There are many reasons why people around the world support English club football and especially in Australia, where the recent struggle for higher A-League crowds is perhaps obstructed by the many choosing to pay a subscription to watch the English Premier League.
While America’s National Football League (NFL) leads the world in terms of average crowd attendance (69,500 in 2023) and annual revenue ($US12 billion in 2022), with 67 players in 2023 earning a staggering $US20+ million per season, it’s the four major tiers of English club football which remains the greatest national sporting league in terms of history, depth of professional teams, passion, support and interest.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah celebrates a goal. (Photo by Str/Xinhua via Getty Images
I argue this in full acknowledgement of the various problems faced by English club football in recent decades, which required some policy response (as I shall later explain).
First, with the Football Association (FA) codifying rules in 1863 to provide a gentler and more skilful alternative to rugby union, English club football soon emerged as one of the world’s first professional sporting leagues, alongside American baseball.
With clubs from Lancashire charging admission to spectators from the early 1870s despite the FA’s amateurism rule, such clubs attracted highly skilled working-class players (including many from Scotland) with compensation paid for lost working hours and injury.
When professional English football was formally legalised in 1885 the number of English football clubs and size of crowds quickly exploded. After the first final of the FA Cup (1871-72) hosted just 2,000 spectators, crowds of 42,500 to 110,800 attended various finals played at Crystal Palace from 1894-95 to 1900-01.
Although the first year of English club championship football in 1888-1889 had just 12 teams and an average crowd of 4,600, it quickly expanded to two divisions of 16 and 12 teams by 1892-1893 with the 18-team first division attracting average crowds above 10,000 for the first time, led by Aston Villa who averaged 23,000.
The popularity of English football further exploded in the early 20th century with three divisions of 22 teams each by 1920-21, with division crowd averages of 29,000, 16,700 and 10,600. The third division was separated into ‘north’ and ‘south’ to split 42 teams in the 1921-22 season, before a third and fourth division was established for the 1959-60 season with 24 teams each.
Wolverhampton’s Mario Lemina celebrates after scoring. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
By the 1948-49 season, with England (and Wales) having a combined population of around 42 million, the first division (22 teams) attracted a record crowd average of 37,792, the second division (22 teams) 24,528 and the third tier (north and south divisions with 44 teams) 12,977.
At the time, English club football attracted crowds that dwarfed those of any other national football league.
For example, German football in 1950-51, despite Bundesliga 1 achieving a crowd average over 40,000 for most years since 2005-06, only had five teams with a crowd average above 20,000 (Schalke highest with 26,000). German football crowds only really took off after 1963-64, the first year of the Bundesliga, then again from the late 1990s after an average crowd of 27,500 in its first season.
Even America’s NFL, today with the highest crowd average of all national sporting leagues, only had a crowd average of 31,500 in 1946 (then a record) before increasing greatly from the 1960s to break 60,000 for the first time in 1981.
As the growth of any national sporting league can never be taken for granted, so the FA and UK government have adopted measures in recent decades to address problematic issues.
With the increase in hooliganism resulting in 6,185 football-related arrests in the 1988-89 season, average crowds for England’s four tiers of football plummeted to 19,300, 7,688, 4,512 and 2,551 during the late 80s. In response, the UK government introduced the ‘Football Spectators Act 1989’ which could bar troublemakers from stadiums for up to 10 years.
Sam Kerr of Chelsea celebrates with the Women’s FA Cup trophy after beating Manchester United. (Photo by Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
As a result, through increased CCTV use, greater police presence and greater cooperation between police, football intelligence officers and other security authorities, the number of incidents reduced to 1,381 arrests in the 2018/19 season despite rising attendances (although the post-covid 2021-22 season had 2,198 arrests).
Another issue of concern involves the increasing dominance of foreign players in English football, with 2023 data indicating 386 of the 567 players on Premier League rosters were non-English, and 340 of 658 players in the Championship. It’s worth noting though, 188 of ‘foreign born’ in the two highest tiers came from Wales, Scotland and Ireland, where players have long been involved with English clubs.
Despite the FA adopting tougher transfer rules for clubs to acquire foreign players since Brexit, the number of English players starting in Premier League matches reached a new low of 28% for two weekends during February and March 2023, this in stark contrast to just 13 foreign players who’d started in the opening weekend of the first Premier League season (1992-93). This recent low English representation led to national team manager Gareth Southgate raising concerns about the impact on his team’s player development.
England Manager Gareth Southgate. (Photo by Carl Recine – Pool/Getty Images)
Taking account of such concern, as well as top Premier League clubs needing access to the best available talent to match it with their European club rivals, the FA and UK government now allow Premier League and lower-league clubs to sign more overseas players at one time (4 for the Premier League and Championship and 2 for Leagues One and Two), in exchange for English players being on the ground for 35% of total playing minutes.
There’s ongoing concern about the net debt of Premier League and Championship clubs, which reached £5.9 billion during the 2020/21 season. The FA’s recent profit and sustainability rules limits each club to a financial loss threshold over a three-year monitoring period, but the Premier League is currently considering UEFA’s ‘squad cost ratio’ approach, which means a club’s total expenditure spent on transfers, wages and agent fees cannot exceed 70% of revenue.
Bu despite these difficulties, English club football remains at the pinnacle of club football.
In 2022-23 Premier League crowds exceeded a 40,000 average for the first time, the Championship averaged 18,600 (only exceeded three times since 1960), League One averaged 10,600 (the highest since 1959-1960), and League Two achieved its best average since the 1960s with 5,800.
Further, the fifth tier National League (formed in 1979), attracted a 2,700 crowd average in 2022-23 with three of its 24 clubs at around 6,000 or higher.
Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, owners of Wrexham, celebrate with the Vanarama National League trophy. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
England’s recent support of female football is also illustrated by a super league (12 teams) which attracted an average crowd of 5,387 in 2022-23 led by Arsenal and Manchester United with 15,000 and 10,000.
In addition to 40% of the UK’s 67 million people watching Premier League matches in 2020-21, the top tier is broadcast in most countries and an estimated 1.4 billion people around the world identify as fans (including 300 million Chinese and 147 million Indians).
With the Premier League signing a six-year broadcast deal in China in 2019 worth around £564 million, and America’s NBC network paying $US2.7 billion over six years from 2022 to televise matches, the English Premier League is currently supported by broadcasting revenue of over £10 billion for the 2022-2025 period, with more revenue coming from foreign sources than domestic ones.
English football recently signed a new domestic broadcasting deal worth £6.7 billion for the Premier League from the 2025/26 season until 2028/29, while the three lower tiers have accepted a record £935 million deal from 2024/25 to 2028-29.
As a result, while the top 30 highest paid Premier League players currently earn a weekly wage ranging from £195,000 to £400,000, many British and foreign players are likely to benefit for some time yet.
The five tiers of English football presently deliver average weekly wages of £60,000 (Premier League), £7,000 (Championship), £5,000 (League One), £2,500 (League Two), and £1,000 – £1,500 (National League).
Shaped by its history, ongoing passion and more recent policy response, there is no other national sporting league quite like the English football club system, which rightly stands alone as as the world’s most popular.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Punter great for u to experience English club experience at varied levels. When i go to England i will do same.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Great article Chris. The English system is truly amazing. I was there a few years ago at the Olympic stadium watching West Ham play Newcastle in front of 60K. I was also there Billericay FC (6th tier football) qualified for the first round of the FA cup in front of 2K in a small village ground.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
Chris, I always laugh at our discussions about ticket prices here. i totally understand the frustration relating to costs of taking a family of 4 or more to a sporting event and feeding and watering them too especially with restrictions of what you can take in to a stadium which for me hit ridiculous heights at the WWC last year. I had enjoyed a few visits to Allianz as the food choices were broader and there was a range of beers and wines that you could purchase but good old FIFA only allowed one beer to be licensed and so we reverted to old behaviour of drink in the pubs and turn up close to kick off time when getting in is chaotic! A couple of years ago I went to 49ers in Santa Clara and got a decent seat for $165 US but that was the season they started to come good again and I daresay they are more expensive now. In Seattle it was $250 US and they were behind the goal but still a good view. Mind you, i do complain about the cost of tickets here for visiting supporters and the fact they put you in the worst part of the ground. I’ve travelled to Perth and the cost of flying and accommodation and eating out is well into the thousands and then they put you in the corner near the eastern stand with the sun beating down on you, no shade whatsoever …..crazy stuff. Who on earth designed that re-vamp?
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Yes, playing in the English football leagues can indeed be rewarding. I think Souttar gets 2 million pounds, and he hardly starts these days. https://www.capology.com/uk/championship/salaries/
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
watching some youtube stuff, and even high school gridrion in Texas is huge with so many 15,000 stadiums.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
yes, i think i paid around $100 in 2016 to watch New York jets play at metlife stadium, and these seats were way back. And here i am on this site suggesting that A-League tickets may be too expensive. It is all relative in terms of supply and demand, and the popular national leagues need to worry less.
Redondo
Roar Rookie
So...most AFL and NRL players would at best be on League Two wages, with some on less.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
There are a few of us out here. Believe it or not it is often harder to get tickets for college games than for the NFL where at least you can use stubhub- the re-sale site whereas it appears that everyone who buys tickets for college games actually attends. It is a real event and embraces “town and gown”.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I’ve been to a few NFL games during holidays in the USA and the crowds are a real mixture like in most places around the world. The plusses though are that the stadiums really cater for everyone with multiple food and beverage choices covering so many cultures and needs ie vegan or vegetarian and the quality is good. The downside is the cost of the tickets and there are many people who support their local team that cannot afford to attend and have never seen the team in the flesh.
Knocka
Roar Rookie
Plus, it gives a code a platform for expansion by bringing new clubs into the league through a second division, rather than expecting them to succeed on and off the field immediately at the top level.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
VFA, when Victoria’s second biggest Australian Rules league had promotion/relegation from 1961 to 1988. Not a bad idea having two divisions of 12 teams for the AFL so each team could play each other twice each season. Good idea for all major leagues.
Knocka
Roar Rookie
Great article, Chris. The passion of fans who stick with their clubs as they slide up and down the leagues is one of the key ingrediants to making this a great league. They love their clubs and will watch and support them no matter which level of the league they are playing in. It often bemuses me when people on this site decry having second divisions in NRL and AFL with promotion and relegation, saying it is not in our "culture". I wonder if it is because they are not that rusted on to their clubs or if they just need to be seen in the top division even if it is continually in the lower half. Personally, I think the passion intensifies when your club is battling to avoid relegation or to win promotion, rather than the ho-hum of just existing in a single tier competition. To me, the battle for P&R makes a league far more interesting throughout the season for more than just the top club's fans and also helps raise the standard of a league by discouraging squatters from sitting on licence to play in a closed league but not adding any value. Lower divisions also provide clubs with an opportunity to rebuild and return to the top division, without the risk of relocation, merger or bankruptcy that seems to be a constant threat to those that continually underperform in a closed competition. I love the battles that clubs in the UK face to reach the pinnacle or to avoid the big drop, and engagement the clubs have with their local communities who support their clubs with pride, through thick and thin. The history and tales of great feats are endless. I wish someone would make a TV series in Australia focusing on the history and backstories of our great football clubs of all codes.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
that is the spirit. :thumbup: But remember all those who also turn up at at Wembley and tottenham to watch the NFL; they are much slimmer.
mrl
Roar Rookie
Brainwashed Americans who watch way too much tv think it’s great…at least big fat guys get to participate.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
I think London is by a mile, and hope to get there in next few years. New York is also a great sports town, with fans loving many sports throughout the year.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Yes, lower divisions here and in England tell us a lot about history. I think we lost a bit when we tried to distance ourselves from the ethnic backgrounds of clubs, but now might be the time to rekindle such clubs across Australia in a better lower division tier that is currently being proposed.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
yes but not all sports fans are created equal that as why the NFL is supported by the most revenue in the world in national terms, perhaps beating many others even on per capita basis (revenue per population).
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
form what i read, they say the NFL only overtook popularity of college football in 1960s through television coverage while college football maintained a ban on tv for a few decades. Would like to do a piece on American football (gridiron), but doubt few would read it on Roar.
high horse
Roar Rookie
i did not know any of this. amercian college football - the 100th team gets 22,000 to a game, the 50th team gets 36,000 to a game and the 9th biggest team gets 99,000 to a game
Steven Harris
No ay Melbourne is the sports capital just ask em