Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2009 9:02:34 GMT
We often talk on this site about attendances over the years so I’ve dug deep and produced a few graphs. The information up to 1992 is taken from Through the Turnstiles by Brian Tabner. Thereafter it comes from the Rothmans/Sky Sports year books. I’m aware some sources provide different figures for the same season so I assume there are “provisional” and “final” figures knocking around.
Where you see a year quoted, it’s for the second half of the season (eg 28 = 1927/28). As far as I understand, all figures are for main season league matches and exclude cup ties and play-offs.
I’ve taken the line of also including Exeter City’s attendance figures alongside those of Torquay United. This puts our crowds in a slightly wider context and also tackles any discussion of the two clubs’ relative attendances over the years. My starting point is our election to the Football League in 1927.
The pre-war years: 1927-39
All games were in Division 3 (South) during this period. After average crowds of over 4,000 in the early seasons in the league, our average crowds levelled off at just under 4,000 during the 1930s. Once the likes of Merthyr and Thames had departed the scene, this made us the worst-supported club in our division for most of the 1930s. Usually there were poorer-supported clubs in the Northern section (who were off our radar) although – in 1937/38 – we drew the lowest average crowd in the entire Football League.
Average of the average 1927-39: 3,987
The post-war years: 1946-58
This is the period up to the end of regionalisation in 1958. During this time – especially in the late 1940s and early 1950s – football crowds everywhere were bigger than at any other time. Torquay United was no exception and you’ll see the average attendance was above 6,000 in every season during this period (topping 8,000 on two occasions).
Yet this didn’t make us relatively well-supported for we were often the poorest-supported club in our division with the exception of Aldershot. Indeed, it took the near-miss promotion effort of 1956/57 to raise our crowds above no more than a handful of other clubs in our league. This included, for the first time ever, Exeter City.
Average of the average 1946-58: 7,364
Division 3 and Division 4: 1958-72
This was a fine spell on the field for Torquay United: two promotions and six seasons in the old Division 3. This was reflected in our crowds which bucked the trend as attendances elsewhere tended to slide. Consequently our support – relative to other clubs – was at an all-time high from 1966 onwards.
In 1967/68 our average attendance exceeded 9,000 for the only time, making us the 51st best-supported club in the Football League. For this season our crowds were twice those of Exeter’s and, overall, we achieved a higher average attendance than City ten times in a twelve-season sequence.
Average of the average 1958-72: 6,202
Division 4: 1972-87
This takes the period from our relegation in 1972 through to the first Great Escape in 1987. This was a mediocre period for Torquay United as well as being a progressively worse period for football attendances in general. The mid-1980s were a low point and you’ll see that our crowds averaged less than 2,000 for four successive seasons from 1983/84 to 1986/87.
Exeter’s crowds were better – they enjoyed a relatively lengthy spell in Division 3 from 1977 to 1984 – but they too suffered from declining attendances, eventually dipping below an average of 2,000 on one occasion.
Average of the average: 2,457
Division 4 (mostly): 1987-2001
This takes us from Cyril Knowles to another Great Escape at Barnet. The break between graphs doesn’t really give credit to the sharp increase from 1,777 (1986/87) to 3,005 in Cyril’s first season (1987/88), our first 3,000+ average since 1979/80.
It’s a complex period for Torquay United – a promotion, several play-offs and flirtations with relegation – but crowds generally plane off at around 2,500 to 3,000, basically at the level to which we’ve become accustomed. This provides little evidence of even the most absorbing of times really leading to a leap in crowds.
Average of the average 1987-2001: 2,682
Up, down, down, up: 2001-2009
Another hugely-eventful period in our history which, again, shows little indication of average attendances budging too far from between 2,500 and 3,000. There’s one season when we achieved a higher average than Exeter – we were two leagues above them at the time – and the makings of a run of City’s crowds being twice ours.
Average of the average 2001-2009: 2,936
Our attendances relative to other clubs 1958-2007
This is based on charts contained in the Brian Tabner book up to 1992 (plus additional research for 1992-2007). It shows our average crowds relative to other clubs in the Football League. To be the worst-supported of all brings a score of 1; the best-supported is 92 (or however many clubs there were in the league).
We’re usually in the lowest quartile – often within the bottom dozen clubs – but you’ll see how we climbed to the third quartile in that 1966-72 period:
Torquay and Exeter’s crowds since 1927
This chart shows our average crowd – alongside Exeter’s – for the whole period since our election to the league in 1927. During those seventy-five seasons – seven years were lost to the war remember – my reckoning is that Exeter have achieved a higher average attendance than Torquay on sixty occasions (I didn’t expect it to be that high). Of the fifteen times we had the bigger average attendance; ten were between 1960 and 1972 (with only four since 1972).
There’s also evidence of the more widespread rise in crowds after the second world war and the long decline to the mid 1980s (followed by relatively modest recovery). In that way you’ll see how our late 1960s crowds once again stood out.
This diagram straightens out our average attendance line and takes Exeter’s average crowds as a proportion of our own. As our “score” remains at 100, a figure of 200 for Exeter represents their crowds being twice ours. Likewise a score of 50 for Exeter means their attendances were half of Torquay’s. I believed that – over a sustained period – Exeter’s attendances were typically 25% more than Torquay’s. I now think this was something of an under-estimate, perhaps more like 25-50%?
Where you see a year quoted, it’s for the second half of the season (eg 28 = 1927/28). As far as I understand, all figures are for main season league matches and exclude cup ties and play-offs.
I’ve taken the line of also including Exeter City’s attendance figures alongside those of Torquay United. This puts our crowds in a slightly wider context and also tackles any discussion of the two clubs’ relative attendances over the years. My starting point is our election to the Football League in 1927.
The pre-war years: 1927-39
All games were in Division 3 (South) during this period. After average crowds of over 4,000 in the early seasons in the league, our average crowds levelled off at just under 4,000 during the 1930s. Once the likes of Merthyr and Thames had departed the scene, this made us the worst-supported club in our division for most of the 1930s. Usually there were poorer-supported clubs in the Northern section (who were off our radar) although – in 1937/38 – we drew the lowest average crowd in the entire Football League.
Average of the average 1927-39: 3,987
The post-war years: 1946-58
This is the period up to the end of regionalisation in 1958. During this time – especially in the late 1940s and early 1950s – football crowds everywhere were bigger than at any other time. Torquay United was no exception and you’ll see the average attendance was above 6,000 in every season during this period (topping 8,000 on two occasions).
Yet this didn’t make us relatively well-supported for we were often the poorest-supported club in our division with the exception of Aldershot. Indeed, it took the near-miss promotion effort of 1956/57 to raise our crowds above no more than a handful of other clubs in our league. This included, for the first time ever, Exeter City.
Average of the average 1946-58: 7,364
Division 3 and Division 4: 1958-72
This was a fine spell on the field for Torquay United: two promotions and six seasons in the old Division 3. This was reflected in our crowds which bucked the trend as attendances elsewhere tended to slide. Consequently our support – relative to other clubs – was at an all-time high from 1966 onwards.
In 1967/68 our average attendance exceeded 9,000 for the only time, making us the 51st best-supported club in the Football League. For this season our crowds were twice those of Exeter’s and, overall, we achieved a higher average attendance than City ten times in a twelve-season sequence.
Average of the average 1958-72: 6,202
Division 4: 1972-87
This takes the period from our relegation in 1972 through to the first Great Escape in 1987. This was a mediocre period for Torquay United as well as being a progressively worse period for football attendances in general. The mid-1980s were a low point and you’ll see that our crowds averaged less than 2,000 for four successive seasons from 1983/84 to 1986/87.
Exeter’s crowds were better – they enjoyed a relatively lengthy spell in Division 3 from 1977 to 1984 – but they too suffered from declining attendances, eventually dipping below an average of 2,000 on one occasion.
Average of the average: 2,457
Division 4 (mostly): 1987-2001
This takes us from Cyril Knowles to another Great Escape at Barnet. The break between graphs doesn’t really give credit to the sharp increase from 1,777 (1986/87) to 3,005 in Cyril’s first season (1987/88), our first 3,000+ average since 1979/80.
It’s a complex period for Torquay United – a promotion, several play-offs and flirtations with relegation – but crowds generally plane off at around 2,500 to 3,000, basically at the level to which we’ve become accustomed. This provides little evidence of even the most absorbing of times really leading to a leap in crowds.
Average of the average 1987-2001: 2,682
Up, down, down, up: 2001-2009
Another hugely-eventful period in our history which, again, shows little indication of average attendances budging too far from between 2,500 and 3,000. There’s one season when we achieved a higher average than Exeter – we were two leagues above them at the time – and the makings of a run of City’s crowds being twice ours.
Average of the average 2001-2009: 2,936
Our attendances relative to other clubs 1958-2007
This is based on charts contained in the Brian Tabner book up to 1992 (plus additional research for 1992-2007). It shows our average crowds relative to other clubs in the Football League. To be the worst-supported of all brings a score of 1; the best-supported is 92 (or however many clubs there were in the league).
We’re usually in the lowest quartile – often within the bottom dozen clubs – but you’ll see how we climbed to the third quartile in that 1966-72 period:
Torquay and Exeter’s crowds since 1927
This chart shows our average crowd – alongside Exeter’s – for the whole period since our election to the league in 1927. During those seventy-five seasons – seven years were lost to the war remember – my reckoning is that Exeter have achieved a higher average attendance than Torquay on sixty occasions (I didn’t expect it to be that high). Of the fifteen times we had the bigger average attendance; ten were between 1960 and 1972 (with only four since 1972).
There’s also evidence of the more widespread rise in crowds after the second world war and the long decline to the mid 1980s (followed by relatively modest recovery). In that way you’ll see how our late 1960s crowds once again stood out.
This diagram straightens out our average attendance line and takes Exeter’s average crowds as a proportion of our own. As our “score” remains at 100, a figure of 200 for Exeter represents their crowds being twice ours. Likewise a score of 50 for Exeter means their attendances were half of Torquay’s. I believed that – over a sustained period – Exeter’s attendances were typically 25% more than Torquay’s. I now think this was something of an under-estimate, perhaps more like 25-50%?
;D
Why you speak to me in ze French? I come on here to get away from all that; or do you mean "cue" Dave? 
