West Ham are top of the table of the most utilised stadiums in the Premier League this season with an average attendance of 99.8% which works out at 34,933 from the 35,016 capacity.
Is this a reflection of the loyalty of West Ham fans, a response to the new entertaining football being played at the Boleyn or just clever marketing to fill the Boleyn Ground by all means necessary?
West Ham fans achieved the highest average home league attendance in the Club’s 118-year history last season after a total of 659,677 supporters attended the Hammers’ 19 Premier League matches at an average of 34,720 per match. West Ham sold out their final 17 Premier League matches of the 2012/13 season. The average eclipsed the previous club record-high average attendance of 34,719 set in the 2006/07 season, when a total of 659,663 fans attended the Club’s 19 home league fixtures.
Previous attendance averages in top tier since 1969:
1969/70 30,530 70/71 29,962 71/72 30,005 72/73 30,174 73/74 28,394 74/75 29,872 75/76 27,417 76/77 26,064 77/78 25,363 81/82 26,585 82/83 22,774 83/84 21,249 84/85 18,435 85/86 20,545 86/87 20,545 87/88 19,822 88/89 20,744 91/92 21,287 93/94 20,593 94/95 20,223 95/96 22,317 96/97 23,209 97/98 25,045 98/99 25,684 99/2000 25,093 2000/2001 25,697 2001/2002 31,358 2002/2003 34,432 2005/2006 33,743 2006/2007 34,719 2007/2008 34,601 2008/2009 33,683 2009/2010 33,683 2010/2011 33,404 2011/2012 30,923 (Championship) 2012/2013 34,719, 2013/2014 34,338
Capacity of the Boleyn Ground increased to around 42,000 in 1969 after the new East stand was built but dropped to 36,000 in 1981 when main stands got seats, the capacity dropped again 1995 to 26,500 when the South and North banks went all seater then finally increased to he current 35,016 when new West stand was built in 2001.
The real number of seats are listed as 35,647 but only 35,016 are usable in the current configuration. That didn’t stop recording a post 2001 record attendance of 35,550 in 2002 against Man City. The record attendance prior to 2001 was 42,322 against Spurs in a Division One match on 17 October 1970.