All Seasons Average & highest home & away attendances

Attendances in the first few seasons, was either missing or just estimates. Often rounded or at best the income reported. At the end of each season, the club reported income from gates and the tax due.

In 1901/02 the FA Cup competition introduced a rule where 5% of the gate receipts had to be remitted to the FA. However, some county FAs had already introduced similar levies for their competitions. It is fair to assume that this must have required some form of recording of attendances and gate receipts?

An Entertainments Tax was introduced on 15 May 1916.
The tax was levied on the price of admission for a wide range of entertainment including football. There were three methods to collect and pay over the tax.
In football’s case where a large number of spectators are admitted in a relatively short space of time then they did not have to issue a ticket to each spectator but could pay over the tax based on certified accounts or satisfactory security being given. This required turnstiles and all the details recorded in a gate book that could be subject to inspection and prosecution if everything was not in order. At this time the use of turnstiles was well established in football otherwise the Treasury would not have allowed football to self-certify the tax it was collecting.
Exeter had turnstiles by this time, and even in the first season at the Park, a sentry hut was used for the collection of the entry fee.
In many of the early reports the income is reported and not the gate number. In some reports in the press, it mentions the crowd before the start of the game, this is the figure that is reported in the books produced since then, however further reading of the reports will say such things as "and by half time the ground was nearly full" or " after the start of the game the crowd was close to 8000".


 
Season
Average  Attendance (Home)
Highest Attendance (Home)
Opponents
Highest attendance (Away)
Opponents
Notes
1901 1902
1902 1903
1903 1904
 
 
 
 
 
 
860
1500
112 Battery RA
1500
112 Battery RA
Based on 5 games
1433
2000
Plymouth Res
1500
Millbrook R
Based on 3 games
1367
3000
Plymouth Res
2000
Rifle Brigade
Based on 6 games
967
2000
Plymouth Res
500
Plymouth Res
Based on 3 games
5436
11500
Millwall
10000
Portsmouth
 
6381
13000
Plymouth
14000
Plymouth
4763
7500
Plymouth
20000
Crystal Palace
5105
8000
Plymouth
11000
Millwall
4052
12000
Plymouth
15000
Millwall
5105
11000
Plymouth
15000
Plymouth
3947
6000
Swindon
8000
West Ham United
1915
1916
 
 
 
 
 
No Competetion 
1916
1917
 
 
 
 
 
No Competetion 
1917
1918
 
 
 
 
 
No Competetion  
1918
1919
 
 
 
 
 
No Competetion 
5857
11000
Bristol Rovers
14000
Bristol Rovers
 
7050
14664
Plymouth
24000
Portsmouth
 
5810
16000
Plymouth
22000
Plymouth
 
5935
14000
Plymouth
16000
Plymouth
 
5680
13000
Plymouth
14500
Plymouth
 
6630
14000
Plymouth
25000
Swansea
 
6334
11000
Swindon
20000
Plymouth
 
7201
19221
Plymouth
17000
Bristol Rovers
 
6876
12500
Millwall
13000
Plymouth
 
5743
14000
Plymouth
18000
Fulham
 
6592
16000
Plymouth
18000
Fulham
 
4950
8000
Torquay United
14000
Fulham
 
6257
14000
Southend
20000
Reading
 
7665
15000
Norwich City
16000
Brentford
 
5916
10000
Bristol Rovers
15000
Coventry City 
5009
9000
Watford
15000
Crystal Palace
 
5214
10000
Aldershot
12000
Swindon
 
5423
9000
Bristol City 
20000
Crystal Palace
 
6245
12893
Crystal Palace
20000
Crystal Palace
 
6055
10000
Ipswich
25000
Cardiff City
 
7500
7500
Torquay United
 
 
Only one match at home,
1940
1941
 
 
 
 
 
City did not compete in Competetion 
1941
1942
 
 
 
 
 
City did not compete in Competetion  
1942
1943
 
 
 
 
 
City did not compete in Competetion  
1943
1944
 
 
 
 
 
City did not compete in Competetion  
1944
1945
 
 
 
 
 
City did not compete in Competetion  
7597
10209
Crystal Palace
18000
Cardiff City
8888
13100
Bristol City 
32000
Cardiff City
 
9900
16942
Notts County
24755
Norwich City
 
10143
14000
Notts County
37647
Notts County
 
10117
14833
Torquay United
32167
Notts County
 
9772
20000
Plymouth
25424
Plymouth
 
8321
19000
Plymouth
25494
Plymouth
 
10339
15720
Norwich City
23773
Bristol Rovers
 
9334
15518
Torquay United
24728
Norwich City
 
8045
12467
Crystal Palace
26230
Bristol City
 
8168
13991 Torquay United 
20790
Coventry City 
 
6765
10936
Torquay United
20100
Coventry City 
 
7784
13598
Plymouth
23418
Plymouth
 
9374
13102
Torquay United
20979
Crystal Palace
 
7421
12947
Torquay United
15731
Crystal Palace
 
4961
9933
Carlisle United
28551
Crystal Palace
 
4344
6424
Doncaster 
19666
Millwall
 
4414
9676
Torquay United
15790
Oldham
 
7291
16141
Torquay United
13655
Torquay United
 
6460
10218
Peterborough
12342
Bournemouth
 
5590
9132
Swansea
28055
Hull City
 
2889
7044
Newport County
8960
Stockport
 
3855
5046
Aldershot
12409
Luton
 
5371
12714
Southend
9935
Southend
 
4918
6700
Newport County
10110
Brentford
 
4687
6093
Notts County
18002
Notts County
 
3857
5144
Aldershot
22484
Grimsby Town
 
4966
11296
Torquay United
11302
Hereford 
 
4193
6822
Reading
9641
Peterborough
Lowest attendance  693  Workington (Away)
3430
7271
Torquay United
8412
Mansfield
 
3265
8112
Torquay United
6341
Reading
 
4616
10751
Aldershot
7900
Torquay United
 
4880
8334
Plymouth
15317
Wrexham
 
4412
8022
Plymouth
14797
Watford
 
4579
11489
Plymouth
12617
Sheffield United
 
4555
8491
Plymouth
14792
Plymouth
 
3862
9144
Plymouth
10989
Portsmouth
3244
9168
Plymouth
10622
Portsmouth
 
3377
6970
Plymouth
10387
Plymouth
 
2351
3925
Torquay United
3663
Blackpool
 
1973
2868
Port Vale
3927
Colchester United
 
2657
4915
Wolves
6983
Tranmere
 
2465
6281
Torquay United
15588
Wolves
 
2677
4243
Torquay United
7889
Burnley
 
4859
8271
Southend
8461
Carlisle
 
4285
6145
Bournemouth
14225
Grimsby Town
 
3645
5830
West Bromwich Albion
13634
Stoke City
 
3268
6534
Plymouth Argyle
14676
West Bromwich Albion
 
3349
6601
Plymouth Argyle
12986
Plymouth Argyle
 
2482
5638
Torquay United
6808
Preston North End
 
3442
6185
Plymouth Argyle
18700
Preston North End
 
3014
4991
Torquay United
7892
Fulham
 
3990
8350
Torquay United
6623
Cardiff City
 
3154
6746
Plymouth Argyle
11936
Plymouth Argyle
 
3014
5263
Torquay United
10743
Swansea
 
3692
5145
Plymouth Argyle
9038
Cardiff City
 
3443
5756
Plymouth Argyle
16369
Plymouth Argyle
 
3763
9036
Southend*
13667
Hull City
* Police estimate was 13000
3665
5345
Accrington Stanley 
4943
Hereford 
 
3389
4529
Scarborough
6588
Carlisle
 
3790
6682
Grays Athletic
3754
Hereford 
 
3627
6670
Southport
6083
Oxford United
 
3705
7839
Torquay United
6021
Torquay United
 
4939
8544
Morecambe
12683
Bradford City
 
5832
8549
Leeds United
30890
Southampton
 
5393
7869
Plymouth Argyle
24767
Charlton Athletic
 
4474
6045
Sheffield United
16995
Sheffield Wednesday
 
4142
6447
Plymouth Argyle
13251
Plymouth Argyle
 
3701
5700
Plymouth Argyle
16168
Portsmouth
 
3873
7400
Plymouth Argyle
14097
Portsmouth
 
4008
7177
Plymouth Argyle
15822
Portsmouth
 
4166
6774
Carlisle United
17195
Portsmouth
 
4037
4760
Notts County
9785
Lincoln City
 
4418
5974
Yeovil Town
9505
Notts County
 
4847
 7924 
Plymouth Argyle 
 14002
Bradford City 
 
 248*
 1767*
Forest Green Rovers 
 2000*
Cheltenham Town 
* Covid 
 5312
 8147
Port Vale 
 15058
Bradford City 
 
 6846
 8046
Plymouth Argyle 
 29334
Ipswich Town 
 
2023
2024
 

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Paul F

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