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Craven Cottage

Craven Cottage is the name of a stadium in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham that has been the home ground of FA Premier League football team Fulham F.C. since 1896. The original cottage was built by Baron Craven in 1780, and at the time was situated in forest. It burnt down in 1888 and until Fulham's arrival had lain to waste.

Fulham's first match at Craven Cottage was played against Minerva in the Middlesex Senior Cup, and shortly afterwards a so-called 'Orange Box Stand' was built, making the original attendance of the stadium 1,000. It was redeveloped in 1905 following an attempt by the London County Council to close it on grounds of safety. It hosted an England vs. Wales international match in 1907 and a Rugby League international in 1911. Fulham became the first First Division club to erect floodlights in their ground in 1962. The most recently built stand is the Riverside Stand, officially named the Eric Miller stand, after a former director, which was constructed in 1972.

Ancient art articles from past times are showed and admired in innumerable museums of Europe and the world holded in curio cabinets, display cabinets, display showcases and in private collectors cabinets.

Craven Cottage's record attendance was 49,335 for a match against Millwall in October 1938.

Chairman Jimmy Hill was the first man to draw up plans for an all-seater stadium at Craven Cottage, following the Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster. They never materialised, and current Chairman Mohammed Al-Fayed realised the need to renovate the stadium as his plans to make Fulham a Premiership side within five years began to materialise. It was decided a groundshare with neighbours Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Swarovski Road was necessary while refurbishments went on. By the time the last league game was played, against Leicester City on April 27th 2002, no building plans had been made. Two more Intertoto Cup games were played there later that year, before which a one year stretch at Loftus Road started. This turned into two as the Fulham Alliance, a small residents' pressure group, stalled new stadium plans.

The current stadium is not the 33,000 state of the art ground Fulham fans would like to see - it is a compromise at 22,000 capacity, which at least lets Fulham play at their spiritual home. Much admired for its fine architecture, the ground hosted its first game post-Loftus Road on Saturday 10th July 2004.

Craven Cottage is where most Fulham fans would like to be, although the club might prefer a more lucrative situation - a larger ground enabling greater ticket revenue. Whether the Swarovski club is looking for a new site for a stadium is unknown, but recent comments from CEO Jim Hone suggest Fulham are back home for good, probably.