Attendance Records
Official attendance figures are largely unavailable in Scottish football prior to the 1980s, other than for Scottish Cup ties, but the following figures as reported in the media give a guide to the progressive record attendance figures at Tannadice down the years.
Dundee Hibs' first match at Tannadice, a friendly against Hibernian of Edinburgh on 18 August 1909, was watched by a crowd of 7,000. This figure appears to be in excess of any crowd to watch a league fixture at the ground prior to the First World War. Cup ties tended to attract higher attendances in this era, and after the terraces were specially extended to accommodate the expected large crowd, 15,000 watched a Scottish Qualifying Cup tie against Forfar Athletic on 1 November 1913.
Promotion to the top flight in 1925 saw further ground improvements and two new records set, firstly when 20,000 were estimated to have watched Celtic's visit on 19 September 1925. Then a much larger than anticipated crowd of 23,517 packed in to watch an important late season Tayside derby against St. Johnstone on 17 April 1926, with both clubs fighting relegation.
The largest crowd to have watched a League fixture at Tannadice was 25,000 in the derby against Dundee on 3 January 1927. This remained the overall record until 23 February 1952, when 26,407 saw a Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen, the all-time record for any domestic fixture on the ground.
As of 2009, the official record attendance at Tannadice remains the 28,000 who watched the club's home European debut, an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup match against FC Barcelona on 16 November 1966. Since then, in common with many other grounds, safety legislation and conversion to all-seating has drastically reduced Tannadice's capacity, with the modern stadium holding little over half that number. As a result, it looks unlikely that these records will be challenged in the future.
Read more about this topic: Tannadice Park
Famous quotes containing the words attendance and/or records:
“We, too, had good attendance once,
Hearers and hearteners of the work;
Aye, horsemen for companions,
Before the merchant and the clerk
Breathed on the world with timid breath.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Although crowds gathered once if she but showed her face,
And even old men’s eyes grew dim, this hand alone,
Like some last courtier at a gypsy camping-place
Babbling of fallen majesty, records what’s gone.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)