an appearance from our top flight, whilst the three thousand three hundred who watched Ramsgate take on Margate gave the Rams the sixth highest attendance of the season- the highest attended match outside the Premier Division. Other Step Four clubs appearing in our top thirty are Margate (for the visit of Ramsgate), Guernsey (new ground opening against Westfield), and Deal Town (for the visit of Ramsgate). The two thousand and twenty seven who watched the Rams take on Merstham also feature in our top thirty, with the highest North Division attendance being the one thousand, six hundred and fifteen who watched Maldon & Tiptree take on Heybridge Swifts. 

Here’s the top thirty table from the entire league:

Let’s look particularly, then, at Pitching In Isthmian North.

The North Division had a total of 125,691 spectators over the season, which is a significant increase from the 87,544 in 23-24 (although we did have extra clubs this time around). Maldon and Tiptree were first and eighth in our top ten, Cambridge City third, sixth and ninth, whilst Bury Town were fourth, fifth and seventh. Brentwood Town and Felixstowe and Walton United also featured.

Here’s the top ten table:

And here’s our North Division Attendance Grid:

It’s also worth us looking at the highest attendance achieved by each of our twenty two clubs, as that demonstrates that only four of our top flight clubs managed an attendance over one thousand during the season, and also that play off winners Bury Town were the biggest attractions. Five of our clubs hosted their highest attendance of the season when Bury came to call, with four recording their biggest attendance when Tilbury were the visitors. 

Here’s the table showing each club’s highest attendance:

As a measure of how exciting the climax to the season turned out to be, seven of the clubs welcomed their highest attendance of the season in April. That compared to four in March, December and November. 

Finally, let’s take a look at the average attendances by club. Only five clubs failed to see their average attendance increase, whilst Cambridge City led the average increase table, a rather remarkable 180% better off after finally returning to a ground of their own! Champions Brentwood Town saw their gates increase by 71%, Maldon & Tiptree managed 59%, whilst Sporting Bengal United saw a 56% rise, although that is relative given their average crowd was seventy.

Thanks for all of your support this season- let’s see if we can do even better in 25-26!

Thanks to Neil Pilcher for the stats.