page_title: Fratton Park
hierarchical_section_title: Fratton Park
caption_attribution_description: English: Entrance to Fratton Park
context_page_description: Fratton Park is an association football ground in the English port city of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. It is the original home of Portsmouth F.C., who were founded on 5 April 1898.
  Uniquely, the stadium is the only one in English professional football that is not on the mainland island of Great Britain, as it is built on Portsea Island, where the city of Portsmouth is located.
  The ground was built in 1899 on the site of a potato field in Milton, a Portsea Island farming village which later became a residential district of Portsmouth, as the city expanded across the island during the twentieth century.
  Fratton Park was first opened on a public open day on Tuesday 15 August 1899. The first ever football match at the ground took place on Wednesday 6 September 1899; a 2-0 friendly win against Southampton FC, attended by 4,141 supporters.
  Fratton Park is named after Fratton railway station, which is one mile west of Milton in the neighbouring Fratton area. This peculiar naming was chosen to persuade fans that the football ground's true location in Milton was within easy walking distance and reach of public transport, as Milton had no railway station of its own.
context_section_description: Fratton Park is an association football ground in the English port city of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. It is the original home of Portsmouth F.C., who were founded on 5 April 1898.
  Uniquely, the stadium is the only one in English professional football that is not on the mainland island of Great Britain, as it is built on Portsea Island, where the city of Portsmouth is located.
  The ground was built in 1899 on the site of a potato field in Milton, a Portsea Island farming village which later became a residential district of Portsmouth, as the city expanded across the island during the twentieth century.
  Fratton Park was first opened on a public open day on Tuesday 15 August 1899. The first ever football match at the ground took place on Wednesday 6 September 1899; a 2-0 friendly win against Southampton FC, attended by 4,141 supporters.
  Fratton Park is named after Fratton railway station, which is one mile west of Milton in the neighbouring Fratton area. This peculiar naming was chosen to persuade fans that the football ground's true location in Milton was within easy walking distance and reach of public transport, as Milton had no railway station of its own.
  Fratton Park reached an expanded maximum capacity for 58,000 supporters in 1935, when its North Stand and North Terrace were rebuilt. However this maximum capacity potential was never fully filled, as Fratton Park's record highest attendance is 51,385 supporters, achieved on 26 February 1949 in an FA Cup Sixth Round match vs Derby County. Since the introduction of an all-seated stadium policy in 1996, Fratton Park's capacity has been reduced to its present capacity.
  Since its inception, the ground has affectionately become nicknamed "The Old Girl" by Portsmouth supporters. The stadium has been visually branded in-house as "Fortress Fratton" in recent years; the ground has grown a reputation for its high attendances and powerful footballing atmosphere, attributable to that of many larger capacity stadiums.
  The ground is also located within the Anglican parish of St. James' in Milton, Portsmouth.
caption: Fratton Park main entrance.
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