Drop in attendance

WELSH Premier attendances went into freefall this season dropping by more than 15% - the largest decrease in the league's 20-year history.

The average attendance at the 192 games during the regular season was just 279, compared to 329 in 2011/12.

Leading the way were Bala Town whose gates fell by 34.1%, Afan Lido (28.2%) and champions The New Saints, who saw a drop of nearly a quarter in the average Park Hall crowd.

There were also significant decreases at Port Talbot (22.6%) and Llanelli (17.2%).

Only two clubs increased their attendances. Airbus UK Broughton's best-ever season on the field brought 36.2% more spectators flocking through the turnstiles, while Newtown attracted 26.1% more.

Gates are now only marginally better than they were in the last season of the 18-club league when an average of 276 spectators attended each game.

There were 306 fixtures played in that 2009/10 season with 84,482 fans attending games compared with just 53,545 in the regular campaign just ended.

The current economic climate and the dearth of local derbies may be partially responsible for the highly-disappointing figures, but evidence supports claims from some quarters that the Super 12 format with its mid-season split just is not appealing to fans.

The average attendance at first phase games this season was 291, which dropped to 250 for the Championship Conference and Play-Off Conference fixtures after the split, when the format was designed to generate more excitement and interest.


The size of the crowds at matches shows that the format is not attracting the interest of the public.

Recently, Aberystwyth boss Tomi Morgan said: "The size of the crowds at matches shows that it is not attracting the interest of the public.

"When you're playing teams four times in a season it's hard to maintain the interest of supporters. If you meet teams in the cup, clubs can end up playing each other up to six times."

The only club to show a significant increase in second phase attendances was Airbus, with marginal improvements at Llanelli, Port Talbot and TNS.

The best-supported club was again Bangor City, but attendances at Nantporth were down by 19% from 727 to 589, while Aberystwyth's average was second-best at 332.

The previous largest fall in WPL attendances was in 2005 when they dropped by 12%.