The old spion kop

SuperTonyEllis

SuperTonyEllis

Well-known member
Can anyone give me a rough capacity of the old spion kop before development please? Struggling to find out.
 
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Probably had to reduce the capacity when they put a roof on it...and then the segregation down the middle, not that stopped trouble😳
Good wiki article if you put Spion Kop Blackpool through google.
 
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SuperTonyEllis said:
Can anyone give me a rough capacity of the old spoin kop before development please? Struggling to find out.
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Bolton would bring 9/10,000 in the mid 70s and they would only get half of the kop. I bet for many games in the 50s and 60s it had 16,000/17,000 on easily!! The ground record is 38,000 plus, how would that work... 18,000 plus on the kop and 20,000 in the other three sides?
 
Forget where I got the info from but was told that it was the third biggest kop in the football league behind The Kop at Anfield and the Holte End at Villa Park during the 60's and 70's
 
BFC59 said:
Boer War.
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Yes a common misunderstanding BFC59. No, the battle where the big earth banking at football grounds got its name took place in the Kyber Pass in 1877. The British Army were on routine patrol when, all of a sudden, they were attacked from behind by a herd of rampaging wild pigs. Luckily, the Army won out and celebrated with an enormous barbeque. So many turned up for the feast that future generations said that the massed support was just like being at the barbeque of Spion Kop, which colloquially became known as the Boar War.

Phew...got out of that one!
 
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Wizzerboy said:
Forget where I got the info from but was told that it was the third biggest kop in the football league behind The Kop at Anfield and the Holte End at Villa Park during the 60's and 70's
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The one at Wolves 'The North Bank" was huge too, as was the one at Hillsborough. Blackpool's was certainly one of the biggest.
 
kuriousoranj said:
The one at Wolves 'The North Bank" was huge too, as was the one at Hillsborough. Blackpool's was certainly one of the biggest.
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Actually it was the away end [the South Bank] at Wolves that was the bigger. But it was an open end.
 
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Was on it for League Cup Q/F early seventies where we drew1-1. Think Keith Dyson scored for us. Lost the replay 1-0 at home. Derek Dougan.
 
20togo said:
Was on it for League Cup Q/F early seventies where we drew1-1. Think Keith Dyson scored for us. Lost the replay 1-0 at home. Derek Dougan.
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I bet it wasn't as busy as in the picture above? My grandfather was born near Wolverhampton and they were his team.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
Yes a common misunderstanding BFC59. No, the battle where the big earth banking at football grounds got its name took place in the Kyber Pass in 1877. The British Army were on routine patrol when, all of a sudden, they were attacked from behind by a herd of rampaging wild pigs. Luckily, the Army won out and celebrated with an enormous barbeque. So many turned up for the feast that future generations said that the massed support was just like the at the barbeque of Spion Kop, which colloquially became known as the Boar War.

Whew...got out of that one!
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Or the actual historical account of the Battle of Spion Kop, in which the Lancashire Regiments suffered huge casualties, hence Spion Kops at many Lancashire Gounds😉

Battle of Spion Kop

The iconic British defeat on 24th January 1900, during Buller’s second and disastrous attempt to cross the Tugela River and relieve Ladysmith in the Great Boer War
www.britishbattles.com www.britishbattles.com
en.m.wikipedia.org

Spion Kop (stadiums) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org
 
My biggest regret as a Blackpool fan isn't missing any of the big games I've missed - it's missing that 'last stand' on the kop game.
 
kuriousoranj said:
I bet it wasn't as busy as in the picture above? My grandfather was born near Wolverhampton and they were his team.
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😁

It most certainly wasn't. I remember it was very sparsely populated. Perhaps 500 at most. There were two coaches, can't remember if it was Standerwick or Supporters coaches. I remember it was just two coaches because some nob head Wolves fan had jammed a brick on something like the axle between the two back wheels of our coach so it couldn't move. The other coach went and it seemed like we were stuck there til gone midnight.
 
65yearsafan said:
Used to sit on the gravel track behind the goal stewards would go apoplectic these days
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Yes that was my very first memory 65 against Man City hence my username.
Only vague memories but the Kop was packed in like sardines and the young children were allowed to sit on the wall.
My first match where my love for BFC started.
 
I always remember back in the day the capacity of the Kop was given as 16,000 . It dwarfed the other 3 sides and was in effect just under half the total number of the whole ground . Just think about it , that's virtually the capacity of the whole ground now . I do feel sorry for those unfortunate enough not to experience a 30,000 gate at Bloomfield Road .
 
Time for the stand to go back to what it should have always stayed as, the Spion Kop.

Was brought up going on there. From when my late dad would go with his mate and I would tag along as a young kid,utterly mesmerised by how big it seemed.

Walking up the middle at the back and getting to the top, looking down.. and seeing how many away fans were on

Standing with schoolmates near the front, scarves tied to our wrists thinking we were awesome.

as a teenager standing at the back with the singers, and Pomo is our leader... Saw that goal from Mickey Walsh from the Kop. Being in awe of the older lads. Being hit by a pool ball thrown by Chelsea fans, and memories of all sorts flying back and forth mostly after 1974 and the fences going up.

Even saw the 10-0 Anglo-Italian win against Lanerossi Vicenza from the front of the Kop.

and was on the dreadful day in 1974. Even for Kevins memory it should be the Kop now. And cos for me and no doubt many others it holds memories of being on there with late family.

But yes there were supposedly times when there was over 15,000 on the Kop. Oh and it was freezing with the wind blowing through too.
 
Anyone remember it's final outing when we were all allowed on there for one final time? Was it against Colchester? Had never been on before but it was a cracking view 👍
 
I remember the evening match in the League Cup against Arsenal 1977? It rained all day and all through the game. There were hardly any Arsenal fans there 3/400 max. The new fences meant we only had half of the kop but because of the torrential rain all the Pool fans were tightly packed in the Top half AND I mean tightly packed! The gate was still 19,000! you couldn't move. We played in all white which was a bit surreal and drew 1-1 but lost a re-replay 2-0 at Highbury.
 
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