Spion Kop (stadiums)

Spion Kop (or the Kop for short), also known as the Wall, is a colloquial name or term for a number of single-tier terraces and stands at sports stadiums, particularly in the United Kingdom. The steep nature resembles the Spion Kop, a hill near Ladysmith, South Africa, which was the scene of the Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900 during the Second Boer War.

Established in 1906, the Kop at Anfield, the home stadium of Premier League club Liverpool F.C., is one of the most famous football stands in the world. The global reputation of the Kop is referenced by the governing body of the sport FIFA, who state, "With scarves raised, banners aloft and flags flying, the Kop at Anfield has long held a standard for producing some of football's great sights and sounds".

History

The first recorded reference to a sports terrace as "Kop" related to Woolwich Arsenal's Manor Ground in 1904, four years after the Second Boer War. A local newsman likened the silhouette of fans standing on a newly raised bank of earth to soldiers standing atop the hill at the Battle of Spion Kop. Two years later in 1906, Liverpool Echo sports editor Ernest Edwards noted of a new open-air embankment at Anfield:

This huge wall of earth has been termed "Spion Kop", and no doubt this apt name will always be used in future in referring to this spot.

After Liverpool had won their second League title in 1906, a new stand was built along the Walton Breck Road. Designed by architect Archibald Leitch, it was originally referred to as the Oakfield Road Embankment before it was formally renamed Spion Kop the same year. While it resembled the hill it was named after, it was also used in honour of the many Liverpudlians who died in the Battle of Spion Kop between 23 January and 24 January 1900. The first match in front of the Kop saw Liverpool defeat Stoke City 1–0 on 1 September 1906. While it is likely that it was Liverpool supporters, many of whom had fought in the war, who first referred to it as the Kop, from which Edwards then picked up on and supported its use in the Liverpool Echo, the club's site states that "only after 1912 was it consistently referenced in press reports as the Kop."

The use of the name for the stand was given recognition at Anfield in 1928 when it was extended to a 27,000 capacity and a cantilever roof was added which amplified the roar of the crowd to create an intense atmosphere. Traditionally, Liverpool's most vocal supporters congregate in this stand and are referred to as Kopites. Such is the reputation of the stand that it was claimed that the crowd in the Kop could suck the ball into the goal and it has become one of the most famous football stands in the world.

Liverpool's 1920s championship winning goalkeeper Elisha Scott, whose spectacular saves generated as much adulation as a Liverpool goal, made a point of thanking the Kop in his leaving speech in 1934: "Last, but not least, my friends of the Kop. I cannot thank them sufficiently. They have inspired me." Manager Bill Shankly made reference to the Kop when speaking about his connection with Liverpool supporters: "I'm just one of the people who stands on the Kop. They think the same as I do, and I think the same as they do". Liverpool's Spion Kop (capacity 27,000, although crowds of 30,000+ have been recorded) was redesigned in 1994 (completed) to comply with requirements of the Taylor Report, which made all-seater stadiums obligatory in the highest two divisions of English football. A new Spion Kop was built in its place with 12,390 seats, making it the largest single-tier stand in the country at the time.

Following the opening of the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Anfield's Kop ceased to be the largest single-tier stand in the country. The South Stand of the new stadium has 17,500 seats and has an incline of 34 degrees, making it one of the steepest stands in the country.

Manchester United's proposed new 100,000-capacity New Trafford Stadium will reportedly take inspiration from Tottenham's South Stand with a 'new Stretford End' to be a single-tier, steep stand which, due to the overall ground's significantly higher capacity, would likely house 25,000 supporters, indeed a stadium designed to the same proportions but with a 100,000 capacity would actually see this 'new Stretford End' holding as many as 29,000. Villa Park's old Holte End was historically the largest of all single-tier ends, closely followed by the old South Bank at Molineux, both once regularly holding crowds in excess of 30,000.

Composition

The size and location of "a Kop" stand in the stadium varies; most are located behind the goal and are occupied by its club's most vocal supporters. It is usually a single-tiered stand and was traditionally terraced. In England, safety regulations brought into effect after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster required many to be made all-seated. A Kop is not necessarily the largest stand in the stadium and does not have to have a particularly large capacity; for example, Chesterfield's former stadium, Saltergate, had a Kop with a capacity of only a few thousand.

The term used in Italy is "gradinata".

Kops

References

Sources

• Inglis, Simon. The Football Grounds of England and Wales (Collins Willow, 1982)
• Kelly, Stephen F. The Kop, (Virgin Books, 2005)
• Pearce, James. How Kop tuned in to glory days, Liverpool Echo. 23 August 2006.
• Chapple, Mike (25 August 2006). "Spion Kop's mixture of myth and magic". Daily Post. Liverpool, England. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012 – via HighBeam Research.

External links

• The incredible story behind the Kop Guided by local historian Raymond Heron, BBC Sport's Mark Lawrenson visits Spion Kop in South Africa.