Christmas crowds breaking records

Of the 37 fixtures played on or since Boxing Day, 24 of the clashes attracted record numbers with seven Premier Division clubs, seven in Ryman South and ten in Ryman North recording new highs for the season.

Unsurprisingly, Dulwich Hamlet, who hold the record for the season's biggest gate to date, 1961 when they hosted VCD Athletic back in October, topped the festive attendance charts with 1713 at Champion Hill for their 5-1 Boxing Day win over Kingstonian.

Hythe Town's 2-1 win over Ryman South leaders Folkestone Invicta at the Reachfields Stadium saw the highest gate of the festive period in Ryman South and the club's best of the season so far with 1527 fans turning out for the Christmas Sunday clash.

Elsewhere in the division, Worthing attracted the second highest figures of 812 and the club's best yet for their 5-0 win over Peacehaven & Telscombe.

In Ryman North, Bury Town hosted their biggest crowd of the campaign and the division's highest of 337 when they hosted Dereham Town at Ram Meadow on Boxing Day.

In the Premier Division, Hampton & Richmond Borough recorded their best attendance to date in the top flight on Boxing Day when 646 came through the turnstiles at the Beveree for their 3-2 win over Staines Town.

The latest monthly figures for December, released by official statistician Mike Wilson on New Year's Eve, also show that the Ryman League's 72 clubs are nearly half-way to equaling or even bettering last season's overall tally of 401,165 spectators, the league's highest total since the 2007-09 campaign when Chelmsford City won the Ryman Premier championship and attendances reached 426,481.

Since the new season kicked off, clubs across all three divisions have been enjoying average gates significantly up on the last campaign with Thamesmead Town leading the way after a whopping 88.3 per cent more fans streamed through the turnstiles at Bayliss Avenue.

Elsewhere in Ryman North, Cheshunt are up 27.8 per cent, Cray Wanderers 28.9 per cent while Maldon & Tiptree enjoyed a 32 per cent lift. Worthing, up 34 per cent, Hythe Town up 25.9 per cent and Ramsgate up 21.5 percent, currently lead the way in Ryman South.

In the Ryman Premier, two of the division's new boys following promotion are laying claim to the best figures, Brentwood Town up 24.1 per cent and Merstham up 15.6 per cent.

Ryman League chairman Nick Robinson hailed the latest statistics as clubs and their fans prepared for 2016 and their first outings on Saturday which are expected to attract more bumper crowds.

He said: "The mild weather has meant derby matches being played at the optimum time and the League’s mission to establish Clubs as family clubs has clearly worked well. We are delighted with the attendances and hope those spectators will return in the New Year.”

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