Apologies that this has felt like a long time coming, it feels like every time I’ve sat down to delve into the numbers recently, something has bumped it down the agenda! Well no more!

I will do my best to present the information as clearly as possible, and if I think there is insight to be gained from a question I will add a comment accordingly. Some questions and results no longer appear as they are not relevant at this stage. Without further ado then…

General

Analysis: The main reason for supporting the women’s team was due to an existing connection to the City of Brighton or to Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club. Interestingly though the second most selected option was ‘Supporting the Women’s Game’, which infers that there are multiple new fans of the team, independent of other existing factors.

Analysis: It is good to see a mixture of both Season Ticket Holders and Non-Season Ticket Holders completing the survey. This provides a more rounded view of the club and means our numbers aren’t skewed by one demographic or the other.

Analysis: Again a really good cross-section of fans. Bear in mind some people who answered ‘None’ may live abroad and therefore cannot attend games, but can still follow the team. Based on these stats, most fans (47.6%) attend at least 7 games on average per season.

Current Performance & Expectations
(Up to 12/01/2024)

Fan Interaction

Analysis: Feels broadly positive, with the majority of responses in the 7 and 8 range, though 5 and 6 feature more prominently than 9 or 10.

Analysis: This appears a little bit more disappointing with responses relatively even across the 3-8 range. However, nobody responded with a 9 or 10, however nine individuals gave a rating of 1 or 2.

Analysis: An overwhelming majority of 54% think the club should definitely increase the level of direct fan interaction, if you add those who think so, but are perhaps not quite as adamant – the figure rises to 79.4%. Only two respondents voted No.

Proposed Stadium – Brighton & Hove

Analysis: Probably the biggest foregone conclusion in the entire survey.

Analysis: ‘Location’ is out in front, which reinforces the suggestion that any new stadium should be built within Brighton & Hove City limits. ‘Parking & Transport’ goes hand in hand with location as, wherever the actual site may be, it must be accessible via as many modes of transport as possible, with room to accommodate aan increase in capacity. The other considerations come later, and are also vitally important – though I trust the club to have these topics high on their list to address.

Away Travel

Analysis: By far the smallest (6.4%) demographic is fans who regularly travel to away games, and 61.9% don’t attend any. Not a fantastic sign for a club with lofty ambitions. This is a topic SheGulls has highlighted heavily and hopefully the club will be more active in encouraging or arranging away travel in the future.

Analysis: Of the respondents, a sizeable 78.6% said that if the club had an option for paid away travel (like the existing men’s setup) that it would increase the prospect of them attending away fixtures. Half of those said it definitely would – a clear response in favour.

Analysis: The responses here are quite broad, with the vast majority agreeing that they would attend at least one away game. I think that’s logical though – until something is actually put in place it’s difficult to forecast exactly how many games you could or would attend.

Analysis: Interestingly ‘Distance from Home’ came out as the top concern – one I share in truth, but I didn’t perhaps appreciate how much of an issue it was to other fans. Of course how far away the game is does contribute to our other top considerations ‘Cost’, ‘Kick-off Time’ and even ‘Work/Work the Next Day’ as fixtures are generally on a Sunday. I was slightly surprised ‘Quality of Opposition’ didn’t score higher, but this data suggests people would rather travel more locally, say for example West Ham away, as opposed to visiting a better team further away, like one of the Manchester clubs.

Thank you for reading – if you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch. Part 2 coming very soon – likely next week!