page_title: Craven Cottage
section_title: Modern times
hierarchical_section_title: Craven Cottage / Life / Modern times
caption_attribution_description: Craven Cottage
context_page_description: Craven Cottage is a football stadium located in Fulham, London. It has been the home ground of Fulham F.C. since 1896.
  The ground's capacity was 25,700, all-seated, until the closure of the Riverside Stand for redevelopment in the close season of 2019, though the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against Millwall, 8 October 1938. Located next to Bishop's Park on the banks of the River Thames, 'Craven Cottage' was originally a royal hunting lodge and has history dating back over 300 years.
  As well as by Fulham, the stadium has been also been used by the United States men's national football team, Australia national football team, the Republic of Ireland national football team, and Canada men's national football team, and was formerly the home ground for rugby league team Fulham RLFC.
context_section_description: When the Hillsborough disaster occurred in 1989, Fulham were in the second bottom rung of The Football League, but following the Taylor report Fulham's ambitious chairman Jimmy Hill tabled plans in 1996 for an all-seater stadium. These plans never came to fruition, partly due to local residents' pressure groups, and by the time Fulham reached the Premier League, they still had standing areas in the ground, something virtually unheard of at the time. A year remained to do something about this (teams reaching the second tier for the first time are allowed a three-year period to reach the required standards for the top two divisions), but by the time the last league game was played there, against Leicester City on 27 April 2002, no building plans had been made. Two more Intertoto Cup games were played there later that year (against FC Haka of Finland and Egaleo FC of Greece), and the eventual solution was to decamp to Loftus Road, home of local rivals QPR. During this time, many Fulham fans only went to away games in protest of moving from Craven Cottage. 'Back to the Cottage', later to become the 'Fulham Supporters Trust', was set up as a fans pressure group to encourage the chairman and his advisers that Craven Cottage was the only viable option for Fulham Football Club.
  After one and a half seasons at Loftus Road, no work had been done on the Cottage. In December 2003, plans were unveiled for £8 million worth of major refurbishment work to bring it in line with Premier League requirements. With planning permission granted, work began in January 2004 in order to meet the deadline of the new season. The work proceeded as scheduled and the club were able to return to their home for the start of the 2004–05 season. Their first game in the new-look 22,000 all-seater stadium was a pre-season friendly against Watford on 10 July 2004. Fenway Sports Group originally partnered with Fulham in 2009, due to the perceived heritage and quirks shared between the Cottage and Fenway Park, saying no English club identifies with its stadium as much as Fulham.
  The current stadium was one of the  Premier League's smallest grounds at the time of Fulham's relegation at the end of the 2013–14 season (it was third-smallest, after the KC Stadium and the Liberty Stadium). Much admired for its fine architecture, the stadium has recently hosted a few international games, mostly including Australia. This venue is suitable for Australia because most of the country's top players are based in Europe, and West London has a significant community of expatriate Australians. Also, Greece vs. South Korea was hosted on 6 February 2007. In 2011 Brazil played Ghana, in an international friendly, and the Women's Champions League Final was hosted.
  Craven Cottage often hosts many other events such as 5-a-side football tournaments and weddings. Also, many have Sunday Lunch at the Riverside restaurant or the 'Cottage Cafe' on non-match days. Craven Cottage hosted the Oxbridge Varsity Football match annually between 1991 and 2000 and again in 2003, 2006 (the same day as the famous 'Boat Race'), 2008, 2009, and 2014 as well as having a Soccer Aid warm-up match in 2006. The half-time entertainment often includes the SW6ers (previously called The Cravenettes) which are a group of female cheerleaders. Other events have included brass bands, Michael Jackson (all though just walking on the pitch, as opposed to performing), Travis playing, Arabic dancing, keepie uppie professionals and presentational awards. Most games also feature the 'Fulham flutter', a half-time draw; and a shoot-out competition of some kind, usually involving scoring through a 'hoop' or 'beat the goalie'. On the first home game of the season, there is a carnival where every Fulham fan is expected to turn up in black-and-white colours. There is usually live rock bands, player signings, clowns, stilt walkers, a steel (calypso) band, food stalls and a free training session for children in Bishops Park.
  The Fulham Ladies (before their demise) and Reserve teams occasionally play home matches at the Cottage. Ot
caption: Craven Cottage prior to the implementation of the Taylor report.
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