Canterbury Rugby Club chairman Giles Hilton says the Merton Lane club want to mark their 80th anniversary season by putting another 80 spectators on the gate.

The city club average 120 spectators for their National 2 South matches, which represents a drop of around 40 or 50 on last season.

Mr Hilton said: "We don’t know why it’s happened. We haven’t had any feedback from the people who have stopped coming but it does seem to be a general trend at our level of rugby.

"We see a huge number of people who come on an occasional basis and if they were all to come regularly then we wouldn’t have a problem. We are exploring ways and means to try to encourage more people to come and watch us but it isn’t easy."

Canterbury’s National 2 South status means they can be bracketed among the top 50 or 60 clubs in the country and the chairman feels that, with the admission price at £8, they offer value for money.

He added: "We are proud of what we have achieved here, especially when you consider that two of the biggest clubs in our division, Richmond and Rosslyn Park, get 1,000 gates for their home games charging £10 a head, which is a situation we can only dream about.

"But I do feel we deserve bigger crowds because as a club we are definitely punching above our weight. We are holding a Sportsman’s Dinner on February 26 as part of our 80th anniversary celebrations and I would love to mark the anniversary by putting another 80 on our average gate.

"That would take us up to 200, which would be perfect."

Mr Hilton is hoping for a bumper crowd at Canterbury’s next home game against league leaders Ealing on Saturday.