The Anonymous Widower

A Goalless Draw at Portsmouth

On my travels this season, Ipswich have won all of the games I have seen.  They also have won the one game I didn’t!

So I was hopeful, that things would go well.  But even if they didn’t, I would get to see one of the last remaning stands designed before the Second World War, by Archibald Leitch.

Fratton Park

Note that Archie’s signature criss-cross balustrades have been remved from the tront of the top deck of the stand to the left.

I spent a lot of my youth watching Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and when I went to Liverpool University, I visited Goodison Park several times. Both were Leitch stadia and still had the criss-cross bracing, as did the old Twickenham and many other places.

But to return to yesterday at Fratton Park. It was a good game and a goalless draw was probably fair.  But both teams could consider themselves unlucky.

Note that if you want to learn more about Archibald Leitch, a man who probably did more for the football spectator in the British Isles, than anybody else, read his biography by Simon Inglis called Engineering Archie.  It should be compulsory reading for all football fans. I wonder how many fans, who troop to Craven Cottage realise that they are sitting in a Leitch stadium, that he designed around 1904.  Thankfully, it is still pretty much intact and actually has Grade II listed status, which is fairly unique as sports grounds go.  Brian Inglis sums up the chapter on Craven Cottage like this.

Had Letch slapped up one of his routine stands (of which he built many), had there been no corner pavilion; whether in a pleasant riverside spot or not, the ground would have succumbed to develpers years ago.

Such is the power of the place.  Such is the aura of architecture.

There are countless football grounds bereft of character.  But there is only one Craven Cottage.

And for much of that, the credit lies with Archibald Leitch. 

Craven Cottage is on my list of must-see grounds.

September 12, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | Architecture, Football, Ipswich Town, Portsmouth