Fan-tastic numbers

In the countdown to Cliftonville’s fourth consecutive Danske Bank Premiership fixture in front of a sell-out crowd, we are pleased to laud our supporters’ contribution to another significant rise in attendances across the NI Football League.

The Red Army has snapped up every ticket in our allocation for tomorrow’s Solitude showdown with Linfield to follow on from similar full houses against Glentoran, Crusaders and Larne over the last three weeks.

NIFL recently celebrated the 200,000th fan through this season’s turnstiles and, just past the halfway stage of the Premiership campaign, the average match attendance in the League has increased by a further 15% on last term, to 1,656 spectators per match.

St Stephen’s Day – when Cliftonville supporters packed out the away end at Seaview – saw a record-breaking 18,349 fans out in force across the division, making it the highest attended NIFL matchday since the advent of official records.

“The season so far on the pitch has been fantastic, and we’re delighted that the fans have responded by coming out in their numbers to back their Clubs,” said NIFL Chief Executive Gerard Lawlor.

“Boxing Day was a huge day in the Irish League but we could have had up to 30,000 fans at games if not for the restricted capacities of many of our stadiums. It’s imperative that the stadium funding is finally released by the NI Executive to allow our clubs to fulfil their potential and serve their communities better.”

The introduction of more Sunday football continues to prove successful with all five of this season’s Sunday Premiership games showing an increase on the historic average match attendance of the same fixture.

“With so many competing options for families these days, we are so thankful for that,” added Lawlor.

“Our challenge is to continue this growth and to help our Clubs create a positive experience for new fans to their stadiums as the second half of the season promises to be even more exciting!”