Han Van Eijden (on the right) Standing In Front
Of The Old Kop
The end
at Anfield that was to become the Kop, was
originally known as the Oakfield
Road Embankment or Walton Breck Bank. It was
renamed the Spion Kop in 1906 after the battle of
Spion Kop and later it became known as 'the Kop'.
This was the hill in present day South Africa,
where Boer guerrillas had inflicted a heavy defeat
on the British army in 1900. Many of the men
killed were from the North West so the name was
especially poignant. Other grounds around the
country also renamed some of their terraces after
the Spion Kop, such as St Andrews in Birmingham
and Hillsborough in Sheffield.
In the late 1920's the
Kop was expanded and covered, so that in total it
housed 28,000 fans, making it one of the largest
terraces in the country. It was not however until
1964, that the Kop became famous across the world,
thanks to a BBC Panorama programme. It showed the
swaying masses of fans on the Kop, on the day that
Liverpool clinched the League title. The images of
those fans and the spontaneity of the outbreaks of
singing that even included a Beatles song or two,
lived long into the memory and is often shown on
TV today. It was also during the 1960's that the
Kop adopted Gerry and the Pacemakers' 'You'll
Never Walk Alone' as its theme tune
Following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 the
Kops' capacity was severely reduced as safety at
football grounds was made a number one priority.
April 30th, 1994, saw the last game to be played
in front of the terraced Kop, before it was
re-developed with a new all seated stand.
Below is a video from YouTube showing
the ground in 1979 Thanks to
W Gibson for sharing this with us:
Do you have any
photos of Anfield before it was re-developed?
Well we would love to include more on this
website. So if they are photos that you have
taken yourself and wouldn't mind sharing them
with others via this page then please e-mail
me.
