Big town clubs Cambridge City, Poole Town and Slough are the ‘worst-supported’ clubs in the Southern League, according to a new survey.
The Football Supporters Loop has conducted the survey based on this season’s attendances until the end of 2014, comparing average gate figures to home club populations.

They find that the ‘best’ supported club in the Southern League Premier Division is Paulton Rovers, whose average gate of 183 from a population of 5,302 means that 3.45 per cent of the town’s populace follows the club.

Hungerford are the fourth ‘best supported club in the leagues as the small towns provide comparatively better suport than their big town. Slough’s 140,000-plus population produced an average gate of 288, although the figure is contorted by the fact that the club plays its home games at Beaconsfield. Similarly, Cambridge City play in the suburb of Histon and Impington of Histon.

Poole, with a population of 155,000, has an average gate of 339, which is only 0.22 per cent of its head-count. With the same percentage backing as Paulton, Poole’s average gate would top 5,500.

The best supported Premier League club is Burnley, whose 19,500 average is 26.7 per cent of the town’s 73,021 population.

Newbury and Thatcham Town, with respective averages of 85 and 72, have 0.27 and 0.28 support from their towns.

Southern League Premier Division

(Popuation – average – prcent)

Paulton – 5302 – 183 – 3.45

Arlesey – 5690 – 176 – 3.09

Histon (& Impington)- 8420 – 207 – 2.46

Hungerford – 5767 – 137 – 2.38

Dorchester – 19060 – 432 – 2.27

Truro – 20332 – 391 – 1.92

Weymouth – 52,323 – 760 – 1.45

Chesham – 21483 – 300 – 1.39

Bideford – 17107 – 215 – 1.26

Burnham – 11630 – 142 – 1.22

Hitchin – 33352 – 391 – 1.17

Biggleswade – 16550 – 152 – 0.92

St Neots – 40000 – 333 – 0.83

Frome – 26203 – 200 – 0.76

Corby – 61600 – 436 – 0.71

Chippenham – 45337 – 311 – 0.69

Cirencester – 19000 – 128 – 0.67

Banbury – 46853 – 235 – 0.50

Dunstable – 35000 – 159 – 0.45

Redditch – 84300 – 265 – 0.31

Cambridge City – 122700 – 271 – 0.22

Poole – 155000 – 339 – 0.22

Slough – 140700 – 288 – 0.20