Football League Supporters Survey

Below are a few of the results of a survey, which was conducted on The Football League's behalf by SportsWise. Some 40,316 supporters gave their views on a variety of current footballing issues. Of these 53% support Championship clubs with 30% and 17% supporting League 1 and League 2 clubs, respectively.

THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE:

51% of fans believe that The Football League does a good job, compared to 16% who feel that it does not.

72% of supporters believe that Football League matches provide good family entertainment.

Fans identified players showing dissent or a lack of respect to match officials as the most important area for the football authorities to address in the area of 'Fair Play', with 29% of supporters believing this to be the case.

The next most popular answers were players diving (26%) and players feigning injury (23%).

REFEREEING:

56% of supporters believe that the standard of refereeing in The Football League is average or above. However, only 17% feel that refereeing standards are improving.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT:

Supporters placed a strong emphasis on clubs having a programme to develop their own young players.On a ten-point scale fans indicating an average rating of 9.1 on this issue.

Asked whether they favoured the introduction of a home-grown players policy, 42% of supporters believe that clubs should be required to have a certain number of home grown players in the professional squad and 40% felt that there should be a minimum number in their 16-man matchday line-up.

COMMUNITY:

42% of supporters with children under the age of 16 have come into contact with their club's Community scheme.As a result, half had been given the opportunity to attend a Football League match.

MATCHDAY EXPERIENCE:

Respondents attended an average of 16 home matches and 5 away matches each season.Supporters identified match atmosphere as the single most important aspects of the matchday experience. This was followed by good sight lines and safety.

FIXTURE SCHEDULING:
58% of fans prefer to see their club's midweek matches scheduled on Tuesday nights compared to the 36% that prefer Wednesdays. 7.45pm is the most popular kick-off time with 49% of supporters, although 24% prefer 7.30pm and 15% would like to see 8.00pm used.

ARTIFICIAL TURF:

73% of fans oppose artificial turf being permitted for Football League matches. Just 15% of fans would like to see artificial pitches trialled.

CUP FOOTBALL:

61% of fans believe it should be mandatory, under Football League regulations for clubs to field first strength teams in Cup matches. 37% feel the club should field at least six of the players that have played the most first team matches that season, whilst 24% feel the club should field all 11 first team regulars.

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

Asked whether they felt valued by their club, supporters gave clubs an average mark of 6.6 on a ten-point scale.The club whose fans feel most valued is Charlton Athletic (8.2). (No details on how Hereford United came out)

SPONSORSHIP:

91% of supporters were able to enter the name of their club's shirt sponsor unprompted. More than a third of supporters (36%) indicated that simply the association of a brand with their club will actually change their consumer behaviour by making them more likely to buy the products in question over other competing products.

REPLICA KIT:

85% of supporters have purchased their club's replica shirt at some point. 35% of fans buy a shirt every season.

SMOKING:

61% of supporters feel that the introduction of the League-wide smoke-free policy at the beginning of the 2007/08 season has improved their matchday experience.Whereas just 9% felt it had detracted from matches.

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