Barking attendances 1978-9

[Press Off]

WHERE ARE THEY NOW ?

 

 

They being the people who used to congregate in large numbers to watch our games. I was recently looking at attendances in 1978-9 which included the following-

 

 

 

Yeovil Town A F A Cup 3607

 

Aldershot H F A Cup 2022

 

Billericay Town H F A Cup 1371

 

Dagenham H League 952

 

Wycombe Wanderers A F A Trophy 892

 

Dulwich Hamlet H F A Trophy 497

 

Bedford Town H F A Cup 485

 

Enfield H League 482

 

Bromley H League Cup 478

 

Dulwich Hamlet A League 426

 

Woking A League 423

 

Slough Town H League 414

 

 

 

Another 10 games had attendances in excess of 300 and another 17 between 200 and 300.

 

 

 

 

[Eastside Urchin]

Immigration is your answer basically,places like Barking have a high rate of immigration,in turn many of these are not interested in football and those that are,just live in barking and have no real affiliation with the place,therefore not bothering with the local football club,saying all that,being an Esl club doesn't help although I still think barking,especially with dagenham doing so well would struggle to get gates of over 150 for connie south level

[Basil-Don]

Sorry Eastside but that argument doent stand up to much scrutiny,what per cent of white indigenous people support their local non league team? 0.001 per cent ? i think you will these individuals are far more likely to support Man utd/liverpool who they watch on sky sports than support their local non league club.

[Eastside Urchin]

So it's just coincidence then that once great clubs like barking,wembley,Leyton,ilford,Hendon to name a few have all virtually died or been forced out of their areas,and those clubs or some who 40 years ago would get a few thousand fans now struggle to get 100

Of course sky has an effect but it's also naive to think that areas like barking who 40 years ago had maybe 5/10% immigration and now have circa 50% or more will not be affected by imigration.

The same time clubs in areas such as new towns could possibly have their gates increased as people move out of the cities,Milton Keynes,Crawley,even towns that are growing like Braintree may find their gates increasing.

I am not saying that non league football is a White only sport lol but non league football is a select Market somewhat and tends to be supported by locals who have been born and bred in the area and their families the same,those people move out the area they invariably stop watching that team

[missunderstood]

So it's just coincidence then that once great clubs like barking,wembley,Leyton,ilford,Hendon to name a few have all virtually died or been forced out of their areas,and those clubs or some who 40 years ago would get a few thousand fans now struggle to get 100

Of course sky has an effect but it's also naive to think that areas like barking who 40 years ago had maybe 5/10% immigration and now have circa 50% or more will not be affected by imigration.

The same time clubs in areas such as new towns could possibly have their gates increased as people move out of the cities,Milton Keynes,Crawley,even towns that are growing like Braintree may find their gates increasing.

I am not saying that non league football is a White only sport lol but non league football is a select Market somewhat and tends to be supported by locals who have been born and bred in the area and their families the same,those people move out the area they invariably stop watching that team

 

 

I would be surprised if a depreciation in attendances in areas with a large influx of immigrants was anything other than a coincidence.

 

The reason crowds are dropping like stones is, most of the time the football is crap, there is hardly any atmosphere in the grounds, people no longer find it acceptable to stand under a leaky corrugated roof, and then walk through inches of mud to get back to their cars, and why pay good money to watch live footie when you have already payed to watch the worlds best players on Sky.

 

I know I keep banging on \about it, but there are too many clubs who only have ambitions to survive, until a multi millionaire comes along and throws all his cash at them (quite ridiculous).

 

If non league football is to survive we need more mergers, groundshares, and unfortunately many more clubs to fold.

[Eastside Urchin]

So you tell me that areas like barking with a population of say 180'000 now have unto 100'ooo immigrants compared to say 20'000 30 years ago has no effect??

[missunderstood]

So you tell me that areas like barking with a population of say 180'000 now have unto 100'ooo immigrants compared to say 20'000 30 years ago has no effect??

 

 

Still don't agree about the correlation between immigration and falling attendances, but if your theory is correct then the clubs affected should collectively pursue a marketing strategy to attract more ethnic minorities through the turnstyles.

[Eastside Urchin]

In the 70's my grandad was a regular at southbury road Enfield,he moved out the area in the 80's because like Many,the areas they grew up in started changing,he had a Turkish cypriot one side of him and a Pakistani family the other side.My grandad Wasn't racist,he fought in the 2nd world war against such racist views but as he always said,if I wanted foreigners living next door,I would move abroad.Many of his mates he went football with also moved out to Hertfordshire and many stopped watching Enfield

[Bald Fella]

That is a good shout missunderstood, a few years ago my son played an U18 game for Barnston just down the road and about 30 Eastern Europeans turned up, Albanians mostly, chatted to the parents watching and had a kick about themselves when our match finished.

Must be a way of introducing fellas like that into local clubs.