Attendances soar in August and September

Pitching In Isthmian League attendances over the first two months of the campaign have increased by more than twenty percent since the same time last season, and League Chair Nick Robinson is delighted- but not surprised. 

'The quality of football across our League can perhaps be exemplified by the exploits of our clubs in the FA Cup and FA Trophy so far, with victory against higher division opposition being delivered by the likes of Cray Wanderers, Wingate & Finchley, Crowborough Athletic, Hastings United, AFC Stoneham, Egham Town, Gorleston, Cambridge City, Takeley and more. Such performances deserve a large audience, although our crowds have been growing steadily since covid-but there are many other factors which contribute to success, not least the standings that our clubs have in their local communities. Many of them welcome many hundreds of members of those communities into their facilities every week of the year, run holiday programmes, raise money for local charities and deliver a positive impact far greater than their on-field activities alone could ever manage, all of which is likely to attract new support.’

The most dramatic rise has been in the South East Division, which is up almost fifty five percent when compared to the first two months of the 25-26 campaign, but every Division has seen a considerable improvement. The top flight still attracts most of the interest, almost sixty four thousand spectators watching on since the start of the campaign- a healthy increase of nearly four percent; but the success stories are at Step Four, where the North and South Central Divisions have also both seen a thirty seven percent increase on this time last season.

The highest individual match attendances across the League are traditionally dominated by Dulwich Hamlet, and indeed Champion Hill takes four of the top twenty spots, but the South Londoners are joined on the leaderboard by Lewes, whose two thousand, one hundred and twelve against Eastbourne Borough is the highest attendance of the season so far, and by the one thousand, eight hundred and seventy three who watched Whitstable Town take on Margate- the third best attendance of the campaign so far. Also featured are Cray Wanderers, Ramsgate, Dartford, Enfield Town, Burgess Hill Town, Bognor Regis Town and Chatham Town, each of whom have recorded attendances of over one thousand so far this season; indeed the Darts, Chats and Rams have each done so three times.

As expected, Hamlet lead the average attendance list, with one thousand, four hundred and sixty one members of the pink and blue army per match so far, but the top ten is not entirely dominated by top flight clubs, with Whitstable Town’s one thousand and thirty two placing them sixth, Jersey Bulls in seventh and Hastings United in ninth. Expand that to the top twenty and the list also includes Step Four sides Bognor Regis Town, Faversham Town, Herne Bay and Ashford United. 

Nick is very much looking forward to more success during the remainder of the campaign.

‘We have many of the biggest days of the season still to come, including- of course- an entire Non League Day ‘weekend’ over Easter 2027. We hope very much that football fans across our area will continue to come out and support their local sides in large numbers, as we can guarantee them fantastic entertainment at a reasonable price- and that their money will generally be delivering benefits for their local communities, too. We are delighted to welcome new fans to the unique world that is Non League football- and particularly to the Pitching In Isthmian League.’

Our attendance statistics are compiled and calculated by Neil Pilcher- thanks to Neil for being a human abacus!