A South Central 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 South Central 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. For the South Central Division, the number is slightly up on the previous figure of 89,480 despite the departure of some well supported clubs at the end of 22-23, but the Division did have an additional club during the season just ended.

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 South Central club individually, their highest attendances of the league season look like this:

1,244 Chertsey Town vs Badshot Lea Sat 27-04-24
788 Guernsey vs South Park (Reigate) Mon 28-08-23
676 Leatherhead vs Hartley Wintney Sat 27-04-24
446 Hanworth Villa vs Chertsey Town Sat 06-04-24
420 Raynes Park Vale vs Leatherhead Sat 24-02-24
416 Corinthian-Casuals vs Leatherhead Mon 01-04-24
375 Marlow vs Chertsey Town Tue 20-02-24
353 Uxbridge vs Leatherhead Sat 14-10-23
343 Hartley Wintney vs Chertsey Town Mon 01-01-24
332 Ascot United vs Chertsey Town Sat 23-12-23
332 Binfield vs Uxbridge Sat 27-04-24
282 Ashford Town (Middx) vs Chertsey Town Sat 30-09-23
274 Westfield vs Leatherhead Mon 01-01-24
273 Thatcham Town vs Chertsey Town Mon 01-04-24
262 Metropolitan Police vs Chertsey Town Sat 03-02-24
255 Chipstead vs Chertsey Town Sat 17-02-24
239 Northwood vs Chertsey Town Sat 21-10-23
235 Southall vs Chertsey Town Sat 23-03-24
223 Badshot Lea vs Chertsey Town Tue 06-02-24
215 South Park (Reigate) vs Chertsey Town Sat 04-11-23
164 Sutton Common Rovers vs Chertsey Town Sat 20-04-24

The top ten attendances of the Pitching In Isthmian North season were dominated by Chertsey Town and Guernsey.

1,244 Chertsey Town vs Badshot Lea Sat 27-04-24
1,122 Chertsey Town vs Ascot United Sat 13-04-24
794 Chertsey Town vs Westfield Sat 30-03-24
788 Guernsey vs South Park (Reigate) Mon 28-08-23
779 Chertsey Town vs Marlow Tue 19-03-24
758 Guernsey vs Sutton Common Rovers Sat 30-12-23
728 Guernsey vs Northwood Sun 21-04-24
692 Guernsey vs Thatcham Town Sat 20-01-24
689 Chertsey Town vs Raynes Park Vale Sat 13-01-24
688 Guernsey vs Leatherhead Sat 16-03-24

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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