Far from the madding crowd!

By Nick Pullen on February 21, 2008 3:27 PM | Permalink

IT just shows how times have changed.
Last Saturday, Halesowen Town recorded their biggest league crowd since 1999.
The total was 617 to watch Halesowen take on Bashley.
Hard to believe - but true.
Long gone are the days when Halesowen used to fret if the crowd dipped below 1,000.
Most Non League sides seem to be suffering dwindling crowds - but there are exceptions.
Both AFC Telford and Leamington have seen fantastic support since rebranding.
Chasetown don't do so badly either ever since their FA Cup exploits.
But success doesn't always gaurentee big gates.
Evesham are sitting pretty on top of the BGB Southern Midland Division - but they've witnessed some dire attendances this season. One game only mustered 34 paying customers.
Does anything have any thoughts on the situation.

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3 Comments

Bob Brown said:

Interesting point that Mr Pullen

February 21, 2008 8:11 PM

Paul said:

Forget pretending to be interested and get the toast in Brownie!!!

February 22, 2008 11:01 PM

Dave said:

There are a few reasons for the falling crowds in my opinion:

1. Non-league football used to be a cheap option but now it costs far too much to watch the higher non-league teams.

2. Football has to compete with lots of other sports and interests that were never considered 20 years ago. These other sports/interests are taking children away from football.

3. Finally, the loss of papers like the Sports Argus makes it much more difficult to follow non-league football. I know loads of people who used to get home from a match and dash out to see how other teams (including non-league) had got on.

February 26, 2008 4:21 PM