@Turvey Tyke The battle of Spion Kop in South Africa . To commemorate the many Liverpool soldiers who were killed in the Battle the Kop at anfield was named in their honour . Their were also other clubs who named a part of the ground usually behind the nets Spion Kop, we were one such club. Was this because we had soldiers from Barnsley killed at the battle or just to honour the battle itself ? Cheers
Well Marlon if Turvey dunt know nobody does, He found my registration papers when I signed amateur forms for Barnsley FC 50years ago.
Here’s a Wikipedia link that has a bit of detail on the Spion Kop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spion_Kop_(stadiums)
Yes I’d seen that but the battle of Spion Kop was supposedly by a York and Lancaster regiment . This review just gives the narrative of why Kops are called Kops but there is a true history that’s lost and I just wondered if Turvy could give a more natural side of things .
This Link sets out the regiments involved and details of the battle. https://www.britishbattles.com/great-boer-war/battle-of-spion-kop/
As far as I can tell SpionKop was fought by Lancaster and the Scottish Rifles regiments, the second West Yorkshire regiment were involved in the battle of Colenso, which was a prelude to SpionKop.
Hi Marlon Sorry for the delay but I completely missed your message and was only told about it today. I'm not sure when we started calling that end of the ground the Spion Kop but any resemblance to the South African terrace features must have come many years after the War. We did have a first team player called up to the conflict and Ive not been able to trace him since. He was a Scotish Army reservist called Jack Foulds and was drafted just two days after playing last game for the club.
Thanks for that Turvy that’s very interesting . It just seemed strange for us to name it Spion Kop obviously after a famous battle but there were so many battles in those days that I thought there was some significance in naming it for that particular one .
Pleasure was all mine on this. I love reuniting people with their familys connection to our wonderful club and it your case it was more special as it was you. Although you didnt go on to challenge Barry Murphys appearance record, signing for Barnsley FC is something very few of our fans have achieved.
Wasn't it more of a case of its resemblance to the hill rather than the battle. Most hills at the back of goals were called Spion Kops back in the day before they were terraced. Hillsborough, Anfield, Oakwell, Elland Road etc all resembled the hill (Spion Kop) where the battle took place.
Could well be that that’s the case although I think Liverpools was the original I just thought towns with people connected to the battle also did same as them .
Not sure where I saw it but someone went out there on a football pilgramage and the hill has naturally occuring terracing. Another Barnsley connection with the war is that the Barnsley Pals bulldog mascot "Buller" was named after General Buller Command in Chief of the British Forces.
