Survey Request from the Football Supporters' Association

The Football Supporters' Association has partnered with the Non-League Paper to canvass supporter views on a return to football and we would like to ask for your support in promoting the survey on your league website and to your member clubs.

The survey received close on 1,000 responses in the first 24-hours and can be accessed on the following links:

bit.ly/non-league-survey

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/non-league-return

Nobody knows yet when a new season will be announced but The FA has announced that the new season will only start when Government advice allows spectators to attend matches.We all hope that such an announcement comes as soon as possible but only when it is safe for us all. After talking with supporters and clubs the FSA believes that it will be helpful for clubs and leagues to have an understanding of what will make supporters feel reassured and confident about attending matches again.

Non-league has always prided itself on being close to the fans and our local communities and this survey gives these supporters of non-league an opportunity to have their say on some of the key issues.

The survey is anonymous but we believe that it gathers enough detailed data to allow analysis by club, by league and by demographic. The anonymised data will be published in the Non-League Paper on July 19th and we plan to share the results with leagues and FA colleagues. Our aim is that the information gathered on the attitudes of spectators will allow clubs and league administrators information that enables them to plan with more certainty.

In launching the survey Northern Premier League Chairman Mark Harris said: “I think it’s critical, not only that we make our clubs ready to be playing football again at the earliest opportunity, but that we create an environment in which fans feel comfortable and confident they can come back and watch football safely.“Although the FA will be taking the lead in producing club guidance information, we need to ensure that guidance is well informed. We’re delighted to be working with the FSA and the Non-League Paper on this to ask fans for their thoughts, and we can’t do without them.”

We have structured the questions so as to establish a baseline of pre-CV19 activity against anticipated post start of any new season activity and highlights any continuing areas of concern. Covering positive and negative drivers for attitude and behaviours towards football at a time of wider economic and social concerns. The survey seeks to gather data on key business and operational elements: attendance at matches (home and away), spend in the ground, and any further mitigation that would make spectators feel safe and have included a free text option for additional suggestions.

Surveying supporters is a tangible demonstration of the importance of supporters’ views and also addresses any lingering discontent that some may have about the way that the season ended without consultation.

The survey represents the biggest canvassing of opinions across the game since the declaration of the Health Emergency in March. The more fans that complete the survey the better the data for us all and we hope that your league and clubs will help promote the survey to as wide an audience as possible.

I hope that you can help. Please let me know if you have any questions and if your league would like to request the data set for supporters of your member clubs.

Regards

Richard Irving
Network Manager – Community Owned Clubs

The Football Supporters' Association