Surrey break County Championship attendance records at Oval

Records were broken at Surrey’s Kia Oval in the 2024 season with more spectators – 65,433 – going to watch the County Championship than any other year in the 21st century.

Surrey also saw records set for a match – 13,706 against Essex – and for a day of the red ball competition – 6,311 for day one against Essex.

The club had its largest-ever member attendance at a Vitality Blast fixture, with 5,747 members swelling the attendance to more than 19,000 to watch Surrey qualify for finals day by beating Durham.

There was also a record crowd for the South East Stars’ fixture against Southern Vipers – part of the double header that saw Surrey take on Somerset on the first weekend of fixtures in the Blast. The 7,185 fans in the ground as the Stars beat the Vipers was an all-time record at The Kia Oval for a regional or county women’s fixture.

The record for largest attendance at a County Championship match at the ground this century had actually been set for the first game of the season against Somerset, 10,401 watched a thrilling fixture that ended in a draw with Surrey trying to chase down 209 in just 19 overs.

Surrey chief executive Steve Elworthy said: “It’s been another very special year of cricket at The Kia Oval and we’ve been so pleased to see the support shown for our teams. Surrey fans are the very best in the country and they’ve shown that the red ball game has a significant and growing appeal.

“It was also great to see the number of fans and members coming to support the men’s and women’s teams in the Vitality Blast – this bodes particularly well for next year when the first fully professional Surrey women’s team will walk out at the Kia Oval.

“We will look to continue this trend in 2025 and hope to see more records set next season.”