AFC Portchester set to attract club record attendance for ‘El Creekio’ derby with Fareham Town

The Royals’ current highest ever gate is the 552 recorded for the 2-1 win over Bemerton Heath just over two months ago. That beat the 502 who watched Fareham’s visit in August 2021.

But next Monday’s derby (3pm) will set the bar even higher - possibly even doubling the existing record - as Portchester have already sold around 700 tickets online.

There has been a surge in interest ever since the table-topping Royals’ thrilling 3-3 draw at Moneyfields on December 27,which attracted a Moneys club record gate of 1,012 to their temporary Westleigh Park base.

That was the highest Wessex crowd since December 2015 when Salisbury defeated city rivals Bemerton in front of 1,485 at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium.

A crowd of 766 packed into Five Heads Park the following April to see Salisbury clinch the Wessex Premier title (with six games to spare) with a 3-0 victory over Hornedean.

Prior to Salisbury’s involvement, the biggest Wessex crowd since 2004 was the 660 who watched the final day title decider between AFC Totton and Gosport Borough in April 2007.

Portchester’s attendance next Monday, though, is likely to eclipse the figure recorded at Westleigh Park.

‘To get four figures would be fantastic, and that’s what we’re aiming for,’ Royals vice chairman Graeme Moir told The News. ‘We’re selling 30/40/50 tickets a day at the moment.

‘We’re not having to do a hard sell on the tickets - this game almost sells itself now, we’re not having to twist people’s arms.’

Moir added: ‘We are fully prepared for whatever crowd turns up. We’ll have three turnstiles open - one will probably be for those who’ve bought tickets online.

‘We’ve got four or five bars and there’s three different food kiosks.’

Moneyfields’ record attendance against Portchester has hoisted their Westleigh Park average crowd to 478, albeit from just three fixtures.

After that, the Royals boast the highest average Wessex Premier crowd of 341 - an 80 per cent rise on 2021/22.

Fareham are third, averaging 272 - the same figure they averaged last season.

Portchester’s average will obviously rise again with Fareham’s visit, and late-season fixtures promise more large crowds.

As it stands, the Royals’ last four home league games are against PO postcode rivals - Moneyfields (March 11), US Portsmouth (March 18), Baffins Milton Rovers (April 1) and Horndean (April 8).

That last game is particularly mouthwatering, given the current league standings - Portchester, still unbeaten, nine points clear of second-placed Horndean but the latter having two games in hand.

One thing is for sure - there is a lot more interest in the Wessex League locally than there has ever been.

As an example, the two Portchy v Fareham derbies in 2016/17 attracted a total of 240 spectators - 108 at Portchy, 132 at Cams Alders.

There was a crowd of 168 at Portchester in 2018/19 and 179 at Cams Alders for the return game.

In contrast, 1,123 watched last season’s two games - 502 at Portchy and 621 at Fareham, the Reds’ highest ever Wessex League attendance.

‘Covid has refocussed a lot of people’s minds,’ said Moir. ‘They were looking to watch games more locally (after lockdown) and it’s kicked on from there.

‘When I first joined Portchester from Petersfield in 2018, if we could get crowds of 100-120 that would be a thing.

‘That built to over 200 and now we’re getting 300 plus for most home games.

‘When people buy tickets online we can obviously see where they live. There’s a lot from Portchester but some from Fareham, Havant, Portsmouth. One person’s coming down (for the Fareham game) from the London area and there’s a few from Sussex.

‘We’ve got over 100 season ticket holders and we’re still selling a few each week.

‘We’re taking good numbers away too. Last season we had 20 or 30 but we took over 100 to Pagham and Brockenhurst, and we must have had a couple of hundred at the Moneyfields game.’