Could Fareham Town set a new Wessex League club attendance record for Bank Holiday Monday ‘El Creekio’ derby with AFC Portchester?

The third ‘El Creekio’ derby of 2021/22 against AFC Portchester involves the two clubs with the highest average attendance in the Premier Division this season.

Fareham attracted 342 to Cams Alders for their last home league game against title-chasing Hamworthy on December 18.

That raised their seasonal league average to 239.5, taking them above Portchester’s average of 230.

The Reds are being rewarded for being one of the great entertainers of English non-league football this season. After the 3-3 draw with Hamworthy, the club’s 32 competitive fixtures in 2021/22 had produced a staggering 167 goals.

Good weather on Bank Holiday Monday could even see the third 500-plus crowd of the Wessex season recorded.

So far, the best is the 503 who watched the PO postcode derby in August between Baffins Milton Rovers and Moneyfields. That is the attendance included in the official Wessex League newsletter, though Baffins claim the crowd that night was 518.

That beat, by one (or 16), the crowd figure recorded just 24 hours earlier when Portchester and Fareham drew 2-2 in the first ‘El Creekio’ game of 2021/22.

(A crowd of 300 watched the Hampshire Senior Cup tie between Portchester and Fareham at the On-Site Stadium in early December).

Only two other Wessex Premier fixtures have attracted over 400 - the New Forest derby between Bashley and Brockenhurst (489) and Baffins v Horndean (484).

If Fareham attract a crowd of 549 or more on Monday, it would be the biggest in their Wessex history and the highest attendance in the Wessex Premier since 2015/16.

That was the season when phoenix club Salisbury romped to the title in their first season with an average gate of 707. That is, by some distance, the highest average in the Wessex Premier since records began in 2004/05.

Salisbury’s biggest crowd that season was a superb 1,485 for the city derby with Bemerton Heath three days after Christmas.

Since stepping down from the Southern League to join the Wessex in 1998, Fareham’s highest league crowd is 499 against Gosport Borough. They also attracted a 401 attendance against the same club in 2006/07.

Outside of Salisbury, the biggest Wessex Premier attendance recorded since 2004 was the 660 for the final day AFC Totton v Gosport title decider in April 2007.

Portchester were involved in the biggest Wessex Premier crowd since 2015/16. They were the visitors to Sholing in the Boatmen’s 2018/19 title-winning season when an attendance of 548 was recorded in Southampton.

Fareham’s 2021/22 average of 239.5 is 20.5 per cent up on last season’s figure. Elsewhere, Baffins are averaging 168.5 (up 27 per cent, the biggest percentage increase in the division) and Horndean 113 (up three per cent).

US Portsmouth’s crowds are also up, unsurprisingly following last summer’s promotion, by 49 per cent. They are averaging 69.6 with a highest of 125.

Moneyfields are averaging 130, more than they were getting in the Southern League in the previous two pandemic-shortened seasons.

Their highest gate so far is 215 for the derby win against AFC Portchester, though Monday’s game with title-chasing Baffins could - should? - top that.

Portchester, the best supported side in the Wessex Premier last season, are the only one of the six mainland PO postcode clubs currently with a lower average league crowd (230 compared to 264, a drop of 12.8 per cent).

That could be partly explained by the Royals not living up to the pre-season title favourites tag that they didn’t ask for, but which was hung around their necks by many rival clubs.

On the flipside, Portchester still have some of their most attractive home games to come - Baffins, Moneyfields and Hamworthy.

Overall, the picture is a very healthy one - our local Wessex clubs are attracting far more spectators than they used to.

For comparison purposes, Portchester were the best supported of any Wessex Premier club in 2012/13 - with an average of 106.4. In 2019/20, Bashley (166.4) topped the average attendance table.

With regards to ‘El Creekio’ fixtures, there was a crowd of 168 at Portchester in 2018/19 and 179 at Cams Alders for the return game. Three years later, it is not inconceivable the two derbies could be watched by more than 1,000 spectators.