Sunderland A.F.C. statistics
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- Main article: Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland A.F.C. is a professional football club based in Sunderland, North East England.
All statistics are accurate up to August 6, 2007 unless otherwise stated.
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[edit] Current Season
- Main Article: Sunderland's 2007-08 Season
Currently playing in the FA Premiership.
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[edit] Historical League Positions
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[edit] Attendances
The years described are the years in which a season finished, e.g. the 2006 average attendance is that of the 2005-2006 season.
The attendances of many pre-war games are estimates.
[edit] Average league attendances
Sunderland's attendance steadily grew through the late 1890s and the early part of the twentieth century. There was a sudden boom in interest following World War II with average attendances more than doubling. Ironically this coincided with a downturn in the club's fortunes, and following a peak in 1950, with an all-time high of 47,790, attendances began to track the performance of the club and steadily dropped and rose as Sunderland moved between divisions, never quite reaching the peak of 1950. Attendances bottomed out in 1987 (the season in which Sunderland were relegated to the third tier for the only time), an average attendance of 13,601 was the lowest since 1915.
In 1997, the Stadium of Light was built, and attendances rapidly rose. The first season at the new stadium saw average attendances rise by 6,000 - despite a drop in a league division. By 2001, following a resurgent performance on the pitch and a 7th place Premier League finish, the average attendance had risen to 46,790 - the second highest in Sunderland's history. Once again, this peak was met with a downturn in fortune on the pitch and attendance dropped sharply. In 2006, an average of 33,904 saw one of the worst seasons on record with the only home win coming in the last game.
It is implausible that the 1950 average will be beaten with the Stadium of Light at its current capacity (49,000), due to buffer sections between away fans and the reliance of opposition clubs to sell all of their tickets. The stadium is, however, capable of being extended beyond 60,000.
The all-time average Sunderland attendance is 23,679. Post-war, this is 29,215.
[edit] High & low league attendances
Attendance highs are limited by stadium capacity. Until the late twentieth century, due to terracing and less stringent health and safety laws, the capacity of stadiums were not easy to determine. Grounds such as Roker Park underwent a number of changes during its lifetime to increase, and subsequently decrease its capacity. For example, seating was installed in the Fulwell End for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, and the Roker End was reduced in size in the 1980s for safety reasons. The Taylor Report had a large impact on Roker Park, effectively capping the capacity to around 22,000. The capacity of the all-seater Stadium of Light is finite, and yet it was increased a number of times within the first few years.
League attendances in Sunderland reached their peak shortly after World War II, the largest crowd at a home league came on March 4, 1950, a 2-2 draw against local rivals Newcastle United. Despite often attracting huge attendances, Sunderland also attracted relatively low crowds within the same season. For example, in 1950, the year of the highest attendance, a crowd of only 21,567 were present to see Sunderland end the season with a 4-1 over Chelsea on May 6.
The in-season variance between high and low attendances was largest in the 1935/36 season when approximately 60,000 watched a 2-1 victory over Middlesrough on November 23, 1935, yet only approximately 7,000 watched a 3-1 victory over Grimsby Town on February 19, 1936.
When Sunderland moved to the Stadium of Light the variance between high and low attendances was reduced. The smallest variance came in the 1999/2000 season, the lowest league attendance was 39,427 (v Coventry City on August 29, 1999). This was only 2,765 lower than the highest attendance in the same season. In the following 2000/2001 season, the lowest attendance was 44,526 (once against Coventry City, a 1-0 win on October 28, 2000), the highest season-low in Sunderland's history.
Identifying the lowest league attendance of all-time is difficult due to the inaccuracy of pre-war attendance records. An estimated crowd of 2,000 watched Everton beat Sunderland 1-0 on April 9, 1910. Another estimated crowd of 2,000 watched Sunderland beat Burnley 2-1 on December 12, 1914. One of these games is likely to be the all-time lowest Sunderland league attendance.
[edit] Cup attendances
Sunderland's all-time highest attendance came in an FA Cup game; a 6th round replay (1-0 defeat after extra-time) against Derby County on March 8, 1933. Anecdotely this attendance was beaten on a number of occasions, although it remains the official record and is unlikely ever to be beaten.
In recent years, Cup games, particularly those of the Football League Cup, have often been the backdrop for relatively poor Sunderland home attendances. Many of the lowest attendances in recent seasons have come in early rounds of the league cup against lowly opposition, e.g. the crowd of 11,450 that watched Sunderland the league cup game against Chester City on August 24, 2004, was the lowest attendance ever recorded at the Stadium of Light. Although strangely, the highest overall attendance in the 2005/2006 season came in a league cup 3rd round game against Arsenal on October 25, 2005 - 47,366 watched Sunderland lose 3-0 (although Sunderland were offering heavily discounted ticket prices).
Source: [1]
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Sunderland AFC
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