Question. Why did our attendances start to rise?

[Southend Elvis]

I was asking this yesterday, and none of my wise old heads knew the answer.
Back in the 90s when I started regularly attending RH, we enjoyed crowds of 2 or 3,000 and were flitting between the 2 lower divisions. We had some great players, enjoyed excitement nearly every game, yet our attendances stayed low.
Yesterday we had 8600+ to watch quite dull, uninteresting football, poor quality players, and in the lowest division in our history.
What caused the up tik in fans, cause we can't remember...maybe people like being punished!

 

[Holy Joe]

I was asking this yesterday, and none of my wise old heads knew the answer.
Back in the 90s when I started regularly attending RH, we enjoyed crowds of 2 or 3,000 and were flitting between the 2 lower divisions. We had some great players, enjoyed excitement nearly every game, yet our attendances stayed low.
Yesterday we had 8600+ to watch quite dull, uninteresting football, poor quality players, and in the lowest division in our history.
What caused the up tik in fans, cause we can't remember...maybe people like being punished!

Probably likely many reasons, including.....

Population growth
Price of premiership games
Price of other forms of entertainment (cinema/theatre etc)
COVID - people are more likely to spend on activities than possessions post COVID
Feel good factor - play off push, Ron out etc
Ground safety / less violence at matches so safer for families/young children

NB I think memories of 90's football are maybe a little rose tinted - I'm pretty certain there were some horrendous football/matches.

 

[Swiss Tony]

Making the game more safe for families to attend was a major factor imo.

 

[Southend Elvis]

Probably likely many reasons, including.....

Population growth
Price of premiership games
Price of other forms of entertainment (cinema/theatre etc)
COVID - people are more likely to spend on activities than possessions post COVID
Feel good factor - play off push, Ron out etc
Ground safety / less violence at matches so safer for families/young children

NB I think memories of 90's football are maybe a little rose tinted - I'm pretty certain there were some horrendous football/matches.

There were definitely some bad games, but I always remember some great excitement was had more than a few times. Would love to know the stats.
Game safety was probably something, also my mate said about premier games were out of reach.
We had our own Martin out protests, Alvin bloody Martin

 

[davewebbsbrain]

Social media is a massive factor in influencing everything nowerdays.
The social media team at Southend do a fantastic job and huge credit has to go to them for their output on all platforms.
I firmly believe that is a major factor in drawing in the crowds.

 

[WestyReturns]

In my opinion the Tilson era had an effect too. Incredible run and exciting attack minded football. A lot of people got hooked and now have kids from that period who are going now too.

 

[Barling Magna]

I think there's an element of the National League and EFL League Two being seen and felt as "real football" where the players aren't on astronomic wages, the teams are supported by fans local to the towns and cities they come from rather than from all over the country (or all around the world in the case of the Premiership). The players and management staff are by and large down to earth genuine people living in the real world and not some cosseted football bubble with chauffeurs, security guards and chartered jets.

 

[Southend Elvis]

Does anyone have the stats on when attendances started to rise?

 

[GBJ]

Does anyone have the stats on when attendances started to rise?

No stats at hand, but I recall when we used to play Orient back in the early 00’s of Lg2 football, that would be seen as a “big” game and we’d draw crowds of around 5500.

A few years later we were playing Championship football and selling out RH.

 

[Southend Elvis]

No stats at hand, but I recall when we used to play Orient back in the early 00’s, that would be seen as a “big” game and we’d draw crowds of around 5500.

We used to go to the west bank bar, and never have to Q. We were protesting outside the club as we hit bottom place in the league, was only 100 or so of us there! 90s sometime

 

[NZamba Legend]

As someone else said it was Tilson era initially. That one season in championship we averaged over 9k I believe, was much higher than the 92- 97 stretch at the same level. But I think post Covid there has been a rise which we are experiencing now, despite currently playing at lowest ever level

 

[Southend Elvis]

As someone else said it was Tilson era initially. That one season in championship we averaged over 9k I believe, was much higher than the 92- 97 stretch at the same level. But I think post Covid there has been a rise which we are experiencing now, despite currently playing at lowest ever level

The championship was a given really, imagine how many we would get if we got there now! It was mainly the 3rd and 4th division attendances that were so low

 

[ms brush]

And of course the final exit of Ronnie the Rat. Many people boycotted over a number of years because of him, so with COSU now in the driving seat, people are far more willing to come along. And there is the astronomical cost and poor availability of premiership tickets, forcing a rethink of priorities.

 

[leeblue]

Overheard as well as had many a convert lately. Some reasons.
Prem is boring
Prem is expensive
Good atmosphere (old skool)

 

[Southend Elvis]

Also, in those heady days, the away support took over the whole of the north bank. Yesterday there was 75 away supporters, so we bring a higher crowd now than in the championship days

 

[Exiled Shrimper]

Does anyone have the stats on when attendances started to rise?

This website tracks attendances by season: https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/nonleague/souu.htm

It shows, as others have said, that the catalyst for the upturn in attendances was the Tilson era. From averaging around 4,000 between 1997 and 2003, that rose to 4,500 as we battled relegation and reached the Football League Trophy final in 2003/4, 6,000 as we won promotion from League Two in 2004/5, 8,000 as we won the League One title and 10,000 in the Championship season.

From then, average attendances have rarely dropped below 6,000, and never below 5,000, with Sturrock’s first and third seasons the lowest in the early 2010s. Those figures are comparable to the crowds we attracted during our first spell in the second tier; last season’s average of almost 6,500 was higher than all but our first season at that level in that initial period, and this year’s average will eclipse all of those seasons between 1991 and 1997.

 

[Southend Elvis]

This website tracks attendances by season: https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attnclub/nonleague/souu.htm

It shows, as others have said, that the catalyst for the upturn in attendances was the Tilson era. From averaging around 4,000 between 1997 and 2003, that rose to 4,500 as we battled relegation and reached the Football League Trophy final in 2003/4, 6,000 as we won promotion from League Two in 2004/5, 8,000 as we won the League One title and 10,000 in the Championship season.

From then, average attendances have rarely dropped below 6,000, and never below 5,000, with Sturrock’s first and third seasons the lowest in the early 2010s. Those figures are comparable to the crowds we attracted during our first spell in the second tier; last season’s average of almost 6,500 was higher than all but our first season at that level in that initial period, and this year’s average will eclipse all of those seasons between 1991 and 1997.

Well done that man.

 

[Shrimp and two veg]

When i first started watching Southend, Fri night games against Watford and the like in the old 3rd div drew in 13k or so.
I honestly think the upturn is the unrivalled passion from the stands and the atmosphere that comes with it. Our first game at the Hall saw 17k. I would say hesitantly that 17k is where we should be as an average, but we are a long way off in the National League and obviously the Hall no longer holds anything like that. Our away support is great fun too and its an exciting place to be miles from home turning up with hundreds or more.
Look at what the BV achieved with 650 of us v Oldham, then next game thats turned into a thousand.

 

[* ORM *]

Because, for the vast majority of fans, the attractiveness of Premiership and European football is fast dying out. It costs a fortune to watch. It’s turning into an American style bore fest, VAR is simply amd singly the worst thing that I can remember happening from a rule perspective. The concept was fine but clear and obvious is not being followed and minutes to make a decision is just ludicrous. 5 English teams in the ‘Champions’ league. More and more European games and competitions. Managers complaints about the number of games and yet, here in HK, 3 or 4 big teams will be here before next season starts.

Football is being strangled at the top level. I predict many more starting to vote with their wallets. Good for us and good also for many lower league teams.

Stop feeding the cable companies with your subscriptions, advertisers will soon pull the plug and the prize money at the top lebel will shrink. Then let the Americans franchise it and those that want a European super league have it. Regulate football for crying out loud and make clubs accountable for their balance sheets. FPS? the fact that the Man C situation is taking so long stinks to high heaven of behind closed doors negotiations.

 

[OldBlueLady]

It's always been peaks and troughs and often coincides with team position in the leagues as well as the opposition, of course. I remember going with crowds of 2-3,000 in the 70s, explain how they swelled to 31,000 for the Liverpool games!