Hornets help Sussex top the league attendance charts
Sussex football fans... you’re doing your local clubs proud.
The county’s teams dominate the top of a table produced to show which sides throughout the Isthmian League are the best supported.
In terms of average attendances across all Isthmian divisions, five of the top seven clubs are from Sussex, including Hastings United, who are not even in the premier division.
Eight of the top ten bestattended games in the league were in Sussex - with a top-ten whitewash for the country only prevented by a couple of big occasions hosted by Guernsey.
And three of the top seven biggest average attendance increases recorded are by Sussex clubs, with Horsham, Chichester City and Hastings all seeing big rises in numbers flocking to see them.
The four Sussex teams in the Isthmian premier are all in the top five for average attendances at that level, while in the south-east division, three of top ten list of those with biggest average attendances are from Sussex.
For the number-crunching we must thank Isthmian League and non-league stalwart Ian Townsend, who has put the report together.
He said: “With so many postponements and so much terrible weather impacting on our abandoned 2019-20 season it’s no surprise that attendances were down a little on the previous campaign.
“But we still had much to sing about! So, with thanks to Football Webpages and Non League Matters, here are the numbers that matter remembering that some clubs didn’t get to play some of the matches which would have been expected to pull in the biggest crowds.
“Worthing have the largest average attendance, and the Mackerel Men also feature in 11 of the top 20 best attended matches across the league.
“Guernsey are in second place, and perhaps had they got to play more home matches - they only played 13 - could have challenged Worthing for top spot. The Green Lions take six of the top 20 spots.
“The increased average attendance table shows that the following factors lead to greater attraction - a new ground, promotion, or - to put it simply - winning lots of matches!
“Horsham managed all three of these, for example, and their attendances increased by an incredible 231 per cent. Winning the FA
Vase and getting promotion boosted Chertsey Town by 137 per cent, while Chichester City grew their home support by 82 per cent after promotion.
“Anyway, for those of you who like figures, here you go. Eyes down, look in, and try not to get number blindness!”