|
|
|
Club Details
Address CFC, Fulham Road, London, SW6 1HS
Telephone 020 7385-5545 (Main Switchboard)
Fax 020 7381 4831
Nickname The Blues
Formed 1905
Capacity 42,449
Pitch 113yd x 74yd
|
Stamford Bridge officially opened on 28 April 1877. For the first 28 years of its existence it was used almost exclusively by the London Athletic Club as an arena for athletics meetings and not for football.
At first the stadium was offered to Fulham FC to play there, they turned down the chance and so instead a new side, Chelsea FC, was born in 1905 and moved into the new Stamford Bridge stadium.
Stamford Bridge was designed by Archibald Leitch.
The name Stamford Bridge comes from even further back in history than the stadium itself and is almost arrived through by chance. This 18th century map shows a stream called 'Stanford Creek' which runs along the route of the present day railway line behind the East Stand and flows into the Thames.
Where the stream crosses the Fulham Road is marked 'Little Chelsea Bridge' which was originally called Sanford Bridge (from sand ford). While a bridge over the creek on the Kings Road was called Stanbridge (from stone bridge). It seems that these two names together gave rise to Stanford Bridge which later evolved into Stamford Bridge as the adopted name of the stadium.
|
The Stadium then in 1876.
|
More about the Stadium:
The Stadium has come a LONG way from what is orgiannly was, an athletics venue, from 1876 to 2002
|
Present
The current capacity stands at 42,449 and the ground has gone from being a huge oval shape to 4 sides close to the pitch. There is almost no part of the current stadium that hasn't markedly changed in the past 10 years. Stamford Bridge is currently the largest football stadium in London and one of the best stadiums in the country and Europe. As well as all the work on the stadium itself the whole 12.5 acre site has seen the building of Chelsea Village. A leisure and entertainment complex housing 2 four star hotels, 5 restaurants, conference and banqueting facilities, nightclub, underground car park, health club, visitor attraction and business centre.
HSPages.com
Bengals.com
|
To what it is now in 2002
|
|
