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Mohun Bagan might have finished eighth in the 2013-14 I-League and ended another campaign without a trophy but the green-and-maroon brigade top an alternative table. The official I-League website revealed on Thursday the average home attendance figures of each club in the 2013-14 campaign and Mohun Bagan were placed the highest.
The Mariners recorded an average home attendance of 17,068, almost double the number of their arch-rivals East Bengal, who are only third in the list with 8667 despite challenging for the title. One reason behind it could be the fact that East Bengal played some of their home matches at the Kalyani Stadium, which only has a capacity of around 8000.
Mohun Bagan on the other hand played just one of their 12 home matches outside the 120,000 capacity Salt Lake Stadium. Shillong Lajong are second in the list with 11,308 and unsurprisingly Shillong’s Rangdajied United and Kolkata’s Mohammedan Sporting complete the top five.
I-League champions Bengaluru FC are sixth with 7038 but they enjoyed almost 90% attendance in their 12 home matches at the Bangalore Football Stadium whose capacity is 8500.
Each of the seven remaining clubs had an average attendance of less than 3000 with Mumbai FC’s average of 321 being the lowest. That is not surprising at all as they played their home matches outside Mumbai, at Pune’s Balewadi Sports Complex.
Average home attendance
1. Mohun Bagan – 17,068
2. Shillong Lajong FC – 11,308
3. East Bengal – 8,667
4. Rangdajied United FC – 7,687
5. Mohammedan Sporting – 7,083
6. Bengaluru FC – 7,038
7. Pune FC – 2,586
8. Dempo SC – 2,542
9. Churchill Brothers – 2,450
10. Salgaocar FC – 2,421
11. United SC – 2,250
12. Sporting Clube de Goa – 1,608
13. Mumbai FC – 321
Top five attendances
Mohun Bagan were also involved in three of the top five attendances of the season. Three of them were Kolkata derbies with the first-ever Shillong I-League derby between Shillong Lajong and Rangdajied United also getting into the top five.
1) 24th November, 2013 – Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal
Attendance – 80000
Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata
2) 27th November, 2013 – Mohun Bagan vs Mohammedan Sporting
Attendance – 45000
Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata
3) 1st March, 2014 – East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan
Attendance – 30000
Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata
4) 30th November, 2013 – Mohammedan Sporting vs Dempo
Attendance – 26000
Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata
5) 22nd November, 2013 – Shillong Lajong vs Rangdajied Utd
Attendance – 22000
Venue: JLN Stadium, Shillong
