Tuesday’s National League crowds smashed EFL Trophy attendances put together

Tuesday’s National League crowds smashed EFL Trophy attendances put together, with records being set for good as well as bad.

It was always going to be interesting to see just how many would go to matches up and down England and Wales considering the amount of rainfall and gusty winds battered the UK.

That may have been one reason as to why the numbers were so low for the Papa John’s Trophy, but really, we all know it has something to do with the competition’s integrity which has led to a lack of interest as well as a boycott.

With this in mind, we looked to see how adding all the attendances for 20 EFL Trophy ties compared with the 11 National League crowds and while it’s a close call, the top tier of non league football just about edged it by 300, getting over 26,500 in total.

It was good news for the National League, Wrexham got their highest National League attendance ever and biggest league midweek crowd since 1979.

What wasn’t so good was that Southend United figure was the lowest at Roots Hall for a home league game since 2,943 gathered on the 27th of January 2004 against York City and their lowest league crowd of the 2000’s was 2,403 versus Kidderminster Harriers on the 12th of September 2000.

EFL TROPHY ATTENDANCES (5/10/2021)

Accrington Stanley v Leicester City U21 – 885
Barrow v Fleetwood Town – 1,281
Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool U21 – 2,299
Burton Albion v Aston Villa U21 – 1,108
Charlton Athletic v Southampton U21 – 689
Cheltenham Town v Exeter City – 987
Crawley Town v Leyton Orient – 810
Crewe Alexandra v Wigan Athletic – 925
Gillingham v Ipswich Town – 1,116
Hartlepool United v Morecambe – 1,572
Harrogate Town v Newcastle United U21 – 980
Lincoln City v Sunderland – 3,060
Mansfield Town v Sheffield Wednesday – 2,836
Milton Keynes Dons v Wycombe Wanderers – 1,320
Northampton Town v Walsall – 1,285
Oxford United v Stevenage – 1,712
Port Vale v Rochdale – 1,727
Rotherham United v Scunthorpe United – 1,439
Salford City v Tranmere Rovers – 720
Shrewsbury Town v Wolves U21 – 1,334

NATIONAL LEAGUE ATTENDANCES (5/10/21)

Altrincham v Grimsby Town – 2,882
Boreham Wood v Torquay United – 701
Bromley v Weymouth – 1,000+*
Dover Athletic v Aldershot Town – 648
FC Halifax Town v Notts County – 2,023
King’s Lynn Town v Barnet – 1,007
Southend United v Eastleigh – 3,342
Wealdstone v Solihull Moors – 1,501
Woking v Dagenham & Redbridge – 2,226
Wrexham v Chesterfield – 9,147
Yeovil Town v Maidenhead United – 2,031

* = Estimate (unconfirmed)

Whilst we’re talking about attendances, let’s bring you some more, here is of that from the FA Cup Third Qualifying replays, and again, some of those beat EFL Trophy crowds…

Marine (8) v Atherton Collieries (7) – 1,009
Chester (6) v Marske United (8) – 1,138
Southport (6) v Spennymoor Town (6) – TBC
Kidderminster Harriers (6) v Ware (8) – 906
Kettering Town (6) v Leamington (6) – 612
Brackley Town (6) v Hanley Town (9) – TBC
St Albans City (6) v Metropolitan Police (7) – 545
Sholing (8) v Bedfont Sports (8) – 398
Eastbourne Borough (6) v Horsham (7) – 434
Hornchurch (7) v Bowers & Pitsea (7) – 442
Wingate & Finchley (7) v Corinthian Casuals (7) – 222

Fans and former footballers gave their reaction as Tuesday’s National League crowds smashed EFL Trophy attendances put together…

Holy shit what incredible support!!!! Hats off to you all because you are there regardless of results or performance

— Mark Creighton (@creights5) October 5, 2021

1,251 Grimsby Town fans at Altrincham tonight. Fantastic support for non league👏 #GTFC pic.twitter.com/5X4jzmYFg1

— Football Away Days (@AwayDays_) October 5, 2021

@Nigefromleeds (Replying to @Wrexham_AFC): Shame about the terrible display given to such a fantastic crowd

@benaramsdale: Credit where it’s due, that’s an absolutely superb attendance for a National League game. Puts plenty of league clubs to shame. 549 from Chesterfield on a rotten Tuesday night with no pay on the day is fantastic too. Well done all.

@jack_maybury: 9,000 attendance for a Tuesday night national league game is outrageous! Some support @Wrexham_AFC

@tommy2holes: Southend’s lowest home crowd for 17 years

@harryt84: This was higher than @theposh and only 200 off @afcbournemouth @eflchamp crowds from Saturday. Non league and on a Tuesday night. Incredible support. Fair play also to the near 600 @ChesterfieldFC fans for making the trip too

@BaileyJ55547846: Absolute amazing support today shame the performance wasn’t as good but I will definitely take a Point out of that game as they were miles better than us on the day we move on UTST

@lukeash10: Fantastic attendance. Makes you wonder why people invest in the likes of Salford, Fleetwood etc when there is huge potential at many ex League clubs

@awillman279: Incredible. 9 fucking thousand in the fifth tier. Say what you like about the new owners, nothing has been achieved yet and the club are mid table, and yet people are doing this on a pissy Tuesday night. They deserve football league again #utst

@JakeBroderick98: Seriously what a club though, just over 8.5k Wrexham fans on a windy, wet Tuesday night. Fantastic

@KyGibo: 9000+ in the 5th tier on a Tuesday night… Yet big premier league teams want their B teams in the football league attracting crowds of less than 1000

@MNose1960: Astonishing figure at @Wrexham_AFC Fantastic to see the old club fighting back.

@PeteMcvinn: Wrexham’s crowd is amazing

@DanWrexham: 9,100+ on a Tuesday night in the National League. That is a fucking remarkable attendance.

@hullcity_pfa: Some decent attendances in the national league last night. Over 9000 at Wrexham & good turnout at Altrincham

@Blueystone12: Meanwhile in Borehamwood, we are reminded that nobody there is interested in football, no matter how well the club are doing.

@NickDuGard1: I think their Chairman has reached that conclusion years ago. No latent support

Here is a look at the largest and lowest EFL Trophy attendances since B Teams were introduced…

2016/17 SEASON

Largest Attendance – 74,434 – Coventry City 2 – 1 Oxford United (Final) – Sun, 2 Apr –
Lowest Attendance – 274 – West Brom U23 0 – 2 Gillingham – Tue, 8 Nov
Average Attendance – 1,980
Aggregated Attendance – 251,488

2017/18 SEASON

Largest Attendance – 41,261 – Lincoln City 1 – 0 Shrewsbury Town (Final) – Sun, 8 Apr
Lowest Attendance – 248 – Grimsby Town 1 – 1 Sunderland U21 – Wed, 8 Nov
Average Attendance – 1,842
Aggregated Attendance – 234,032

2018/19

Largest Attendance – 85,021 – Portsmouth 2 – 2 Sunderland – Sun, 31 Mar
Lowest Attendance – 202 – Burton Albion 0 – 1 Middlesbrough U21 – Wed, 7 Nov
Average Attendance – 2,430
Aggregated Attendance – 308,713

2019/20

Largest Attendance – 14,735 – Portsmouth 3 – 2 Exeter City – Tue, 18 Feb
Lowest Attendance – 292 – Brighton & Hove Albion U21 0 – 0 Newport County – Tue, 3 Dec
Average Attendance – 1,630
Aggregated Attendance – 200,507

2020/21 (PARTLY WITHOUT FANS)

Largest Attendance – 1,036 – Oxford United 1 – 1 Forest Green Rovers – Tue, 8 Dec
Lowest Attendance – 714 – Exeter City 1 – 2 Northampton Town – Tue, 8 Dec
Average Attendance – 852
Aggregated Attendance – 4,260