History
The Main Stand was designed by renowned football architect Archibald Leitch, whose company also built an ornate pavilion (similar to Craven Cottage) complete with clocktower. However, these were largely removed with the expansion of the ground.
The first match at Fratton Park was a friendly against local rivals Southampton, which was won 2–0, with goals from Dan Cunliffe (formerly with Liverpool) and Harold Clarke (formerly with Everton).
Fratton Park hosted a first-round football game in the 1948 Summer Olympics (one of only two grounds outside London, the other being the now disappeared Goldstone Ground). It hosted one full England international match on 2 March 1903 against Wales and has also hosted some England U-21 internationals. Pompey was the first club to stage a Football League match under floodlights, in a 22 February 1956 game against Newcastle United. New floodlight towers were constructed in 1962.
It has held 51,385 for an FA Cup match against Derby County in 1949. The capacity has in recent years been much reduced by the introduction of compulsory seating.
Read more about this topic: Fratton Park
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“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)