One particular South London based non league club leaves a historic 24,000 seater stadium as the Covid pandemic cuts-short their stay.
Croydon Football Club got a lot of people talking recently after choosing to move into a ground that has seen it host huge cup finals, international matches and massive gigs.
The Southern Counties East League Division One outfit managed to face Athletic Newham in a 1:45pm in the London Senior Trophy, and what a game it proved to be.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, their home ground, Croydon Sports Arena, remained closed with the surface unplayable. However they have since returned there.
Croydon FC said at the time how they were pleased to announce a temporary switch of home ground to Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. It has a capacity of 15,500, but can be and has been in the past expanded to 24,000 when including the temporary seating.
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Fans and groundhoppers were able to watch at least one match at the ground, whilst others when on non-matchdays to take some snaps.
In the game against Athletic Newham, with 213 in attendance, the hosts pulled off possibly the most impressive comeback some of the crowd had ever seen.
Athletic Newham looked by far the better team in the first half and played lovely attacking football that saw them comfortably 3-0 up by the interval. However, with just 20 minutes remaining, Croydon suddenly sprung to life and grabbed two quick-fire goals, followed by another two to miraculously seal a 4-3 win.
It was all too much for one Trams fan, who decided to make proper use of the facilities and run a full circuit of the athletics track, scarf-above-head every step of the way.
It was a welcome reminder of the moments of pure joy that non-league football is so good at providing.
The stadium is on the same site that hosted 20 FA Cup finals between the years of 1895 and 1914. It also hosted 5 international matches and was home to Crystal Palace in the early 1900’s.
3 April 1897 – England 1–2 Scotland
30 March 1901 – England 2–2 Scotland
1 April 1905 – England 1–0 Scotland
3 April 1909 – England 2–0 Scotland
4 March 1911 – England Amateurs 4–0 Belgium
21 teams competed in the twenty FA Cup Finals staged at Crystal Palace, with ten different winners. Four more teams won the FA Cup during this time, after replays at other grounds. Newcastle United appeared in the most finals at the ground, five, but never lifted the cup there, whilst Aston Villa, who currently sit 10th in the Premier League table today, won all four of their games there.
1895 – 42,560 – Aston Villa 1 – 0 West Brom
1896 – 48,036 – Sheffield Wed 2 – 1 Wolves
1897 – 65,891 – Aston Villa 3 – 2 Everton
1898 – 62,017 – Nott’m Forest 3 – 1 Derby
1899 – 73,833 – Sheffield United 4 – 1 Derby
1900 – 68,945 – Bury 4 – 0 Southampton
1901 – 110,802 – Tottenham 2 – 2 Sheffield Utd – 3–1 in replay at Burnden Park, Bolton
1902 – 76,914 – Sheffield Utd 1 – 1 Southampton
Replay 33,050 – Sheffield Utd 2 – 0 Southampton
1903 – 64,000 – Bury 6 – 0 Derby – Largest ever cup final victory
1904 – 61,734 – Man City 1 – 0 Bolton
1905 – 101,117 – Aston Villa 2 – 0 Newcastle
1906 – 75,609 – Everton 1 – 0 Newcastle
1907 – 84,584 – Sheffield Wed 2 – 1 Everton
1908 – 74,967 – Wolves 3 – 1 Newcastle United
1909 – 67,651 – Man Utd 1 – 0 Bristol City
1910 – 76,980 – Newcastle 1 – 1 Barnsley – 2–0 in replay at Goodison Park, Liverpool
1911 – 69,098 – Bradford 0 – 0 Newcastle – 1–0 in replay at Old Trafford, Manchester
1912 – 54,434 – Barnsley 0 – 0 West Brom – 1–0 in replay at Bramall Lane, Sheffield
1913 – 120,028 – Aston Villa 1 – 0 Sunderland
Pitch/ground preparation for Saturdays game @Croydon_FC #trams #nsc #history @CPFC pic.twitter.com/kJ5LEsaQBq
— Liam Giles (@Gilesy_08) December 2, 2020
It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building which had been destroyed by fire in 1936.
The current stadium built in 1965 has hosted international athletics events and me open air concerts where world famous artists have performed including Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Sex Pistols and Depeche Mode.
Some fans reacted as the non league club leaves the much loved 24,000 seater stadium as the pandemic cuts-short their stay..
So basically, it turned out to be just the one match at Crystal Palace?
But what a match!— TerrorEd25 💙 (@Ed25Terror) June 16, 2021
@WestSussexSAFC: Agh, disappointing I never got to see you play at Crystal Palace.
@ForeverAYellow: Actually gutted you weren’t able to play at that stadium for longer than you did, knew many more groundhoppers that planned on attending games at the ground
Russ Earnshaw: A big shame as I looked forward to checking out the ground
William Hurley: Was only going to be temporary anyway I suppose
Paul Oaks: At least you got to play there, something to say
Ollie Arnold: Ah damn, missed out on that opportunity, was sad I couldn’t be there for your cracking comeback a while back

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