Attendance at last night's game
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 4:52 pm
Most of you will know that I read the forum with interest, and that I will give a response when I see something that concerns the match day operation in the threads.
I don't join in the rest of the conversations as my opinion could be taken as an expression of club policy.
There is a thread running with comment around the actual attendance in the ground last night. There is an underlying suggestion that the figures have been fiddled or manipulated in some way, although I also note that some regular contributors have said they looked about right.
For the interest of clarity and anyone who wants to know the actual facts, the attendance is monitored by automatic counting at each of the turnstiles, with the data being fed to a computer screen in match control. Once the computer is set before the game the counting system is automatic and remains active even if the computer goes down.
The figures that relate to yesterday are as follows:
Yesterday there were 2064 persons who entered the ground through the turnstiles.
There were an additional 144 entering through the hospitality areas, bringing the overall attendance to the published 2208.
Of these there were 224 away fans. They were accommodated in the AGP Family stand (208 capacity) and the front four rows of the last block of the Carling stand (52 capacity).
The TBS had 387 fans in it. Earlier in the week there was a comment that 600-700 had been sold in that stand. At that time that was the total sales figure, not the TBS sales figure.
There is a feeling that the crowd looked more than usual. That's because it was - we have been averaging 1300-1500, and yesterday we had much more than that. The sieve also looked tighter than usual possibly due to the impact the TV cameras had on the crowd?
Our ground has a formal capacity of just over 6000. This was drawn up using the approved calculation method, which includes 0.5sqm per person in the terraces. To pack people in at that rate would certainly make it cosy, reminiscent of the old days on terraces in the First Division at whatever club you may have also visited. If we ever do get that big draw, and a sellout cup tie, then please remember this!
As for the Club creating false figures, let me assure you that the totals are subjected to scrutiny at the time, reconciliation with sales figures and cash taken, and subsequent accounts scrutiny. The only way the figure given out yesterday could be wrong is if someone allowed a large number of people to enter the ground through an exit gate free of charge thus avoiding going through one of the counting systems. As each exit gate is staffed by a steward I would be very interested to hear if someone saw that happening, although the CCTV feeds would suggest it didn't.
If one of the doubters would like to have a look at the system themselves, please contact me on a match day and I'll be happy to help.
In the meantime I'll go back to my office, and get on with preparing for our next home game.
Tony Payne
Safety Officer
I don't join in the rest of the conversations as my opinion could be taken as an expression of club policy.
There is a thread running with comment around the actual attendance in the ground last night. There is an underlying suggestion that the figures have been fiddled or manipulated in some way, although I also note that some regular contributors have said they looked about right.
For the interest of clarity and anyone who wants to know the actual facts, the attendance is monitored by automatic counting at each of the turnstiles, with the data being fed to a computer screen in match control. Once the computer is set before the game the counting system is automatic and remains active even if the computer goes down.
The figures that relate to yesterday are as follows:
Yesterday there were 2064 persons who entered the ground through the turnstiles.
There were an additional 144 entering through the hospitality areas, bringing the overall attendance to the published 2208.
Of these there were 224 away fans. They were accommodated in the AGP Family stand (208 capacity) and the front four rows of the last block of the Carling stand (52 capacity).
The TBS had 387 fans in it. Earlier in the week there was a comment that 600-700 had been sold in that stand. At that time that was the total sales figure, not the TBS sales figure.
There is a feeling that the crowd looked more than usual. That's because it was - we have been averaging 1300-1500, and yesterday we had much more than that. The sieve also looked tighter than usual possibly due to the impact the TV cameras had on the crowd?
Our ground has a formal capacity of just over 6000. This was drawn up using the approved calculation method, which includes 0.5sqm per person in the terraces. To pack people in at that rate would certainly make it cosy, reminiscent of the old days on terraces in the First Division at whatever club you may have also visited. If we ever do get that big draw, and a sellout cup tie, then please remember this!
As for the Club creating false figures, let me assure you that the totals are subjected to scrutiny at the time, reconciliation with sales figures and cash taken, and subsequent accounts scrutiny. The only way the figure given out yesterday could be wrong is if someone allowed a large number of people to enter the ground through an exit gate free of charge thus avoiding going through one of the counting systems. As each exit gate is staffed by a steward I would be very interested to hear if someone saw that happening, although the CCTV feeds would suggest it didn't.
If one of the doubters would like to have a look at the system themselves, please contact me on a match day and I'll be happy to help.
In the meantime I'll go back to my office, and get on with preparing for our next home game.
Tony Payne
Safety Officer