Myth: Wigan’s population is over 300,000 and, as such, its football team should get an attendance comparable with other towns of the same size.
Truth: Wigan Metropolitan Borough’s population is indeed over 300,000 , in fact the 2001 census shows it as 301,417.
However, unlike the towns that are used as a comparison, Wigan Metropolitan Borough is actually made up of a number of smaller towns of which Wigan is just the largest.
Wigan’s actual population, by the same 2001 census, is actually 81,203. The second largest town in the borough is Leigh with a population of around 43,000 not only has its own football team, Leigh RMI, it also has a Rugby League team as well.
The collection of towns was thrown together by Local Government Reorganisation in the 1970s amidst many protests by the residents of the smaller towns ‘swallowed up’ by the larger town of Wigan. As a result, the antipathy felt by many of the people of the smaller towns towards Wigan was aggravated, many of the residents of Wigan Met would not support Wigan Athletic if they were the last team on earth. I should know, as a lifelong Latic brought up in Leigh, I saw both sides of the divide.
Compare this with near-neighbours Bolton Metropolitan Borough’s population of 261,035. Bolton Metropolitan Borough is also is a collection of smaller towns but in this case the difference is size between Bolton and the smaller towns is much greater. Farnworth is the second largest town in the borough with a population of around 23,000. Bolton itself is the second largest town in the U.K, coming just after Croydon, Greater London. Bolton Wanderers only get a few thousand higher average gates than Wigan Athletic.
So you can see that Wigan Athletic, despite what our detractors will claim, actually has a higher proportion of fans compared to the town’s population than many of its rivals.
Myths
This is a series of articles debunking some of the many myths that surround Wigan Athletic and are used by many of our detractors to belittle the club and its spectators.
Click Here to go to the Myths Section
If you know of any other myths that spread about our club, and would like to see an article countering it, then please email me with details of the myth, and the arguments against it, to editor@wigan.vitalfootball.co.uk If you want to write the article yourself, then just let me know if you want your name adding to the bottom as the author.
