Beveree Chat

THOSE WERE THE DAYS
April 20th 1985
Isthmian League (Servowarm) Division 1
Hampton 3 Hertford Town 0 Att; 52

Chris Vagg; Robert Winterhalter, Malcolm Dickenson, Steve Rogers (Ian Rae), Steve Smith, Tim Hollands, Freddie Wilson, Mark Wilson, Ricky Walkes, Mick Heselden, Dwight Marshall.

One of the last home games of the season – a match that due to appalling weather during the winter had been postponed on 5th January. Already relegated Hertford Town were despatched by a 3-0 score-line. Marshall scored just before half-time and Walkes and Wilson (Freddie!), made the win secure during the second-half.
Dwight Marshall, a Youth product, made 121 appearances, scoring 40 goals between 1983 and 1987 (he would later go on to a League career with Plymouth Argyle and Luton Town).


The Old Historian

Att: 52 was it really that bad? In 1985 we were still a reasonable team.

Wow I don't ever remember things being as bad as a crowd of 52 for a league game! Some very good players in that side too.

Lord Elpus wrote: Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:28 am Wow I don't ever remember things being as bad as a crowd of 52 for a league game! Some very good players in that side too.

Probably down to lack of away fans, Hertford were relegation candidates.

On 30th March, a 54 crowd was recorded for the visit of Aveley.

124 turned up on 23rd April v Walton & Hersham

What was the highest attendance that season?

216, Kingstonian, Feb 26

That's desperate. My memory may have faded but don't remember the attendances being so sparse at that time.

I was recently looking at our attendances over the last few years. Since 17/18 when we returned to the NLS our top average League attendance has been 669 (21/22). It is noticeable that the general trend of average attendances has significantly increased over the last few seasons at NLS and we now have one of the lowest averages in the division, 19th whereas we were 9th highest in 17/18. A challenge for our new owners. Success on the pitch is the usual driver for attendances but interesting to see Tonbridge and St Albans City pushing up their averages to over 1,000 without being obviously that successful. Wealdstone and Maidenhead are surviving on around 1,500 in the NL and I guess that is the level we could hope for if we ever got promoted.

It might be down to marketing strategies. A team playing attractive football helps.
I think that our gates since Christmas have shown improvement ?

We've seen some recent uptick on Saturday games where we have a lot of local junior teams invited. However, our Tuesday night attendances are 55% of average Saturday attendances which is understandable to an extent but perhaps reflects the core supporter base. They are the ones most likely to buying season tickets. Over the years all sorts of good marketing ideas have been employed ( and need to continue to be employed) but average attendances have been stuck in the 550--650 range.