For those who are regular social media users, you’ll see discussions around attendances. You see clubs like AFC Telford, Halesowen and Kettering attracting post 1,000 gates and no doubt you, like me, think, if only Leiston could get gates like that.

But (there’s always a but), here is something that will surprise you. A very positive statistic.

There are some huge towns competing in the Southern League Premier Division Central, so I've put together a few facts on attendances, just for a bit of clarity to see how many 'locals' go and watch their local side.

The following is based on local support, I’m sure people also travel from outside/away fans. But the majority are likely to be local.

Let’s start with AFC Telford who, during the regular season, boasted an average gate of 1,242, the highest in the division, and very impressive.

Now, around 239,000 people live in Telford so, if you divide their average attendance by the number of people in the town, it works out that around 0.5% of locals attend their games, that's less than 1%.

Just up the road, our Suffolk rivals Lowestoft also attract less than 1% of their (circa 72,000) local support. Halesowen and Kettering are towns of around 60,000 and both have average gates in excess of 1,000 yet, based on their town size against average attendances, they get around 1.9% of locals attending.

So, what about little old Leiston I hear you cry.

Well, circa 6,000 people currently reside in Leiston. The town's main football club has an average attendance of 223, the second lowest in the division, with only Biggleswade Town lower.

However, if you divide 223 by 6,000 the 3.7% of locals that support the Blues means Leiston are actually the second best locally-supported side (pro rata to their town's population) in the division, behind Alvechurch who boast a whopping 9.8% of local support.

Stats, figures, you can make of them what you will and this is just a bit of fun. However, Leiston fans' support which we all are always so grateful for, really is something special and something we should be proud of.

The good folk of Leiston support their football club. We have a great community.

The next step is to get 5% of the town through the gates, that would mean an average of 300... more than achievable.