In Attendance: Part II (The Atmosphere Edition)

What makes a good football atmosphere?

This article was inspired by Col’s recent The Good, The Bad and The Ugly review of Bromley’s FA Trophy tie with Aveley. In his Ugly section, Col spoke about the lack of atmosphere at the game, linked to a poor uptake of full-priced tickets.

“Visitors to Hayes Lane on Saturday would have noticed that the ground was much quieter than usual. Cup games can be wonderfully atmospheric when both teams are going at it in front of a packed house. But a half-empty ground rarely inspires great football, which only adds to fans’ sense of feeling short-changed.”

I wrote an article in September 2023 that viewed Bromley’s attendance fluctuations through the very personal lens of my hometown club, Raith Rovers. Col’s observation about the Aveley game challenged me to delve a little deeper into the debate.

In my previous article, I spoke of Bromley’s hardcore support. This is the kind of supporter who doesn’t miss a home game. 

How many Bromley supporters qualify for this category? 

I’ve posed this question to lots of Ravens fans in the past and always find it surprising when they estimate that it’s around 1250 to 1750. In my experience, I believe the true number is between 500 and 750, and the away-game hardcore is probably a tenth of that.

Take the FA Trophy game against Aveley as an example. This was a Saturday afternoon fixture in a cup competition that Bromley have done well in of late, and Andy Woodman had made it clear that he would field a full-strength side. Yet only 1233 fans turned up to cheer on their team.

This number was all the more surprising given that London big-wigs Crystal Palace, Millwall, Charlton, West Ham, Arsenal, and Chelsea all had no game that day. Bromley appealed to fans of these clubs on social media in the runup to the Aveley fixture, and maybe it added a few bodies in the stands, but attendance was still only half of Bromley’s league average this season.

To understand why, I think you need to consider what makes a fan turn up at Hayes Lane in the first place. The flat atmosphere on Saturday certainly wasn’t helped by a low turnout, but the link between attendance and atmosphere isn’t always clear-cut.

In a bid to boost attendances, Bromley recently launched Project 30K, which aims to get a total of 30,000 fans through the gates for their remaining home games in the National League. Achieving this goal would require an average of 3,300 fans to turn up to each fixture. 

The club have put quite a bit of weight behind this ambitious promotion, but to what end? 

There has been talk of improving the atmosphere, but their primary goal is a financial one, and understandably so. It is also worth remembering that big attendances don’t guarantee a good atmosphere. Some Premier League clubs attract tens of thousands of fans, yet struggle to trouble a decibel meter. 

So what determines the atmosphere at a football match? 

I think there are three key factors at play.

• Demographics

• Matchday Experiences

• Success

Demographics

In my experience, the fans who sing and generate atmosphere are typically males 15 to 40, alongside a hardcore of older fans who are also predominantly male. Bromley’s share of these fans congregate behind the goal in the north terrace. But, for all of their efforts, I’ve never heard one of their songs spread beyond that terrace. I’ve witnessed a song spread around the ground at many other similar stadiums, but never at Hayes Lane.

As with a lot of clubs, Bromley’s atmosphere is most unified at away games. When you bunch 100-200 hardcore fans together, they sing in unison and back their team to the hilt. The 1-0 win away against Dagenham & Redbridge was a prime example.

Is it also a class thing? 

While the upper classes wrote the rules of the game, football took root in working-class towns and cities. People often opine that the rising cost of football is taking the game away from the working classes. Whether that’s true or not, passion for the local club runs deep in working-class areas and often spans multiple generations. When you’ve not got much, football offers a little escapism.

Bromley, however, is an affluent, middle-class area with a wealth of entertainment options on its doorstep. As a result, its hometown club doesn’t have the same foothold in its community. In addition, Bromley FC has bobbed along in the non-league for the entirety of its history, so it hasn’t had the same exposure as bigger clubs nearby.

Matchday Experiences

In the modern era, there is a growing divide between fans who are there to be immersed in the football and fans who want a matchday experience. The former doesn’t ask for much, just a passionate performance on the pitch and good ol’ shout in the stands. The latter, however, demands more. Whether it’s being wined-and-dined or beer’d-and-burgered, the experience-seeking fan is comparing their day to others enjoyed elsewhere. How does Bromley match up with its rivals?

Very well, in fact. 

While Broomfields sets its sights on the average middle-class fan, Bromley’s Ravens Lounge and Executive Club offer exclusivity for a fee. Compared to other non-league and Football League clubs, all three venues have a lot going for them.

Frankly, if Bromley didn’t offer these experiences, attendances would probably be much lower. Without Broomfields and the velvet rope venues, Aveley’s 1233 may well have been in the region of 750.

What has this got to do with atmosphere? Let’s face it, experiential fans are rarely atmosphere generators. 

Worse still, regardless of the score, around a quarter of Hayes Lane starts trudging towards Broomfields when the stadium clock hits thirty-five minutes. This leaves me speechless every time. Perhaps it says a lot about the poor staffing in the bar, but the level of apathy bewilders me.

Watching Raith Rovers is a completely different experience. At Stark's Park, the happenings on the pitch are all any fan cares about and the stands are still packed in the 45th minute. 

I can picture it now: Raith are 1-0 down but we win a corner. A spine-tingling chorus of ‘Come on you Raith!’ sweeps around the south stand and grandstand. Beers and pies can wait, the only excuse to leave your seat now is if you’re dying for a piss.

I think Bromley do a great job in providing matchday experiences to their fans. And, arguably, these experiences are necessary if the club is to continue on its upward trajectory. But it’s a double-edged sword. While it improves revenue, it dampens the atmosphere by making the stadium more of a social venue for fair-weather fans.

I suggest a solution to this below, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.

Success

Are Bromley victims of their own success? At the time of writing, they’re second in the table and are having their best-ever season in the National League. They’ve also had two trips to Wembley since 2018, and have taken home the FA Trophy on one of those occasions.

With success comes expectation, and expectation breeds entitlement. Entitled fans are not a happy bunch. When their team goes through a rough patch, their displeasure quickly sours the atmosphere. Common side effects include a lack of singing, loud moaning and groaning, and even booing. 

Generally speaking, Bromley fans aren’t ones for booing. That’s gratifying as I don’t agree with booing your side and have only ever engaged in it a few times. The bleakest of times. But a significant minority do seem to boo even the slightest dip in form. That’s entitled behaviour.

How can we promote atmosphere at Hayes Lane?

This is my question to you. Let’s be constructive in our criticism. 

Bear with me here, but I believe Broomfields should close while the game is on. This might seem utterly bonkers given the revenue it generates, but it would encourage fans to support the team for the duration of the match. It would also allow the bar staff to pre-pour pints ahead of half-time, which would move the inevitable half-time crowd through at a faster pace.  

Then there’s the question of a singing section. Singing sections are frequently explored by clubs, but often fail because the effort is not sustained. It can also cause trouble in the stands as someone inevitably gets carried away and ruins it for everyone else. 

Bromley dabbled in a singing section in recent seasons, but it faded without a trace as there was no organisation or structure to it. Is this idea worth exploring again, only with more leadership?

You may have noticed that continental teams are much more proactive in geeing up their fans. It usually starts with a stadium announcer revving up the crowd. See one of the great ones at work. 

European clubs also tend to have a chant leader positioned in the stands. Stiff-upper-lip Brits have sniffed at this arrangement in the past, but many English and Scottish clubs have introduced it with positive results. Solihull Moors are using it to create atmosphere in their similarly open stadium. Is it worth introducing at Hayes Lane?

Even an organised pre-kick-off roar would be enough to send shivers down players' spines and make fans feel more involved.

I should add that atmosphere problems aren’t limited to Bromley. Many clubs, including my own, experience dips. Is this something that we just have to accept, or should we be more proactive in promoting a good atmosphere in our stadium?

Over to you.

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Thanks for taking the time to read the article by Martin.

Martin has provided the majority of the photos you have seen on ‘From Bromley with Love’.

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