Gillingham Football Club have been praised for their commitment to providing affordable football for fans of all ages in the 2016/17 BBC Price of Football study.
Released on Wednesday evening, the BBC’s in-depth evaluation of how much it costs to follow 223 league and non-league clubs across the UK, has shown that the Gills have performed strongly in achieving their aims of offering fair prices to supporters.
The study highlighted that their £25 Family Tickets, which admit two adults and two under-18s into Sky Bet League One fixture and is available for both home and away fans, is the best value ticket of its kind across the Premier League and EFL.
Based on matchday prices, their £12 adult tickets for Gills fans in the Brian Moore Stand are the joint cheapest in the entire EFL (along with Sky Bet League Two club Doncaster Rovers), and are only beaten by Liverpool and Hull City’s £9 on-the-day tickets.
The Gills are joint fifth lowest in Sky Bet League One when it comes to the price of junior replica shirts (£27), and joint seventh in the adult replica shirt price ranking – just 5p behind the cheapest!
Aside from Fleetwood Town, all 22 other clubs in the division charge £3 for their matchday programme.
The results of this study follow a number of initiatives aimed at making supporting the Gills as competitive as possible. The launch of their £25 Family Tickets in October followed the club’s promotional offers of Floodlight Football for a Fiver against Luton Town in the Checkatrade Trophy, reduced away ticket price initiatives for season ticket holders, Kids 4 A Quid deals and their new Category B-game classification already this season.
“Community clubs like Gillingham are the heart and soul of football, the backbone of the English game,” said chairman Paul Scally.
“We are working hard to dispel the idea that professional football is a sport only accessible by watching television.”
“I think our ticket prices are good value for money. Our pricing is always aimed at attracting new followers, and we engage with our supporters constantly to make the matchday experience is as good as possible when they do come.”