CROWDS at Celtic and Rangers games this season have been up to 20,000 lower than the figures released to the public.
It goes some way to explaining the huge gaps in the stands when the clubs have been claiming near full-houses.
The number of supporters the clubs publicise as turning up to home SPL and Division Three matches is far larger than the true figure reported to police, official records show.
Fans used freedom of information laws to force Strathclyde Police to reveal the real number of supporters attending games at Ibrox and Parkhead.
We obtained the figures as they are now on public record.
Celtic publicised a figure of 49,428 on the SPL website for their game against Ross County at Parkhead in December – 20,497 more than the real attendance of 28,931.
And when Rangers played Queen’s Park at Ibrox in October, the attendance figure published on the Scottish Footbal League website was 49,463.
But the real number given to police was just 34,481 – a difference of 14,982.
The difference is understood to be made up mainly of season ticket holders counted as attending when they have not actually gone to the game.
Publishing the total number of tickets sold – including season ticket holders who haven’t made it to the game – rather than the number at the game is common among senior clubs.
Strathclyde Police ask the Old Firm and all the clubs in their force area for attendance figures to plan safe crowd control and to calculate how many police will need to attend games.
The only fans who aren’t counted are the small number in hospitality or others who don’t pass through the turnstiles such as disabled supporters.
In the 13 league games Celtic played between the start of the season and their game against Kilmarnock on January 30, the club reported an official gate of 597,391.
But over the same period the club have only reported a figure of 437,990 to
the police.
It means the publicised figure has been inflated by 159,401 – a 36 per cent increase.
So the average number of people at each game was 33,692 rather than 45,953.
Meanwhile, Rangers played 11 home league games in Division Three between the beginning of the season and January 30.
They publicised a total attendance figure of 515,250, while the figure reported to the police was just 407,909.
That’s a difference of 107,341 – a 26 per cent increase.
On average, the number of people going through the turnstiles was 37,083, rather than the claimed 46,841.
The publicised figures given by St Mirren, Motherwell and Kilmarnock for
matchday attendances at their grounds appeared to match the ones given to police.
A police spokeswoman said: “The figures are provided to the police by the football club and are taken from live data compiled by the electronic turnstiles management system from patrons entering the stadium.
“The figures do not include some corporate hospitality guests and those patrons who enter the stadium outwith the control of turnstile management.
“These figures are vital to ensure that there is effective queue management of spectators entering the stadium, to maintain spectator cross-flow around the stadium and to ensure that there is no critical overloading of any area of the stadium during ingress.
“The figures are also used as a baseline to effectively plan the resourcing of both stewards and police at future matches involving both clubs.”
The SPL confirmed that they take their attendance figures from the Press Association, who in turn receive them from the clubs.
A Celtic spokesman said: “Like many other British clubs, the figures we provide are total paid attendances between season books and matchday tickets.
“In addition the police figures do not include all corporate hospitality figures.”
A Rangers spokesperson said: “Our crowds are calculated on the number of tickets sold for each game, which we understand is common practice for the overwhelming majority of clubs in the country.”
The SPL and SFL both declined to comment.
After matches at Ibrox and Parkhead, the clubs give their official attendance number to Britain’s national news agency, the Press Association.
The SPL and SFL obtain the attendances for all their matches from the Press Association to put on their websites.
But the figures released by the clubs count tens of thousands of season ticket holders who don’t turn up to matches.
The clubs also have to give an attendance figure to Strathclyde Police so the force can plan crowd control and staffing.
The number given to the police is a true reflection of the numbers at the match, as it is taken from the electronic turnstiles.
Only a small number of fans who don’t use turnstiles – such as hospitality guests and disabled supporters – will not be counted in this figure.
― Algerian Goalkeeper, Saturday, 16 March 2013 19:45 (thirteen years ago)