Statistics Show English International Football Is Dying

Many experts claim that English international football is dying whilst many fans argue it’s already dead. But putting subjective questions about Wayne Rooney’s new captaincy and Roy Hodgson’s ability to lead to one side—what objective statistics are there to support this statement?

Well, objectively speaking, it seems poor TV ratings, record low matchday attendance, a less-than-thrilling fixture list and an unfortunate hashtag that trended during England’s clash with Norway—#ThingsBetterThanBeingAtWembleyRightNow—all don’t paint a very good picture.

Granted, many historians argue the sport of football was founded in England, but right now it seems many of its countrymen—and arguably some of the players—just don’t care.

As a result, this is not a critique of any player’s performance, nor is it an assessment of the current managerial team.

Instead this article serves to highlight the important statistics that the FA—and their head of marketing Russell James—must work hard to resurrect in order to lift this dark cloud that currently looms over English international football. If they don’t, it’s entirely possible the money, talent and ultimately national interest invested in future campaigns will be lost.  

Record Low Matchday Attendance  

Firstly, it was reported by the BBC that only 40,181 fans turned up for England’s international friendly at Wembley stadium against Norway on Wednesday, 3 September 2014. To put that into perspective:

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The lowest attendance for an England match at Wembley since 2007, before the game against Norway, was the friendly against Sweden in November 2011, when 48,876 turned up.

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This is only a few months after The Guardian reported two men—in the form of Carl Froch and George Groves—managed to attract 80,000 spectators in that exact stadium by competing in the less popular sport of boxing. Or—to add real insult to injury—ESPN reported the original Wembley stadium hosted the 1981 Speedway World Championship Final in front of 90,000 spectators.  

Poor TV Ratings  

What’s clear from matchday attendance figures is England fans were not prepared to pay the ticket fees. But what’s equally as worrying is the viewing figures, which show they couldn’t even be bothered to tune in from the comfort of their armchairs, either.

According to The Telegraph, the match attracted almost half the views compared to the Great British Bake-Off:

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The TV audience for England's game at Wembley, which itself was less than half-full, was 4.5m on ITV, peaking at 5.5m, while GBBO's audience on BBC1 was 8.3m reaching a peak of 9.1m.

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What’s worse is this is only a few months after The Independent reported the World Cup final attracted “A peak audience of 20.64 million.” They also added this made “it the biggest UK TV audience since the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony” showing that English fans' interest in football as a whole is still very much alive.

Social Media ‘Trolling’

But what could be more damaging than both the low matchday attendance and poor TV ratings is this concept of “collective consciousness” created by social media. According to the BBC:

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Throughout a tepid evening, "ThingsBetterThanBeingAtWembleyRightNow" was a trending topic on Twitter - and certainly the evidence of those empty spaces suggested plenty had found more attractive alternatives.

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Social media is a relatively new phenomenon in sport, but its importance should definitely not be underestimated by the FA. It played a huge role in igniting fans' passion in the World Cup, but now we could be seeing the exact opposite happen with England.

The Future of English International Football

It’s clear from the data that English international football is not in a very healthy state, but credit to the FA who—in Marketing Magazine—fully acknowledge this. Talking about England’s disastrous World Cup campaign—and equally disappointing friendly against Norway—the FA’s head of marketing Russell James was quoted as saying:

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Like me, an English football fan and one of 20 million plus in the UK and 800 million we have globally, you were probably a bit disappointed by what happened in the summer and that set us, as the FA, a challenge.You could say our half empty stadium tonight is sort of representative of what that challenge is.

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This is why they are implementing a campaign called “Together for England” in an effort to boost interest in the team ahead of the European Championships in France in 2016. According to another article in Marketing Week, this is “their first brand campaign to try and convince fans to attend England matches more regularly.”

Created by the marketing agency Futureproof it will involve an “England Supporter Club” membership scheme which is free to join, has priority ticket access, unique content offering insights about the team and targeted promotions.

What’s more, according to the BBC, the FA are even planning higher profile fixtures against France, Spain, Italy and Germany in the next two years in an attempt to spark more interest and attendance figures.

A good tactic when you consider 20 million football fans tuned into the World Cup final from the UK to watch Germany beat Argentina. A clear indication that English fans appreciate good football and world-class players regardless of the team.

Finally, it’s clear the FA are doing everything they can to revive national interest before England’s European campaign. Whether it works remains to be seen, but it could be argued the very best marketer in the world couldn't promote a team whose performances have been sending Alan Shearer to sleep—according to BBC Sport.

This is sport after all—and not a business—meaning it would have to be a pretty attractive membership scheme or slick email marketing campaign to help fill seats at Wembley again.

Follow @RossEdgley