Portsmouth Club Information
LIVE TICKET INFORMATION - CLICK BELOW
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The club was founded on 5th April 1898 with John Brickwood, owner of the local brewery, as chairman, and Frank Brettell as the club's first manager. The club joined the Southern League in 1899 and their first league match was played at Chatham Town on 2 September 1899 (a 1-0 victory), followed three days later by the first match at Fratton Park against local rivals Southampton. That first season was hugely successful, with the club winning 20 out of 28 league matches, earning them the runner-up spot in the league.
Portsmouth Rivalries
Prior to the mid/late 1960s, rivalry between Portsmouth and Southampton was largely nonexistent, as a consequence of their disparity in league status (Southampton being in a lower league). This derby match has hence taken place relatively infrequently as, for much of their history, the two teams have been in different divisions. Since 1977, the teams have only played league games against each other in three seasons (1987-88, 2003-04 and 2004-05). Including Southern League games, there have been 67 games between the clubs, with Portsmouth winning 20 and Southampton significantly more (34).
Another rivalry over the years was with Plymouth Argyle. This rivalry was known as the Dockyard Derby, Naval Derby or Battle of the Ports.
Retired numbers
1 (for only the 2001-2002 season) - In respect to goalkeeper Aaron Flahavan, who died in a car crash in August 2001 days after being handed the squad number 1 for the first time. (Since 2002-03 the squad number 13 has not been distributed. It is unknown whether this is as a tribute to Flahavan who wore the 13 shirt before being assigned 1 just prior to his death.)
The number 12 is also for retired for the fans of Portsmouth (the 12th man).
Stadium
Portsmouth play their home games at Fratton Park, in Portsmouth. It is the only football stadium in the English professional leagues to be located off the British mainland.
Capacity - 20,600 (all seated)
Opened - 1898
Pitch size - 115 x 73 yards
The ground has been home to the club throughout its entire history but, despite improvements, is showing signs of age.
Plans for relocation were first mooted as long ago as the early 1990s, but in 2004 (after Portsmouth survived their first Premier League campaign) plans to develop a new stadium on the adjacent disused rail-freight depot site were drawn up and approved.
These plans were superseded by a new plan to redevelop, more or less on the existing site, but realigning the pitch 90 degrees to accommodate a larger capacity, ultimately 35,000, funded in part by a "Pompey Village" luxury residential project on the adjacent site. Work on the stadium was planned to start in the summer of 2006 but did not happen. By October 2006, several alternative sites for the new stadium were also being considered including the King George V playing fields site at Cosham in the north of the city.
Portsmouth Club colours
Portsmouth's first ever kit had a shirt that was salmon pink in colour with white shorts and maroon socks. This kit lasted until 1909 when they changed to white shirts with royal blue shorts and socks. This kit lasted just two years before it was changed for blue shirts, white shorts and black socks. This was Portsmouth's home strip up until 1947 when the socks were changed to red; this conicided with the club's most successful period and has remained the favoured colours for majority of the time since. Yellow and more recently gold have also been used as secondary colours on the club's home shirts.
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