In this article we take a look at the top 100 average attendances in Non League of 2021/22 now that it has finally been completed.
Football fans watching the lower levels of English football is thankfully on the up for a numbers of reasons.
No only are we seeing more and more bigger clubs dropping down into the National League system, but supporters of Premier League or EFL teams being priced out, while the love for non league level is increasing and more affordable.
Top 100 Average Attendances in Non League of 2021/22
1) Wrexham – 8644
2) Stockport County – 6974
3) Notts County – 6800
4) Chesterfield – 6278
5) Southend United – 5749
6) Grimsby Town – 5704
7) Macclesfield – 3390
8) York City – 3018
9) Dulwich Hamlet – 2680
10) Woking – 2678
11) Torquay United – 2576
12) Eastleigh – 2467
13) Yeovil Town – 2378
14) Maidstone United – 2181
15) South Shields – 2131
16) FC Halifax Town – 2130
17) Kidderminster Harriers – 2127
18) Altrincham – 2119
19) Bromley – 1962
20) Hereford – 1810
21) Aldershot Town – 1796
22) FC United of Manchester – 1795
23) Solihull Moors – 1779
24) Chester – 1692
25) Dagenham & Redbridge – 1689
26) Boston United – 1629
27) FC Isle of Man – 1612
28) Barnet – 1570
29) Darlington – 1505
30) Spennymoor Town – 1423
31) Dartford – 1422
32) Wealdstone – 1407
33) Maidenhead United – 1378
34) Worthing – 1333
35) Bury AFC – 1327
36) Dorking Wanderers – 1284
37) St Albans City – 1266
38) Hastings United – 1261
39) AFC Telford United – 1232
40) Ebbsfleet United – 1206
41) Gloucester City – 1186
42) Havant and Waterlooville – 1177
43) Bath City – 1176
44) Weymouth – 1176
45) King’s Lynn Town – 1158
46) AFC Fylde – 1151
47) Scarborough Athletic – 1145
48) Chorley – 1129
49) Marine – 1124
50) Gateshead – 1123
51) Boreham Wood – 1056
52) Ilkeston Town – 998
53) Halesowen Town – 968
54) Southport – 959
55) Blyth Spartans – 942
56) Eastbourne Borough – 924
57) Lewes – 863
58) Billericay Town – 842
59) Dover Athletic – 838
60) Bromsgrove Sporting – 798
61) Banbury United – 795
62) Kettering Town – 792
63) Tonbridge Angels – 785
64) Guiseley – 762
65) Bognor Regis Town – 759
66) Horsham – 758
67) Taunton Town – 750
68) Workington – 738
69) Buxton – 737
70) Folkestone Invicta – 713
71) Matlock Town – 710
72) Guernsey – 702
73) Stourbridge – 690
74) Chelmsford City – 687
75) Brackley Town – 687
76) Runcorn Linnets – 687
77) Weston-super-Mare – 677
78) Ramsgate – 668
79) Clitheroe – 665
80) Chatham Town – 658
81) Hampton & Richmond Borough – 633
82) Stockton Town – 633
83) Stafford Rangers – 620
84) Hemel Hempstead Town – 616
85) Hallam – 614
86) West Didsbury & Chorlton – 612
87) Slough Town – 612
88) Chippenham Town – 610
89) Jersey Bulls – 607
90) Chasetown – 606
91) Oxford City – 601
92) Morpeth Town – 595
93) Welling United – 578
94) Bury Town – 577
95) Tamworth – 576
96) Leamington – 569
97) Hyde United – 568
98) Gosport Borough – 564
99) Farsley Celtic – 563
100) Warrington Town – 563
Non league football is experiencing what is being called a golden age of support. 2021/22 saw the National League have it’s biggest overall weekly crowds while Notts County broke the record for the largest crowd at a National League game.
The East Midlands outfit said it welcomed 12,843 people to Meadow Lane in Nottingham for their 2-0 victory over Solihull Moors.
The crowd beat Bristol Rovers’ record of 11,085, set in 2015.
BBC journalist Ollie Bayliss believes non league football has become more fashionable in recent years. He says, the lower leagues offer fans a purer and unique experience compared to established brands while supporters loving being closer to the pitch, and have bespoke access to the players and managers, and are able to enjoy a pint while watching the action.
Plus, for many it’s more interesting to follow a smaller team’s progress rather than be part of a bigger club where you are one of many millions of fans.
Following non league is much cheaper than paying to watch Premier League football, whether it be in person or on television. According to research, the average cost of a top-flight season ticket is £490.
This number goes up to £577 if you were to attend matches from one of the six London clubs. These numbers don’t even include the added expenses of travel, food and drink, and other amenities such as a match day programme and memorabilia.
Spending time watching football from the comfort of your own home also comes at a cost with England’s top division is streamed by three main companies: Amazon Prime, Sky Sports and BT Sport. To hold the rights for a three-year period costs the broadcasters £4.8billion between them.
To make this a worthy investment, and generate a serious profit, the three giants need to shift this multi-billion debt onto the consumer. A monthly subscription to Sky Sports is £28; it costs £25 a month for BT Sport; add another £8 a month for Amazon Prime. That’s together £61 a month – or £732 a year – if you watch from home.
If you regularly watch a non league club over the course of a season, it’s £200 cheaper, helps keep them running with all the costs increasing and bills to pay, and doesn’t require the extra expenditure of multiple TV subscription services and channels.
Grounds are within in the middle of a community, cutting unnecessary outlays on transport. and you’ll rarely have to pay more than £15 to gain entry for a game.
The quality on show at non league level has massively improved over the last decade with most of the teams in the upper echelons of lower league football full-time and players at 18 of the 23 teams in the National League spend their whole working week at their clubs.
Like the squads in the Premier League and EFL, footballers are professional and need full-time wages. The staff and management are permanently contracted to the club too, and are able to spend more time with their team to focus on tactics and improving their squad.
We can’t ignore either that full-time clubs need more money to keep hold of and bring in talent to the club. It can be so difficult to get out of the top tier of non league that Wrexham are now owned by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, hoping to spend on quality to get back into League Two, Bromley are said to be bankrolled by Europe’s largest independent print service provider, Solihull Moors are headed by successful businessmen in the automotive industry. It doesn’t always bring success, but it certainly helps, whether you gain promotion, reach a playoff place or get to a cup final.
With more money in today’s game, watching non league is becoming more a more enjoyable, even if there are a some run-down looking stadiums, but with thanks to renovation schemes etc, more and more teams are gradually being able to get their facilities in order.
While you get big crowds at the likes of Wrexham, Notts County, Stockport and Chesterfield who have impressive stadiums for the level they’re at.
Budding sides such as Eastleigh put in £10 million to improve their existing ground, and similar projects are being undertaken by smaller teams such as Woking and Bromley. Maidenhead also putting plans forward. Even clubs in the depths of the football pyramid like Maidstone United, South Shields and FC United have injected millions into improving their terracing and seating areas.
Between the first and second lockdowns, fans were banned from attending higher-level games due to the pandemic, so that providing non league with a chance of seeing a huge boost in numbers through the turnstiles. As Andy Mitten said in the podcast, new fans went to watch teams they may have otherwise barely paid attention to. One non-league fanatic thought the interest stemmed from the sport being like a “Class A drug”.
Attendances at Brighouse Town and Hallam FC grew by 50% in this period, whereas Worsborough Bridge sold out a random league fixture in 11 minutes. Overall, non league saw a 90% increase whilst no professional matches had fans.
FC Isle of Man
📸 Mark Barton pic.twitter.com/JAjLY5Urgo
— LearnEnglishThroughFootball (@LETFootball) April 17, 2022
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