Even Donald Trump's inauguration drew a bigger crowd than yesterday's Blackburn-Blackpool FA Cup tie as the joint boycott made its mark.
The Riverside Stand was entirely deserted as the crowd reached a puny 9,327. The previous lowest attendance at Ewood Park was 9,877 in November 1991.
As they have been for the past five years, the Blackburn supporters were protesting against their stubborn owners, the Rao family, known to the wider world as 'Venky's', the name of their processed chicken empire. The Venky's are best remembered for standing by manager Steve Kean as he guided the club from the Premier League to mid-table mediocrity in the Championship.
The away supporters, meanwhile, were complaining about the notorious Oyston family. Blackpool's official club motto is 'Progress', an aspiration which sits oddly alongside their trajectory under the chairmanship of Karl Oyston.
As recently as 2011, Blackpool were mixing it in the Premier League. Nowadays they find themselves in League Two, and thus far the 2016-17 season has proven they easily belong in such company. They sit 13th in the table.
Oyston's vision for the club has been described as one based around the concept of 'managed decline', not a clarion call that the Blackpool supporters have been able to get behind. Through years of relegations, Oyston has refused to sell the club. It takes a man of super-human belligerence to govern a club along such lines in the face of protests and abuse.
Oyston is that man, as his correspondence with the club's fanbase bears out. When Blackpool fan Steve Smith somehow got hold of Oyston's phone number a couple of years ago, he questioned him on his stewardship of the club. Oyston expressed sympathy with Smith's plight as a hardcore Blackpool fan, remarking "Sorry your life is so shit. But that's your fault and not mine."
At the end of the correspondence, Oyston bid Smith adieu and told him to "enjoy the rest of your special needs day out."
Here are the scenes from the protest.
Previous lowest attendance at #Blackburn was 9,877 in Nov '91. Today, crowd was 9,327 after boycott by #Rovers AND #Blackpool fans. pic.twitter.com/29VcLLkAGb
— Rock FM News (@RockFMNews) January 28, 2017
Blackpool and Blackburn fans protesting outside Ewood Park pic.twitter.com/xLsm0xTJul
— Matt Scrafton (@matt_scrafton) January 28, 2017
Blackburn Rovers v Blackpool, FA Cup 4th Rd, Jan 2017. pic.twitter.com/7Pdks3ytsl
— Stan Collymore (@StanCollymore) January 28, 2017
But the 9,000 strong crowd is roughly three times the size of the lowest ever attendance at a Premier League game. On 26 January 1993, 3,039 distinguished souls turned up at Selhust Park to watch Wimbledon take on Everton. That historically low attendance was the product of another boycott by home supporters angry at their club's exile from Plough Lane and their tenancy in Selhurst Park on the other side of London.
Of course, soon enough, they were faced with the prospect of having to leave the city altogether to follow their team. And possibly the country.
