A North Attendance Review, 23-24

It’s been a fabulous season, and despite the fact we’ve spent much of it ploughing through mud or wearing so much warm clothing that we resemble the Michelin Man our attendances have been on an upward trajectory. We'll focus on the North Division in a moment, but across the League, over the course of the season, six hundred and sixteen thousand and twenty eight people (yes, some of those were the same people fifty or more times!) passed through an Isthmian turnstile, which is rather incredible- and breaks down like this:

Premier 324,928 52.75 %
North 87,544 1 4.21%
South Central 90,650 14.72%
South East 112,906 18.32%

TOTAL 616,028- which is an increase of eighty four thousand, three hundred and seventy three on the 22/23 campaign. That gives us the highest average attendance in thirty five years- three hundred and eighty four. Sadly for the North Division, that total is significantly down on last season, which had a total attendance of 101,842- but much of that seems to be down to two factors, the demise of East Thurrock United and the weather.

The thirty top attendances across the league look like this- and, as you can see, are somewhat dominated by Dulwich Hamlet, with a handful of exceptions.

1=) 3,334 Dulwich Hamlet v Margate (11 Nov)/ Hashtag United (6 Jan)/ Haringey Borough (27 Jan) /Enfield Town (6 April) /Cray Wanderers (27 April) - all 3,334
2) 3,191 Dulwich Hamlet vs Kingstonian Sat 14-10-23 3,191
3) 3,069 Dulwich Hamlet vs Folkestone Invicta Sat 18-11-23 P
4) 2,973 Dulwich Hamlet vs Lewes Sat 16-03-24 P
5) 2,875 Dulwich Hamlet vs Hornchurch Sat 10-02-24 P
6) 2,796 Dulwich Hamlet vs Horsham Sat 30-12-23 P
7)2,787 Dulwich Hamlet vs Billericay Town Sat 30-03-24 P
8) 2,784 Dulwich Hamlet vs Cheshunt Sat 24-02-24 P
9) 2,737 Dulwich Hamlet vs Carshalton Athletic Tue 26-12-23 P
10) 2,712 Hastings United vs Lewes Sat 10-02-24 P
11) 2,644 Dulwich Hamlet vs Whitehawk Sat 09-03-24 P
12=) 2,588 Dulwich Hamlet vs Concord Rangers Sat 23-09-23
and
Chatham Town vs Dulwich Hamlet Mon 01-01-24
13) 2,563 Ramsgate vs Cray Valley PM Sat 13-04-24 SE
14) 2,547 Hastings United vs Hashtag United Sat 27-01-24 P
15) 2,282 Dulwich Hamlet vs Chatham Town Mon 28-08-23 P
16) 2,224 Hastings United vs Chatham Town Sat 16-03-24 P
17) 2,107 Hastings United vs Dulwich Hamlet Sat 13-01-24 P
18) 2,084 Chatham Town vs Billericay Town Sat 24-02-24 P
19) 2,069 Dulwich Hamlet vs Bognor Regis Town Sat 02-12-23 P
20) 2,067 Chatham Town vs Horsham Sat 20-04-24 P
21) 2,038 Chatham Town vs Kingstonian Mon 01-04-24 P
22) 2,019 Hastings United vs Enfield Town Sat 20-04-24 P
23) 2,018 Chatham Town vs Hashtag United Tue 30-01-24 P
24) 1,975 Lewes vs Whitehawk Mon 01-04-24 P
25) 1,939 Dulwich Hamlet vs Hastings United Sat 19-08-23 P
26) 1,897 Chatham Town vs Margate Sat 10-02-24 P
27) 1,807 Chatham Town vs Folkestone Invicta Sat 13-04-24 P
28) 1,758 Chatham Town vs Carshalton Athletic Sat 14-10-23 P
29) 1,748 Hastings United vs Whitehawk Sat 13-04-24 P
30 =) 1,719 Hastings United vs Folkestone Invicta Mon 01-04-24
Horsham vs Concord Rangers Sat 27-04-24

Out statistician, Neil Pilcher, adds the following note:

It is worth noting that last season there were forty-one attendances within the Isthmian League’s four Divisions over 1,000. This season that has more than doubled to one hundred and three. This included seven attendances over 3,000 (all at Dulwich Hamlet), and twenty-one over 2,000 with the end-of-season clash at the top of the South East Division between Ramsgate and Cray Valley PM being the only one outside the Premier Division.

If we look at each North club individually, their highest attendances of the league season look like this:

1,285 Bury Town vs Felixstowe & Walton Utd Sat 30-03-24
971 Lowestoft Town vs Felixstowe & Walton Utd Sat 23-03-24
711 Maldon & Tiptree vs Heybridge Swifts Tue 26-12-23
615 Stowmarket Town vs Bury Town Sat 30-09-23
582 Heybridge Swifts vs Maldon & Tiptree Mon 01-04-24
571 Walthamstow vs Bury Town Sat 13-04-24
561 Felixstowe & Walton Utd vs Stowmarket Town Mon 01-01-24
462 Bowers & Pitsea vs Maldon & Tiptree Sat 11-11-23
422 Grays Athletic vs Ipswich Wanderers Sat 27-04-24
406 Brentwood Town vs Maldon & Tiptree Fri 22-03-24
371 Wroxham vs Lowestoft Town Sat 11-11-23
362 Witham Town vs Brightlingsea Regent Mon 28-08-23
357 Gorleston vs Wroxham Tue 26-12-23
318 Brightlingsea Regent vs Stowmarket Town Mon 01-04-24
304 Ipswich Wanderers vs Bury Town Sat 04-11-23
249 Enfield vs Grays Athletic Sat 12-08-23
212 New Salamis vs Lowestoft Town Sat 20-04-24
165 Redbridge vs Bury Town Sat 27-04-24
158 Basildon United vs Bowers & Pitsea Sat 13-04-24

The top ten attendances of the Pitching In Isthmian North season were dominated by Bury Town and Lowestoft Town. The sides are playing each other in our image from Paul Whitlow.

1,285 Bury Town vs Felixstowe & Walton Utd Sat 30-03-24
1,017 Bury Town vs Enfield Sat 20-04-24
971 Lowestoft Town vs Felixstowe & Walton Utd Sat 23-03-24
954 Lowestoft Town vs Brentwood Town Sat 27-04-24
839 Lowestoft Town vs Bury Town Mon 01-04-24
802 Bury Town vs Grays Athletic Sat 30-12-23
778 Bury Town vs Stowmarket Town Sat 27-01-24
769 Bury Town vs Ipswich Wanderers Sat 02-03-24
756 Bury Town vs New Salamis Sat 16-03-24
740 Lowestoft Town vs Gorleston Mon 01-01-24

Finally, the image above lets us look at their average attendances- and how they compare with the previous campaign. It makes interesting reading, and where there is red instead of green there seems often to be a correlation with postponed and rescheduled matches, unsurprisingly.

Just before we end, it’s worth reminding you that these figures relate only to attendances in the League- and they don’t include the Play Offs.

Thanks again to Neil Pilcher for all of the facts and figures!

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