Today we took a tour of Fulham FC’s stadium, Craven Cottage. We took the tube down to Putney Bridge station, which I am told is the place where everyone gets off for matches; I can only imagine the crowd that fills the street on match day. I had a little bit of background knowledge on Fulham coming in today, both from the reading and my interest in football. I began watching English football last season, when Fulham was in the Premier League. Though they were relegated, I thought they played at a level deserving of the Premier League, unlike West Bromwich and Sheffield United, who accompanied them in relegation. To prove this point, Fulham currently sit comfortably at the top of the table in the EFL Championship in their promotion campaign.
Craven Cottage held a bit of surprises. Although I was able to tell that the Cottage was a stadium upon walking towards the venue, I would not have considered it to be a stadium when we were alongside the Brick Wall entrance. It appeared to be an old building rather than a football stadium. The doors and the turnstile required for entrance were absolutely tiny; I’m sure many people struggle to fit inside, forcing them to use the entrance for disabled persons. They also had wooden seats dedicated to Johnny Haynes, Fulham FC legend. Each of these portions of the stadium seemed, well, a bit ancient in regards to most sports venues today. However, the reason for this is because Craven Cottage has been deemed an English Heritage site, meaning that they are unable to change any of these parts of the stadium. This is very interesting and gives a history to the club that many other clubs, who constantly compete for modern venues, do not have. It reminds me a bit of Fenway Park and Wrigley Field in the United States, who use their history as their driving point.
There were many other fascinating aspects of the Cottage. The original Craven Cottage was a party house for William Craven that stood where the stadium is today. However, to commemorate this, a house is built into one of the corners of the stadium, with a balcony overlooking the field. This balcony is used by Fulham’s owner, Shahid Khan, former players and guests of both the home and away teams. Additionally, the seats are extremely close to the pitch, creating an inclusive environment for the fans and the athletes (although the players may not feel too included when they are heckled). Lastly, Fulham is currently building a ginormous stand along the river, which will include a hotel on one corner, modern seating for the pundits and potentially even a rooftop bar. The goal is for this to be done by the start of next season.
I have a few other notes on the day. Although nice, I found the locker rooms a bit small. This is most likely due to the fact that the only locker rooms I have viewed before are those of the big clubs: Chelsea through their social media platforms and Man City and Tottenham via the Amazon Prime show All or Nothing. Still, it was a very nice and warm-welcoming environment for the team to share. It was exciting to go pitch side and act as Fulham captain walking out of the locker room, which our tour guide, Ed, allowed us to do.
I hope that Fulham does well for the remainder of the season. They have continually been relegated and promoted for the past 5 seasons; they are a bit of a borderline team in that they are too good for the Championship but not great in the Premier League. However, they have a couple of American players, which is always nice to see, and I think they will continue to get better. Despite being a Chelsea fan, I will support Fulham in all competitions (unless playing Chelsea).
Comments