Top NWCFL attendances of all time

Tue 22nd April 2025 | Statistics | By Media Team

Above photo taken from the 2025 Groundhop weekend

Since attendance data in the NWCFL began to be collected in 2003/04, there have been 63 matches with a published crowd of over 3,000 - truly remarkable for Steps 5 and 6 football! It won't be too surprising to discover that all bar two of these ties involves one of Bury, Macclesfield or FC United of Manchester. FC United held the all-time attendance record for a shade under 19 years with their crowd of 6,023 against Great Harwood Town in April 2006 before Bury smashed it out of the park this weekend - 8,719 were packed into Gigg Lane to see the Shakers clinch the Premier Division title with a 4-0 win against Burscough. As FC United played the majority of their home games at Gigg Lane during their time in the NWCFL, the historic stadium features heavily on this list - no fewer than 39 times in fact!

Bury's Boxing Day clashes against Prestwich Heys in 2023 and Ramsbottom United a year later also rank highly and Macclesfield's final league game in their successful 2021/22 campaign rounds out the top five. A further eleven matches boast a crowd of over four thousand; the highest not at Gigg Lane or Moss Rose is 4,300 for Blackpool Mechanics' home game against FC United back in February 2006, which was played at Bloomfield Road. Salford Red Devils' old ground of The Willows also features - Salford City's home game against FC United was played there in front of 4,058 spectators.

Outside of the above triad's near-monopoly of this list, there are a couple of entrants towards the bottom from FC Isle of Man. A whopping 3,230 people were crammed into The Bowl to see the Ravens beat New Mills in the 2021/22 First Division South Play-Off Final, five weeks before another crowd north of 3k were there to witness more silverware for the Douglas club - this time a win over Cammell Laird 1907 in the final of the First Division Trophy.

The full list can be seen here:

Note: Bury also had a crowd of 5,451 against Glossop North End on 29/07/2023, but this match was declared null and void so is not included on the above list.