Top facts about Fratton Park, the castaway

Fratton Park is a football stadium in Portsmouth, England, that is home to the

, which was formed in 1898.

One of the amazing top facts about Fratton Park is that because it was erected in 1899 on the site of a market garden in Milton, a Portsea Island agricultural village, Fratton Park is the only English professional football pitch not located on the mainland of Great Britain.

When Portsmouth's limits were enlarged to cover all of Portsea Island in 1904, Milton became a residential suburb.

Fratton Park is located in Milton, however, it is named after the Fratton railway station, which is located one mile west in the Fratton neighborhood. The club's founding directors adopted this erroneous name for the football stadium in order to deceive supporters that Fratton Park was within walking distance of the train station.

After the North Stand and North Terrace were completed in 1935, Fratton Park had a maximum capacity of 58,000 people. The biggest crowd was 51,385, in an FA Cup Sixth Round match against

on February 26, 1949.

Another one of the most fabulous top facts about Fratton Park is that the four corner floodlight towers at Fratton Park could be seen for miles and became well-known in Portsmouth - as well as a valuable marker for visiting away fans. The four towers have been gradually replaced by new roof-level lights from 2015.

On 15 July 2019, one floodlight tower from the northwest corner was refurbished and transported to Fratton Park's main car park for preservation, however without its illumination bulbs, which were no longer needed and were removed.

Fratton Park, popularly known as "The Old Girl" by Portsmouth fans, is known for its big crowds and electric atmosphere, which rivals that of larger stadiums.

The story of “the Old Girl” and top facts about Fratton Park, the castaway

We've prepared an entertaining show with a one-of-a-kind performance of history and architecture for you in this article of

top facts about Fratton Park

.

We'll start with the history of this incredible field, then go on to the architecture and structure of this giant. Other uses of this incredible subject will be highlighted as well. Bring some popcorn and settle down for a presentation of top facts about Fratton Park.

Fratton Park history

Portsmouth Football Club was formed on 5 April 1898 at the office of Alderman John Edward Pink (a law solicitor) at number 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth, by a group of six local merchants and sports enthusiasts.

The guys created a syndicate to pool their finances in order to form a professional football team and purchase property near Milton's Goldsmith Avenue for a football stadium.

A general meeting of shareholders was held on September 2, 1898, at the Sussex Hotel in Landport, Portsmouth, following the successful acquisition of a four-and-a-half acre tract of market garden land from the Goldsmith family, who owned Milton Farm.

Weeks later, Portsmouth director George Lewin Oliver met with senior Football Association delegate William Pickford to see the parcel of land that would soon become a new football field. After the land was turfed and enclosed, it was intended that football matches may be held thereafter Christmas 1898.

The land, however, was still covered with a crop of potatoes that the directors were "eager to sell," which they finally did, adding to the newly founded company's profits. More than 1,000 people attended the formal inauguration day on August 15, 1899, including some of the earliest Pompey players, to observe how the former Milton Farm potato field had been turned into a small football facility.

The new stadium's name was announced to be "Fratton Park," after the Fratton railway station.

The naming of Fratton Park, which is actually in Milton, not Fratton, was almost certainly a slightly deceptive tactic used by the early football club to persuade potential new supporters that the new football ground was within easy walking distance of an established railway station and tram connections.

Fratton Park is a one-mile walk east of the Fratton railway station and the town of Fratton.

Fratton Park name origin

Let us dig deep into the roots of the name of this stadium in this part of top facts about Fratton Park.

As said before on top facts about Fratton Park, Portsmouth's football pitch is not located in the Fratton neighborhood of Portsmouth, but rather in Milton, where it was erected in 1899. Fratton Park is named after the neighboring Fratton railway station rather than the Portsmouth neighborhood of Fratton.

Many locals and football enthusiasts in Portsmouth have mistakenly assumed that Fratton Park is in Fratton, rather than Milton, due to this odd moniker. In the nineteenth century Victorian era, before major vehicle ownership, the Fratton railway station was viewed as critical to luring spectators to the early Portsmouth FC football facility in rural Milton.

The club directors opted to adopt the "Fratton" component of the Fratton railway station name for the football facility's name in order to downplay the one-mile distance between the Fratton railway station and the newly built "Fratton Park" football ground in Milton.

Ironically, the town government of Portsmouth purchased the remaining Milton Farm property from the Goldsmith farming family on May 28, 1912, and on July 11, 1923, the council created Milton Park, a public leisure park in Milton, approximately 127 meters east of Fratton Park on Priory Crescent.

The Milton End is the name of the east stand at Fratton Park, which pays homage to the community of Milton where the football facility was established.

The old nineteenth-century towns of Milton and Fratton are now suburbs of modern-day Portsmouth, their once-clear boundaries eroded by the city's modern-day urban development.

However, there are still clear distinctions between Milton and Fratton. The Portsmouth Direct Line railway physically separates Milton and Fratton, and they have distinct political voting wards and postal code districts.

Fratton Park structure

What

top facts about Fratton Park

can we find in this section? Fratton Park is a conventional English football stadium with four different stands of varying styles and sizes situated around the four sides of the play.

The pitch is 115 by 73 yards in size and is oriented east to west, which is unique in

because most pitches are oriented north to south to maximize natural sunshine.

The stadium now has a (reduced) capacity of 19,669 fans, however, it once had a far higher maximum capacity of 58,000 fans with the erection of the North Stand in 1935. The highest attendance at Fratton Park is 51,385, set in an

quarter-final match between Portsmouth and Derby County on February 26, 1949.

The North Stand, The South Stand, The Milton End, and The Fratton End are the four stands of Fratton Park. For much of Fratton Park's twentieth-century existence, the previously unseated terraced stands of the old Fratton End, Lower North Terrace, and Milton End were connected as one contiguous terrace before the rebuilding of the 4,500 seat Fratton End in 1997.

The two-tier North Stand, Fratton Park's largest stand, is located along the pitch's northern touchline. The present South Structure has two levels and was built on August 29, 1925, making it Fratton Park's oldest stand. Between 1899 to 1925, an earlier and smaller South Stand stood on the site.

The present South Structure has two levels and was built on August 29, 1925, making it Fratton Park's oldest stand.

Between 1899 to 1925, an earlier and smaller South Stand stood on the site. The single-tier 4,500 seat Fratton End, which opened on October 31, 1997, and is the newest and tallest stand in Fratton Park, is located at the western end of the park.

Construction of Fratton Park stands

The Grand Stand, Fratton Park's original South Stand, was built in 1899 by Portsmouth-based architect Arthur Cogswell and was "100 feet long with seven rows of seats on the south side" and was located on the pitch's southern side.

The North Terrace (as it was then known) had 'terracing which reached for 240 feet' on the northern side of Fratton Park when it was opened on 15 August 1899 to the south of Milton Lane.

Around 1905, a small roofed North Stand was erected on the northern touchline's midway line, bordered on each side by the remaining North Terrace. The stand resembled the Grand Stand on the opposite side of the ground on the south side. During the next two decades, the stand was broadened, with an expanded column-supported canopy covering the North Terrace by circa 1930–31.

The 'Milton Extremity' is located at the eastern end of Fratton Park. There were no stands or terracing at the Milton and Fratton ends when Fratton Park was opened on August 15, 1899.

Thousands of fans could instead sit in relative comfort in the roofed Grand Stand on the south side of the pitch, or on the banked open-air North Terrace on the north side. The 'Fratton End,' located at the west end of Fratton Park, is called from the fact that it is the closest stand to Fratton railway station.

The (Fratton) Railway End was the name given to the west end stand in its early days. The ends were known as the 'Railway End' (closest to Fratton railway station) and the 'Milton End'.

Most recent changes

Two floodlight pylons were made obsolete in 2015 owing to corrosion and short-circuiting caused by leaking water in the control boxes. Over the course of three months, Musco Lighting installed new lighting throughout the stadium.

However, according to a report, the South Stand was unable to take on the lights. The decision has been reached to keep the south pylons operational for the time being.

Portsmouth's new chairman, Michael Eisner, shared a snapshot on social media showing behind-the-scenes work and designs that hinted at a potential reconstruction of Fratton Park on Friday, October 19, 2018.

On Tuesday, January 14, 2020, the club announced plans to submit a planning application to Portsmouth City Council for approval of "phase 1" of the Fratton Park Stadium Regeneration & Development Plan, which includes a reconstruction of the Milton End stand and adjacent areas.

The plans would increase stand capacity, allow the stand to be safely sectioned to provide additional capacity to home fans where away ticket provisions are less generous, and provide increased disabled supporter seating, including for the first time providing away disabled supporter seating with their own fans.

Portsmouth announced a four-year redevelopment of Fratton Park on Monday, June 14, 2021, bringing the stadium's capacity to 20,000 seats.

Photos of Fratton Park's 25-year-old seats being removed were posted on the club's official social media outlets on June 15, 2021. Portsmouth announced on June 16, 2021, that they have acquired the freehold of their present Roko training area as well as extra land.

Another recent fact of top facts about Fratton Park is that work of the North Stand began in January 2022, boosting capacity to over 20,000 seats, including 12 handicapped seats, and adding seats to the North-East corner.

Fratton Park transportation

One of the most important factors of a world-class stadium is the accessibility and in this section of top facts about Fratton Park, we will talk about the transportation links of this stadium.

Fratton Park is closest to Fratton railway station, which is about a mile west of the stadium (about a ten-minute walk).

Fratton station is on the Portsmouth Direct Line branch, which connects to both London Waterloo and London Victoria stations. Fratton railway station is served by trains from Southampton, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, and Brighton.

Fratton Park is located on the A2030 on Portsea Island's east coast, with Velder Avenue at its southern end and Eastern Road at its northern end.

At Farlington, Portsmouth, the A2030 crosses with the major A27 south coast trunk route at the northeastern road end. The M27 highway is to the west, while the A27 is to the east at this A27 crossroads. The A27 connects to the A3(M) to London and the M25 highway that round the city to the east.

Passenger ferries go from Portsmouth International Port to the Channel Islands, northern France, and northern Spain. There are foot passenger boats to Gosport and the Isle of Wight from Portsmouth Harbour railway station. From neighboring Gunwharf, a vehicle ferry service to the Isle of Wight is also available.

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