Spion Kop (stadiums)


Spion Kop 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.

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:
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 Spion Kop was redesigned in 1994 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. This new Kop still stands and currently houses the club's museum.
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 Old 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 Kop ends, closely followed by the old South Bank at Molineux, both once regularly holding crowds in excess of 30,000.
Many other English football clubs and some rugby league clubs applied the same name to stands in later years.

Composition

There is much debate about what type of stand constitutes a Kop. The size and location of the 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.

Kops

GroundClubStand
AnfieldLiverpoolSpion Kop
Central Park Wigan Warriors RLFCThe Kop
Baseball Ground DerbyPopside Kop
Bloomfield RoadBlackpoolMortensen Kop
Bramall LaneSheffield UnitedThe Kop
County GroundNorthampton TownSpion Kop
DeepdalePreston North EndBill Shankly Kop
Elland RoadLeeds UnitedThe Kop
MolineuxWolverhampton WanderersThe Southbank
Filbert Street Leicester CitySpion Kop
Fratton ParkPortsmouthSpion Kop
Highfield Road Coventry CityThe Spion Kop Terrace
Hillsborough StadiumSheffield WednesdaySpion Kop
Home ParkPlymouth ArgyleSpion Kop
Knowsley Road St Helens R.F.C.The Kop
London StadiumWest HamBilly Bonds Stand
Manor Ground Woolwich ArsenalSpion Kop
Meadow LaneNotts CountySpion Kop
OakwellBarnsleySpion Kop
Prenton ParkTranmere RoversEssar Kop Stand
Racecourse GroundWrexhamThe Kop
Recreation Ground ChesterfieldSpion Kop
St Andrew'sBirmingham CitySpion Kop
Stade de la MeinauRC StrasbourgOuest Kop
Tottenham Hotspur StadiumTottenham HotspurSouth Stand/Park Lane
Wilderspool Stadium Warrington WolvesSpion Kop
Valley ParadeBradford CityThe Kop End
King Power StadiumLeicester CitySouth Stand/Fosse Stand
Windsor ParkLinfield / Northern IrelandThe Kop
Parc des PrincesParis Saint-GermainKop of Boulogne
WestfalenstadionBorussia DortmundThe Yellow Wall