Nationwide Football League crowds are at their highest level for 40 years with 15.9million attending games during the 2003-04 season.

Figures for the season show an annual increase of more than one million spectators and a seven percent year-on-year increase.

Crowds for Divisions One, Two and Three are now at their highest levels since the 1963-64 season and average 9,595 a game.

Division One audiences totalled 8.8million, the highest aggregate attendance for 48 seasons and averaged 15,890 - an increase of three percent on last season.

Crowds for the First Division continue to far outstrip the equivalent leagues in Europe.

Gates are 50% higher than those in Italy and Germany and more than double those of Spain and France.

Upward

Division Two crowds also continued their upward climb with an increase of 6.5% on the 2002-03 season.

Average crowds of 7,507 took aggregate attendances beyond the four million mark.

However, the most dramatic increase came in Division Three where crowds increased by 21%.

League chairman Sir Brian Mawhinney said: "These figures demonstrate the passion for the game that exists amongst supporters at all levels of the Football League.

"They are a testament to the quality of football being played by our clubs in high-class, modern stadia and to the hard work they carry out in their local communities to encourage the next generation of supporters to follow their local club."

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