Craven Cottage
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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.
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 Road was necessary while refurbishments went on. By the time the last league game was played, against Leicester City on April 27 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 10 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 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. Maybe.