Attendances - shocking

[HTFCew]

Originally Posted By: AWK

I know its going out of the SSML but teams like Bedford and Dunstable, where I would be happy to attend, have prices which I consider way to high and its the same lower down, they don't attract "non" fans in, I'm not talking neccesairily about non league fans or groundhoppers but supporters of bigger clubs who would take a look at the price and not even consider entering.

Some leagues in their rules have minimum adult admission charges which the clubs have to charge. In the Ryman for 2005/06 it was £6 for the Prem, £5 for Div One & £4 for Div Two. It was the same for 04-05 - not sure if it was raised for this last season. Also, for league cup games where the visiting team was in a higher division, the price for that higher division had to be charged. Concessions were up to the home club. In 05-06 the majority in Ryman Div Two charged £5, but the concessions varied wildly - I remember Wembley being £4 for kids which was way too high. Some clubs (Ware was one) also charged £1.50 for their programme.

Hertford Town had to put their admission charge up to £5 when we in Div One a few seasons ago, and it has stayed the same since then. We do however let U12s in for free with a paying adult, and OAPs and other concessions are £2. The programme has been £1 for the last 7 years, and we make a loss on that now as costs have risen.

[Rhodes]

HTFCew - I tend to agree with you, I feel a bit sorry for Mr F as the piper should be able to call the tune. Hopefully following your excellent post immediately above this thread can now stay on topic although I doubt it.

[Sharming Paula]

I'll tell ya what - I'll go back under the stone I first came from!!

One last rant and i'll leave ya all alone.

 

Rhodes, you're a total prick!! Thanks for nowt!! You can find someone else to be abusive too now mate. Hope they have a better sense of humour than me.

 

Mr F and HTFCew - sorry if i've upset ya (it aint me alone I know) well i'll leave ya in peace.

 

Good Luck everyone

 

 

[Krooner]

Looked back over this thread. It was a good thread with some good points made. I would recommend everyone looks back to see who made the 1st inane comment to deflect this thread. No guessing first though.

[PB!]

Cant believe I even looked, should have known hey.

 

Im guessing from Paulas comments above that she hasnt forgiven Rhodes as he said. Stay and chat Paula dont let the twat stop you with his idiotic comments.

 

Class 1 Prick!!!

[Krooner]

Originally Posted By: Rhodes

HTFCew - I tend to agree with you, I feel a bit sorry for Mr F as the piper should be able to call the tune. Hopefully following your excellent post immediately above this thread can now stay on topic although I doubt it.

So why did you make an inane comment then Rhodes. Once again you show yourself up.

[Football Man]

And I bet he still wants to be moderator. What a sad man!

 

Anyway, back to the thread. The biggest issue of all at our level (particlaurly in the South East) is the sheer number of clubs all vying for the same spectators. Even if you can persuade your local community to forsake the Premiership, televised footie, the video game, the local supermarket, etc. for a couple of hours of local footie, virtually everyone in and around London can get to at least three local non league clubs within 15-20 minutes of their home.

 

In an ideal world, you would merge clubs together to create larger catchment areas. However, this would not necessarily work as well as it would seem at first glance. Let's use Ruislip Manor, Harefield United and Hillingdon Borough as an example. At first glance, it might seem to be a good idea to merge those clubs into a single catchment area as you could more or less throw a blanket over them at the moment. However, if you were to try and merge those three into one club, you would have the issues of which ground to use and who would form the committee of the new club. You cannot necessarily assume that you would have three Chairmen, three Secretaries, three Treasurers, etc. to choose from as most committee men are only there because it's their club and they wouldn't necessarily want to work for a new or merged club (you might get lucky in some cases but, by and large, you won't). It also isn't as simple as assuming that the attendances at all three clubs would merge into one "superclub" with regular high attendances as many spectators, in the same way as committee people, see what they have at the moment as "their" club and wouldn't facilitate the idea of following a newly formed club. Merging clubs together might actually reduce overall attendances instead of increasing them.

 

Sadly, unless the live TV bubble pops soon, the only way attendances are likely to increase at the lower level is when clubs finally collapse under the financial strain and a small percentage of their existing support attach themselves to another nearby club.

[Mr F]

Paula, no offence taken, no apology needed.

 

I wonder if under The Ryman/Southern League level that all leagues become "County" leagues, would that increase interest what with more frequent "derby" matches?

 

Divisions would be standardised to have a 16 strong division/s. Each rise up through the divisions would mean an increase in ground improvements so that finally, to move into the Rymans/Southern Leagues, teams qualifying for promotion would automatically meet the standard required for the league above?

 

Interesting what you said about transport/club proximities. I remember as a young lad getting into Borhamwoods ground with my dad and the ground being packed with 1200=1300 people. The road/rail links back then were poor and few people had cars. As a result fans stayed closer to home and generally walked to the ground or cycled.

 

With the government proposing tax per mileage travelled how many people could afford to travel great distances to support a league side with over inflated entry fees, cost of programmes, food and drink prices all inflated too.

 

Nah, give me good honest grass roots football anyday, shame that at my local club there is usually three/four times the amount of people drinking in the bar as there are paying spectators.

 

 

[Krooner]

We averaged around the 100 mark last season. Back in 97 when we were really good we got over 200 people watching. Reckon if we do well this season then we may push 150 a few times. I run our U8's and I try and encourage them to go with their dads to watch some games. Any player in our Youth set up get in free if they are accompanied by a parent. We also stage small sided matches once a month before 1st team games. We are trying our best.