Posted by: @epsomwanderer

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Are attendances beginning to worry people had a little look about but couldn't find how many turn up for the same game last season? 

It's an interesting one, only 73 less than last season, which could be down to the weather or any number of unknown factors for such a small variable.

It's probably also a case of the season feeling slightly flat following the Horsham exit - and all the headlines and publicity we are seeing now about other non-league clubs - 'could have been us' and all that. 

Plus of course second season syndrome, the novelty of being in the NL might play a part. But overall, I don't think it's a concern, and Dagenham are probably one of the less enticing prospects...

Just following up on the attendance issue - a quick search reveals Aldershot v Dagenham, a Bank Holiday Monday in April 2022 (actually I think I was there - an awful performance and a 2-0 defeat) - with a crowd of 1,528....

• Very quiet on here lads????
  

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Disappointing performance, especially after the performance against Aldershot. With the strong press, why wouldn't we go a little more direct? Playing out the back was slow and sluggish; although Francomb looked really sharp at times. 

At least we are still mid table. Some interesting matches coming up. Gateshead have lagged a little with their coaches leaving for MK Dons. Boreham Wood on a little rollercoaster, like us. Hoping for 4 points over the next two. 

A very winnable couple of months coming up definitely. Fylde form has picked up but they are still near the bottom. York still struggling a bit, Woking in awful form, Eastleigh doing ok now but not as good as last season and I would fully expect us to beat Oxford home and away assuming all is mostly well with the injuries by then.

With players returning it is really time to put this patchy form behind us and go on a bit of a run.

Just a gut feeling but feels like attendances are 100-200 lower per game compared to last season

As far as I know only had 1 home game this season with 'schools' tickets issued

Plus last season was the first at this level so maybe it was more of a novelty both for locals and also for neutral groundhoppers 'ticking us off'

Losing Notts and Wrexham from the division also means 2 games that would have had big away support

When Alfie and Jason are firing on all cylinders though the numbers will rise

@dorking-eagle that was the gut feeling I had the bars in the ground seemed quieter, I know we have 2 fanzones now. There was plenty of space around the pitch. 

Thanks to everyone that looked out for the numbers after I posted really surprised it was so little difference. 

I thought, maybe with rose tinted specs for last season we were hitting 1800 to 2000 and not just the 'big' away support games.

@dorking-eagle It is interesting that the conversation concerning attendance has been going on all season. In the beginning, it seemed that people were chalking it up to school, etc., but we are firmly in the season and there has not been a rise of attendance, but a stagnation, and even a little dip. Is there less interest as there has been inconsistency in results? Is the stadium not exciting or big enough to drum up more away attendance? It seems as many away fans enjoy Dorking Hospitality. Just very curious about this.

@robh I think it's a mix. It's really quite a small drop, and probably normal for 'second season syndrome' where some of the novelty has worn off and the reality of a very tough division with very tough matches sets in. 

There are still some bigger clubs due to visit, with Chesterfield, Oldham, Woking and Hartlepool still to come. Patchy form might play a part too for some I think. 

Either way, the numbers hold up well when set against others - especially given the size of the club.

One interesting thing is - how high do people think the crowds can get? What would we get in League Two, for instance and what's our catchment area?

Given that the population of Dorking is only around 11k, we will definitely be looking to pick up more from the surrounding towns/villages - especially Guildford which is less than half an hour by car and a very easy train ride. That's where we start to compete with both Woking and Aldershot too. So continuing to offering a great experience will be critical. 

Might need a separate thread for this!

 👍 I'll start a new thread Ade

Had a quick look at the attendances this season vs the same opponents last season and interestingly the net total attendance is +101 people this season compared to last. Obviously these aren't always going to be direct comparisons as the games will generally be at completely different times of the year. You also have some that were Saturday games vs some that are Tuesday night ones, etc:

Some tough comparisons here as Eastleigh was a boxing day game last year but in August this year so I would expect a big drop there. York and Maidenhead were both in August as well this season so school holidays likely to play a part in the drop in those.

On the flip side, it is probably unfair to compare the Kidderminster games as that was an FA Trophy game last season so not really comparable. If you remove that then it ends up being a ~500 drop this season so far.

The Aldershot game is the only direct comparison so far as it was the same date in both seasons. The Oldham and Altrincham games later in the season will also be direct comparisons with last year.

As others have said, by this point last season we had Chesterfield, Wrexham and Notts County all visit and all took big 900+ away followings. It will be interesting to see how the Chesterfield crowd compares with last season when they visit next year. I also doubt Woking will bring 1,350 away fans next month like they did back in April.