English clubs find new fans

LONDON: The emergence of ‘‘a new generation’’ of football fans has put English soccer on its way to a recordbreaking season.

Across all four divisions — Premier League, Championship and Leagues One and Two — the average crowd is on course to exceed 15,000 for the first time in more than 50 years.

The biggest rise is in the second tier, the Championship, where crowds are at their highest level since 1954, partly because so many ‘‘big’’ clubs are in the division this season.

Another factor, say club officials, is the number of children being attracted to their local clubs rather than supporting a glamorous Premier League team.

Tomorrow, two former European champions, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, play each other in a secondtier fixture. When they met in September, it was the first time two former European champions from the same country had met outside the top flight.

Of the 24 Championship clubs, 15 have competed in European football, and the bestsupported of them, Newcastle United, is attracting more than 51,000 to home games.

Football League crowds have never been so high since the Premier League started in 1992. Even without Newcastle’s remarkable support, Championship crowds are significantly higher than last season. The latest figure from the League is 19,876 in the Championship, up 13% on last season.

Leagues One and Two are also heading for an increase on last season.

‘‘We have created a new generation of football supporters,’’ said Paul Barber, a director of the English Football League (EFL) and chief executive of Brighton & Hove Albion, one of the favourites for promotion to the Premier League.

The average attendance at its stadium, opened in 2011, is more than 27,000.

Barber, who had senior roles at the Football Association, Tottenham Hotspur and Vancouver Whitecaps before taking charge at Brighton, said: ‘‘The way fans are treated now is better than ever — the way clubs respond to them, engage with them. The number of under18s watching is rapidly growing.

‘‘I sometimes get upset when fans dismiss modern football. The past was a hell of a lot worse. It’s the depth of English football that really impresses people. Things combine over a generation and we have created something people admire the world over.’’

Most of those improvements have been funded by television rights deals and payments to the lower divisions from the Premier League, the biggest commercial success in world football.

‘‘The Championship is clearly a very, very strong league, and Leagues One and Two seem to be following it. The Football League is a great league and the only thing that stops it getting accolades is that the Premier League is even more successful,’’ Ian Lenagan, chairman of the EFL, said.

Youngsters whose parents followed big Premier League clubs such as Liverpool and Manchester United were now following local teams, as a result of hard work within communities. ‘‘But it takes a generation, a 1520 year cycle,’’ Lenagan said.

Huddersfield Town has forged partnerships with 190 local schools, and puts aside some of the ‘‘solidarity payments’’ from the Premier League to subsidise ticket prices. It also opens the training ground to the public.

On their 7th birthday, children are presented with a Huddersfield replica shirt by a player.

‘‘Lots of clubs do it,’’ David ThrelfallSykes, Huddersfield’s head of marketing said.

‘‘We did some research about 10 years ago and found that too many of our supporters were older. We found that kids decide which team they are going to support at about the age of 7.

‘‘Premier League football is so accessible on TV there’s a good chance that a kid from Huddersfield will watch and support one of those teams — so we have to make it as easy and affordable as we can for them to come here and enjoy themselves, and support Huddersfield Town. We’re here for the community.’’

Under8s in Huddersfield can watch games for as little as £1 ($NZ1.72), while 8 to18yearolds are charged £3, if they buy a season ticket. These children would find it all but impossible to buy tickets for big Premier League games. — Reuters

We have created a new generation of football supporters