thumb|right|The Kop at [[Anfield]]

Spion Kop (or the Kop for short) 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., has become one of the most famous football stands in the world.

History

thumb|left|Spion Kop, Manor Ground

thumb|Boer soldiers at Spion Kop hill, 1900

thumb|alt=A steep green hill.|The [[Spion Kop hill near Ladysmith, South Africa]]

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.

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. 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.

thumb|right|The Kop at Anfield after it was changed to all seating

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." 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.

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 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.

Kops

thumb|The Kop sign at Anfield

thumb|right|The Kop at [[Meadow Lane]]

thumb|right|Billy Bonds stand at [[London Stadium]]

thumb|right|The Kop at [[St Andrew's (stadium)|St Andrew's]]

thumb|right|The South Stand at [[Tottenham Hotspur Stadium]]

{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1"

!Ground

!Club

!Stand

|-coventry CITY. Spion Kop. 1922 Highfield Road.

|style="text-align:left;"|Anfield||Liverpool||Spion Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Central Park (demolished 1999)||Wigan Warriors RLFC||The Kop (demolished 1999)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Baseball Ground (demolished 2003–04)||Derby||Popside Kop (The Popside) (demolished 2003–04)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Bloomfield Road||Blackpool||Mortensen Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Bramall Lane||Sheffield United||The Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|County Ground||Northampton Town||Spion Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Deepdale||Preston North End||Bill Shankly Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Elland Road||Leeds United||The Gelderd End or Kop (renamed The Don Revie Stand)

|-

|Molineux

|Wolverhampton Wanderers

|The Southbank (Sir Jack Hayward Stand)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Filbert Street (demolished 2003)||Leicester City||Spion Kop (Double Decker) (demolished 2003)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Fratton Park||Portsmouth||Spion Kop (renamed as The Milton End)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Highfield Road (demolished 2006)||Coventry City||The Spion Kop Terrace (demolished 2006)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Hillsborough Stadium||Sheffield Wednesday||Spion Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Home Park||Plymouth Argyle||Spion Kop (demolished 2001)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Knowsley Road (demolished 2011)||St Helens R.F.C.||The Kop (demolished 2011)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|London Stadium||West Ham||Billy Bonds Stand (East Stand)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Manor Ground (demolished c.1913)||Woolwich Arsenal||Spion Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"| Oakwell || Barnsley ||Spion Kop (demolished 1998)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Prenton Park||Tranmere Rovers||Essar Kop Stand

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Racecourse Ground||Wrexham||The Kop (demolished 2023, now temporary stand)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Recreation Ground (demolished 2012)||Chesterfield||Spion Kop (demolished 2011)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|St Andrew's||Birmingham City||Spion Kop

|-

|Stade de la Meinau

|RC Strasbourg

|Ouest Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Tottenham Hotspur Stadium||Tottenham Hotspur||South Stand/Park Lane

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Wilderspool Stadium (demolished 2014)||Warrington Wolves||Spion Kop (demolished 2014)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Valley Parade||Bradford City||The Kop End

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|King Power Stadium||Leicester City||South Stand/Fosse Stand (The Kop)

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Windsor Park||Linfield / Northern Ireland||The Kop

|-

|style="text-align:left;"|Parc des Princes||Paris Saint-Germain||Kop of Boulogne

|-

|Westfalenstadion

|Borussia Dortmund

|The Yellow Wall

|}

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. Spion Kop's mixture of myth and magic Liverpool Daily Post, 25 August 2006.
  • The incredible story behind the Kop Guided by local historian Raymond Heron, BBC Sport's Mark Lawrenson visits Spion Kop in South Africa.