In their 111 year history, Portsmouth have always called Fratton Park home. In April 1898, a group of local businessmen formed a syndicate and became directors of the Portsmouth Football & Athletic Company. They quickly purchased 5 acres of land, costing nearly £5,000, close to Goldsmith Avenue and Fratton Railway Station and laid down a pitch that, at the time, was declared as one of the finest in the country. Terrace stands were originally erected on the north and south sides of the pitch. The South stand dates back to 1925 and was designed by the renowned football architect Archibald Leitch, whose company also built an ornate pavilion complete with clock tower. Whilst modernisation of the ground saw most of the original character lost, including the pavilion, the original entrance to the Fratton End, complete with mock Tudor façade, remains.
Interestingly, Fratton Park became the first ground in English football to host a league match under floodlights when the south-coast side played Newcastle on February 22 1956. Note that this was the first ever league game, not the first time floodlights had been used at a football ground. Experiments with floodlights can be traced back as far as 1878.
Whilst the ground has plenty of character, with an old fashioned looking media gantry perched on its roof and raised team dugouts at its front, it is starting to look its age. It has been described as being dull, but with a few nice traditional features. Fratton Park suffered due to the Taylor Report in 1995 and the club had to fence off certain areas of the ground and install temporary seating until 1997 when the new 4,600-seater Fratton Stand opened for business.
Since Alexandre Gaydamak took over sole ownership of the club in July 2006 there have been a number of improvements made including the upgrade of the changing rooms, a roof over the Milton Road End and the instalment of a large TV screen. Despite these and previous improvements, Fratton Park remains the smallest ground in the Premiership with the capacity for just 20,688 spectators. As such, and with a need for the club to have a ground of an equal standard with the rest of the Premier League, plans have been put forward on a few occasions since Pompey became established as top flight team.
At the end of the 2003/04 season plans were in place to develop a new stadium on the site of an adjacent rail freight depot. The current Fratton Park site was deemed too small to be developed further due to the close proximity of local residential housing, so a brand new stadium was deemed the only option. Whilst the local council was in support of this development, the plans were scrapped before work could begin. A new proposal was made to redevelop the existing site by realigning the pitch through 90 degrees to allow Fratton Park to become much larger. The project was due to be funded in part by a ‘Pompey Village’ adjacent to the site which was set to include a hotel and retail development.
Like the plans before them, these were also never acted upon as an alternative solution was put forward. A brand new 36,000 all-seater stadium was to be built on reclaimed mud flats close to Portsmouth Naval base. These were a very impressive, yet ambitious set of plans that included a leisure village to be built around the stadium, complete with 1,500 waterfront apartments, restaurants and other facilities. Many people were cautious in their optimism for the new plan, as the location of the new stadium would be surrounded on three sides; the Naval Base, the harbour and the railway would all leave only one end accessible for residents and supporters. Critics also pointed out that the mud flats the stadium was proposed to sit on was close to an area of site of special scientific interest. Further doubt was cast due to problems for transport in both getting to the game and parking. After consultation with a number of bodies, including the Royal Navy, the project was scrapped, largely due to a lack of local infrastructure but also due to concerns raised by the Navy that the site would cause problems with the introduction of their new super size aircraft carriers.
A fourth set of plans came about in January 2008 for a development on Horsea Island. Again it was to be a large scale multipurpose leisure/residential complex; however, despite gaining favourable local support, it once more had unfavourable transport links. Now with the credit crisis the Horsea Island development has followed the same path of all those prior and instead the club have decided to reinstate the plans to redevelop the existing site by rotating the pitch by 90 degrees. Work should start in late 2009 and gradually increase capacity to 30,000.
Key Pieces of Information
Full Name: Fratton Park
Opened: 1898
Capacity: 20,668
Where to Drink
The Good Companion pub, which is on the main A2030 about a five minute walk away from the ground. It is a large pub serving Gale real ales and has a good mix of home and away support.
The Brewers Arms is always popular with away fans.
Away fans are to avoid the Milton Arms and the Newcome Arms
HOW TO GET THERE
Go along the M27 (ignoring the M275 turn off for Portsmouth town centre) and continue on to the A27. At the junction with the A2030 turn right towards Southsea/Fratton and just continue straight along the A2030 and eventually you will see the ground in front of you, just slightly to your left. There is a large car park behind the TY Europe Stand, but this is for home supporters only. So it is mostly street parking for away fans. This is best found on the right hand side of the A2030 before you reach the Good Companion pub.
Train:
The nearest local train station is Fratton, which is a ten minute walk away. Portsmouth train station is at least a 25 minute walk away.
On arrival at Fratton by train you pass the ground on the left. Fratton station has a footbridge as the only way out. At the top of the stairs from the platform turn left onto the footbridge (from which you can see the floodlights of Fratton Park) and exit into Goldsmith Avenue. (Note that if the gate on the footbridge is closed you need to turn right on the footbridge and exit via Platform 1, turn left as you exit the station, walk 30 metres and go back over the footbridge to Goldsmith Avenue.) Turn left along Goldsmith Avenue and walk about half a mile passing straight around a small roundabout (by the Pompey Centre). Then Turn Left into Frogmore Road and the entrance to the Ty and South stands is 100m ahead. For the Milton End stay on Goldsmith Avenue for another 100m and turn left into Apsley Road. The entrances to the Milton End are 100m ahead.
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