Bay and Cofis must take huge credit for Cymru Premier attendances boom

Today the FAW celebrate record Welsh Premier attendances for 2025.

It may be ‘comfort zone lingo’ to describe it as a team effort, but no-one can deny much of the credit has to go to Colwyn Bay and Caernarfon Town.

The Bay, in particular, have been dynamic in getting supporters through the turnstiles. Their return to the Cymru Premier this season has seen a return to the biggest crowds the national league has witnessed since the Seagulls were last in Tier 1 in 2023-24.

Caernarfon have been consistently the top supported club in the league for many years. This season their turnouts have taken an inevitable drop due to them using Llandudno’s Go Goodwins Stadium as their home ground while The Oval is being renovated.

This season, Colwyn Bay are averaging 932 at home matches, including a highest Cymru Premier regular season attendance since 2011 when 1,564 saw them take on Flint Town United at the Blue Turtle Arena on New Year’s Day 2026.

Traditionally, the leading crowd-pullers in leagues are the top sides. It is quite different in the Cymru Premier, where some of the higher-placed clubs would struggle to fill the proverbial phonebox.

FAW MEDIA RELEASE (stats not including January 1, 2026)

The JD Cymru Premier attracted a total of 91,356 supporters to matches across 2025, a new record for a single calendar year for a 12-team Welsh top-flight.

The figure represents a 19% increase on the 2024 total (76,355) and is the highest for a single calendar year in the Welsh top-flight since 1997 when the league consisted of 21 clubs (1996/97) and 20 clubs (1997/98) respectively.

The biggest attendance of 2025 came in May at Ogi Bridge Meadow, where 1,717 fans witnessed Haverfordwest County’s 3-1 victory over Caernarfon Town in the play-off final to qualify for Europe.

The 1,516 crowd at the fixture between Colwyn Bay and Connah’s Quay Nomads at the Blue Turtle Arena on the opening weekend of the 2025/26 season was the highest attendance for a non-play-off fixture in the JD Cymru Premier since December 2011.

Meanwhile, the average attendance of 554 for matches on 23 September represented the best average attendance for a full set of midweek fixtures (excluding Boxing Day) in JD Cymru Premier history.

Jack Sharp, FAW Head of Domestic Leagues, said: “It has been really encouraging to see the year-on-year growth in attendances in the JD Cymru Premier.

“One of our key priorities as part of the JD Cymru Premier strategy is to increase the number of fans at matches and while we are aware that there is still plenty of work to do, the attendance figures in 2025 indicate real potential and show the growing enthusiasm that there is around the country for our national league.

“We must use this as a platform as we move into 2026, when a new format and brand for the JD Cymru Leagues will be introduced which we hope will increase interest even further. The year has already started strongly with matches at Colwyn Bay and Caersws each attracting over 1,000 fans on New Year’s Day.

“I would like to thank staff at the FAW and staff and volunteers at our clubs, who are all working relentlessly to get more fans through the gates and whose passion for the leagues I see on a daily basis.”