Hitchin Town: Pay What You Want for Saturday's Top Field clash with Barwell says club treasurer Roy Izzard

Hitchin Town's game against Barwell today, Saturday (September 23) will be out sixth consecutive home game.

This has happened because we have had two home FA Cup games while we had switched the Redditch away game to Top Field as their ground was not available.

At a time when so many families are struggling with the cost of living crisis we are well aware that these six successive home games have put a financial strain on our supporters.

Therefore we wanted to do something to help so we decided to make Barwell's visit a pay what you want game. This means supporters can choose how much they pay to watch the game. There is a minimum charge of £1 and hopefully supporters will appreciate this gesture.

I as treasurer have always strongly been in favour of pay what you want games and I can categorically say they were always successful despite some doubting how they would work out.

It served two purposes the first of which was giving supporters the chance to save money by paying a reduced entry fee but just as important was the opportunity to attract potential new supporters to come along who would not have to pay the full admission price. I am certain we did gain new followers as a result of paying a reduced sum at a pay what you want game.

In any case even if a new supporter only paid £1 I considered we were gaining £1 rather than losing £12 as they would not have come to the game if normal admission prices were in place. If they buy food or drink or buy a programme we are also gaining extra receipts.

I like to see as many people at Top Field as possible and if the new supporters enjoy that special Top Field experience they will hopefully return.

It has been great to see so many family groups at recent games and an increase in the number of younger fans and female supporters.

I hope this Saturday's pay what you want game will encourage more new supporters to come along and I urge all current supporters to ask family and friends to take advantage of the chance to watch good quality non-league football at a reasonable price,

Another surprising thing with past pay what you want games is that many supporters paid the full price and incredibly some paid more than the normal price.

As treasurer I am very grateful for this but rewarding loyal supporters and hoping to attract new supporters is the aim of pay what you want games.

Hitchin Town FC treasurer Roy Izzard