Spion Kop (stadia)

Spion Kop (or Kop for short) is the name for a number of terraces and stands at sports stadia; so named due to their steep nature, resembling a hill near Ladysmith, South Africa that was the scene of the Battle of Spion Kop in the Second Boer War.

History

"The Afrikaans name for the battle," writes Liverpool Daily Post columnist Mike Chapple, "is Spioenkop; spioen for spy or look out and kop meaning hill or outcropping."

The first recorded reference to a sports terrace as Kop was at Woolwich Arsenal's Manor Ground in 1904, when a local newsman likened the silhouette of fans standing on a newly raised bank of earth to soldiers standing atop 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". The name was formally consummated in 1928 upon construction of a roof. It is thought to be the first terrace officially named Spion Kop. Many other English football clubs and some Rugby league clubs (such as Wigan's former home Central Park) followed suit and applied the same name to stands in later years.

Villa Park's old Holte End is historically the largest of all Kop ends closely followed by the old South Bank at Molineux, both once regularly holding crowds in excess of 30,000. By the mid 1980s Hillsborough's Kop had become the largest roofed terrace in Europe, with a capacity of around 25,000.

Composition

There is much conjecture about what type of stand constitutes a Kop. The size and location of the stand in the stadium varies, with most being located behind the goal and being occupied by its club's most vocal supporters. It is usually a single tiered stand and traditionally terraced. However, in England, safety regulations brought into effect after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster has required many to be made all seated. It is not necessarily the largest stand in the stadium and does not have to have a particularly large capacity; for example, Chesterfield's stadium the Recreation Ground has a Kop with a capacity of only a few thousand.

Kops

Kopites

The supporters on Liverpool's Kop helped make Anfield famous for its atmosphere. "Kopites" is a collective name given to the loyal supporters of Liverpool Football Club.

Future designs

In November 2007, Sheffield United announced that it will add an additional 3,000 seats to their Kop. Work is scheduled to start in the Summer of 2008, and with a new capacity of over 13,200, Bramall Lane will overtake Anfield in housing the largest single tier Kop stand in Britain. Liverpool, however, have released plans to include a 18,000 capacity Kop in their new Stanley Park Stadium design.

Sources

*Inglis, Simon "The Football Grounds of England and Wales" (Collins Willow, 1982)
* [http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,413983,00.html The Knowledge] Guardian Unlimited May 8 2000
* [http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_objectid=17610578&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=how-kop-tuned-in-to-glory-days-name_page.html How Kop tuned in to glory days] Liverpool Echo August 23 2006
* [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-150036374.html Spion Kop's mixture of myth and magic] Daily Post August 25, 2006