Home   Gravesend   Sport   Article

Ebbsfleet United will trial Friday night football to see if attendance benefits by not clashing with Charlton Athletic and Gillingham home games

Friday night football could be coming to the PHB Stadium as Ebbsfleet look to boost their attendances by attracting new supporters.

Fleet vice-chairman Peter Varney has confirmed the club are keen to move a Saturday home fixture to see if they benefit by being the only game on in the area.

Ebbsfleet's players could soon be celebrating goals scored on Friday nights Picture: Andy Payton
Ebbsfleet's players could soon be celebrating goals scored on Friday nights Picture: Andy Payton

Mr Varney, who wants to pull in regular crowds of 1,500, believes the Fleet’s numbers suffer when they, Charlton and Gillingham all play a home fixture on the same day.

He said: "We have lots of ideas geared towards people sampling the football.

"One of the ideas is to have a match on a Friday night – on a weekend when we’re paired with Charlton and Gillingham. When you’re competing like that, the perception is that the matches (at our level) are not as exciting.

"We’ll trial one on a Friday night. It doesn’t have to be a league game – maybe it could be an FA Trophy game on a Friday night – anything, just to get some experience of what people are thinking."

Charlton and Gills are both at home on Saturday, November 29, which is the date of the FA Trophy third qualifying round. A home tie could present Ebbsfleet with a chance to run their experiment.

Mr Varney said: "We’ve got to find ways of getting people here.

Ebbsfleet United vice-chairman Peter Varney Picture: Andy Payton
Ebbsfleet United vice-chairman Peter Varney Picture: Andy Payton

"You can’t argue they’re not coming because of the price, because we’re as competitive as anyone. In terms of the quality of football, I like to think we play open football. Higher up, in the Championship, the games can be more cat-and-mouse.

"The crowds have definitely picked up from when we got here. They’d fallen to the 700-mark, so you can definitely see growth, but we’d like to see even more.

"The key is getting people to see it for the first time."

Close This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Learn More