What is the lowest crowd for a league game in each of the divisions (Prem-3)?

If that takes too long, just the lowest overall will be fine

Clydebank v East Stirling attendance was 28,challenge cup i think.


I am sure Meadowbank sometimes were under 100.

I thnk Meadowbank was usually under 100

I think Morton will feature in this somewhere.

I think the Clydebank crowd was actually over 50, the 28 or so were the fans who had season tickets.

Meadowbank had at least one sub-100 crowd.

Was it not 29 paying punters, the rest having season tickets/comps? It'd be strange to count the season tickets but not those who paid on the day

Tough question! If someone doesn't beat me to it, I'll get back to this one!!

Meantime, I have average attendance figures to hand from 1986-87.

In the time since, the lowest average attendance in each division is:

SPL: 3,204 (Clydebank, 86-87)
Div 1: 574 (Meadowbank Thistle, 91-92)
Div 2: 258 (East Stirlingshire, 90-91)
Div 3: 224 (Cowdenbeath, 98-99)

Cowdenbeath broke the Division 3 record four seasons running from 1995 to 1999!

The lowest crowds for those teams in each of those seasons were:

Clydebank: 1037 v Dundee, Feb 7th 1987
Meadowbank Thistle: 175 v Forfar Athletic, Oct 9th 1991
East Stirlingshire: 130 v Montrose, Sept 29th 1990
Cowdenbeath: 108 v East Stirlingshire, Dec 19th 1998

Cowdenbeath v East Stirling (Div 2) was given as 100 on Sept 18th 1990.

Good stuff, cheers

On the subject of the fixtures there, all were Saturday games except Meadowbank vs. Forfar (Wednesday) and Cowden vs. the Shire (Div 2) in 1990 which was on a Tuesday.

That's a strange one with Cowdenbeath as their crowds seem to have picked up now, was it not over 2,000 when they won the title last season?

We had a crowd of 110 at Firs Park against the Shire in the mid eighties. Forum contributor (although he's not been around for a while) Denzil was there.

There was less than 100 at a game between Albion and Meadowbank one year. I'm sure that was the 1st Division. It was (in)famously captured in the papers the next day. They reckoned there was about 70 odd there, most of which were from Stirling.

The memory may well be playing tricks though.

EDIT - I've just re-read your post, and realised you meant in those particular seasons.

Doh!!

The 252 that were at Meadowbank in October to see Ian McInnes score a 30 yard thunderbolt to beat the Jags was the smallest crowd I've ever been in at an Albion match.

Sorry, just seen this. I don't check this forum daily.

I have the answer to the question at home on paper, albeit about five years out of date now so if there's been anything especially low in the last half decade I won't have a note of that.

I will endeavour to post it later on. I'm at five a sides straight from work tonight though so it will be late evening most likely.

'The Roar of the Crowd' gives the lowest ever crowd as 22. Edinburgh City vs Brechin City, 'C' Division, 1948/49. Brechin won 11-1

Ok, according to my information which comes from a member of the Association of Football Statisticians the figures are as follows. Please note, that the info was given to me up to the end of the 2000/01 season. If there's been smaller since then I won't have it here. It covers the era since 1975 reconstruction. Again, if there was smaller before that (unlikely) then it won't be here. I also didn't research it myself so can give no guarantees of authenticity, I merely took it at face value.

Premier Division
430 Clydebank v Dundee United 2nd May 1978
900 Dumbarton v Morton 16th March 1985
973 Kilmarnock v Morton 15th April 1981

First Division
160 Cowdenbeath v Meadowbank Thistle 20th January 1993
168 Clydebank v Inverness CT 4th March 2000
175 Meadowbank Thistle v Forfar Athletic 9th October 1991

Second Division
71 Berwick Rangers v Arbroath 25th April 1992 (Game was played at Bayview)
80 Meadowbank Thistle v Stenhousemuir 22nd December 1979
100 Announced crowd for five different games between 1978 and 1990

Third Division
108 Cowdenbeath v East Stirlingshire 19th December 1998
117 Cowdenbeath v Brechin City 26th January 1999
122 Albion Rovers v East Stirlingshire 25th September 1999

Are season tickets included in crowd figures?

It varies from club to club - some will include ALL season tickets and any complementaries issued for the day (even if they haven't been used), other clubs will issue a figure that just includes those present at the game in question.

So, season tickets are included in crowds. Imagine if Celtic for example didn't issue a crowd that included season tickets - as Parkhead is almost all season tickets, they'd be declaring a paying gate on a par with Livingston.

Seem to remember Ayr played Clydebank at Boghead a good few years back in mid-week, that was a sub 100 gate or much over? Not sure of the competition or year.

Morton played Clydebank at Cappielow in a SFL Division 1 match on Saturday 29th April 2000.

The crowd was 349

The only game that seems to fit when they were at Boghead, when you were in the same division or when you might have met in the cups, as well as being midweek, would have been a 1st Division game on 27/4/99, however the gate was declared as 305. It's possible that included season ticket holders not in attendance. Bankies had quite a few gates sub-300 that season, the lowest being 207 v Stranraer.

As any well-informed poster knows, there were mitigating circumstances around that tie and indeed several others at the time.

Even so, it's still a long way from being the smallest crowd in the division, which is surprising.

Cheers for that.

And that was an exaggeration. If it's the game I'm thinking of it was in midweek and a fair proportion of the crowd seemed to be managers and scouts from other clubs!

The game that was declared as 207 was 12th December 1998. I think that was a Saturday though.

I will confirm for sure in a few weeks time. However, my understanding is that clubs are SUPPOSED to include season ticket holders in attendance but not those unused.

Of course that doesn't necessarily mean that is what they ARE doing.

I've seen the attendance figures for virtually every SFL game (including cups) in the past 8 years or so (yes, I am that sad that I check these things). The only sub-100 crowd (think it was 98) that I remember was at Hamilton during their tenancy of Cliftonhill. It was midweek game that was in fact was abandoned due to bad weather, so it probably won't be included in the official statistics.

I think these claims of attendances of 28 or 54 or whatever are urban myths, certainly if they relate to the past 10-15 years.

You can never trust the figures released to the press for some of the lower league games. I have personally been at midweek games at Cowdenbeath where the crowd was under 100 but this figure never appeared in the media.

I remember standing at the top of the terracing and counting 70 hardy souls (including the directors and guests) inside Central Park for a match against Brechin on a freezing cold February evening. This would be 1998 give or take a year. Also around this time, we played Dumbarton in monsoon conditions and there were around 50 in the stand and not a single person on the terracing. I even overherad the Cowden commercial manager telling the chairman that the paying attendance was 20.

There was also an end-of-season match against Albion where the guy on the tannoy announced the attendance as 303 - to hoots of derision as there was less than half that figure in the ground.

There will have been many sub-100 crowds over the years - Cowden, Meadowbank and the Shire being prime candidates.

I had my suspicions but I didn't want to just come out and say it. I also read on another board that Montrose have done the same. I assume every club has to some extent (but we're talking about low crowds here, so...)

Fair point, the attendances given in the media are sometimes, at best, 'inaccurate'. Occasionally different media sources don't even agree with each other, so obviously at least one of them is wrong. I suppose clubs might be pretty embarassed at releasing a sub-100 attendance.

Would this have included season tickets though? If I heard that I'd have assumed 20 paid cash at the gate and there could have been any number of season ticket holders.

I did a quick head count that night and there were around 50 folk in the stand in total. The "paying attendance" probably didn't include season ticket holders but they wouldn't have amounted to more than a dozen.

Also had a mid week game game against Albion Rvers in the early 80's when 38 fans payed in. know this because I was selling progs and was that bored that I counted them Think it was Jan or Feb because it was f@@@@@g freezing

The really important question is, how many of them bought programmes?

Think we sold about 15ish Tight wads

It was 29 paying punters - I don't think there was any season ticket holders at this point due to the boycott.

There was plenty of comps out that day, the first announced attendance was over 100 and it just dropped and dropped thanks to UCS friends in the media who were all for highlighting our boycott.

Around 2 weeks later we took 300 down to Cappielow for our away game against Morton. I think around the same time Morton were having the problems with Hugh Scott that we had been having with our own owners.

Eventually the Clydebank directors allowed Morton Season ticket holders into our games for £1 - don't remember if that included matches against Morton but i do remember quite a few took advantage for a game against St. Mirren - possibly the game that St. Mirren played in Morton tops.

Why was that then?

Berwick were locked out of Shielfield by their landlord and played the last few games of the season at neutral venues.

Remember that game against Brechin it was 0-0 and 70 was the exact number i counted as well.

Game was that good

Was at that game and counting the crowd was the highlight of the game

Done that a number of times last season, counted the away support at Starks during the game (course that dosent take long for most teams) so started to count the trains going past as well

Also count the number of defensive mistakes we make, or the number of shots on goal the other teams have. Or the amount of times Dalziel changes players positions during a game to no great affect.



Yes game at Starks are that good (for home fans)

Me and my Dad once went to a junior game (Kirkcaldy v Lochgelly) and were the only people there, although a handful did wander along during the second half.

Montrose crowds when we play them are neve rabout the 200 mark, and about half the crowd are away fans.

I once did a rough count and there was approx 160 in the stand/terrace

Another interesting game then

Was this Kirkcaldy YMCA?

Do clubs like that charge you to get in?

Junior clubs should generally charge. I've only been to one Fife League match, St. Andrews United v Rosyth Recreation about 6 years ago, and that was £2 to get in. The crowd was around 70. Prices have risen a wee bit, up to £3 I think now.

I'm told some North Junior clubs don't charge, but you'll not find that in the West Region.

I was at a South of Scotland (Senior) ground recently for a match - Nithsdale Wanderers in Sanquhar. They don't ever charge for their games (excuse was that it's a council park and D&G Council don't allow them to charge Joe Public for coming in) but hope that supporters buy a half-time draw ticket.

clydebank game when they were at cappielow, remember reading it at the time. not so sure it is a myth

clydebank game when they were at cappielow, remember reading it at the time. not so sure it is a myth

At this time, Kirkcaldy YMCA were the whipping boys of the Fife League. This was a meaningless midweek end-of-season encounter. There was actually a solitary YM offcial taking money at the gate but the receipts that night were a meagre £4.

In theory, all Fife Junior clubs charge admission. This usually means a couple of commitee guys taking the money at a table, positioned at the main entrance point. But at some grounds it's possible to wander in unchallenged at another part of the ground. Some parks can only be loosely defined as enclosed.


Thornton Hibs are an exception. They play within the confines of a public park. Patrons have the option of throwing a donation into the box as they enter the main gates. For years Hibs were barred from playing Scottish Cup ties at home but I don't think this restriction applies anymore. It was a farcical ruling anyway for reasons stated in the previous paragraph.

Crowds for bog standard league matches in Fife usually range from 10 to 100. The biggest junior attendance in the Kingdom I've seen was when 3000 turned up to see Hill of Beath v Kelty in a title decider. Incidentally, could have swigged from a bottle or can that night and the law couldn't have laid a finger on you. Yet had Cowden been playing the Shire in front of 150 half a mile away, such an action would have been an arrestable offence. Again, farcical.

With regards to drinking, it's a complex issue. In the West Region, there is a policy among clubs that drink is banned, though the law only forbids drinking in public places. For example, Pollok's Newlandsfield is privately owned (by ourselves) so the Glasgow City Council bylaws on public drinking don't apply to us. But at say St. Anthony's, which is council-owned, the police could arrest someone for drinking.

While the West Region have an anti-drink policy, there is no guidance on how that is enforced. Police bills are fairly high, and not all clubs have Lok's level of support. Committees are not stewards and wouldn't want to be, and on the whole the clubs can't afford to employ stewards. While Pollok will get gates of around 600 normally on a Saturday, the likes of Newmains United and Whitletts Vics would struggle to have a support that outnumbers the guys on the pitch.

If you want a drink at a Junior game, choose your venue carefully! Occasionally we have police drop by in case of trouble, but that's rare. Our own drinkers generally keep themselves to themselves and even bin their empties!

I think drinking in Senior grounds is treated differently to Junior grounds; a distinction was made somewhere down the line, rightly or wrongly.

It is a criminal offence to be in possession of any "controlled container" within a Scottish League football ground. Even a can of Irn Bru falls foul of the law. No doubt the legislation was brought in to prevent mass boozing on the terracing and the possible throwing of missiles.

Also, the junior clubs seem to sidestep many of the safety issues enshrined in the Taylor Report. Cowdenbeath have to comply with a list of regulations as long as your arm and are rigorously inspected every year by the fire service and other council officials. Yet I've never heard of any of this occurring at junior grounds here. Perhaps it's an issue in the Central and Ayrshire leagues where junior crowds are significantly higher.

Ahh, nice one, didn't know that. I knew a guy who played for Nithsdale, he said it was basically park football.