Whether it be a European night under the lights or a big game in the Premier League, the Kop will always be the centre of attention for matches played at Anfield. Even though it is no longer the biggest stand inside the ground, with both the Main Stand and the Anfield Road Stand appearing larger, there is something about the Kop that makes it special.
Other grounds around the country have Kops of their own, but ours remains the original, the best and the envy of the footballing world. Not everyone knows about its history or where the name comes from, however.
Back to the Boer Wars
If you want to understand where the name of the Kop comes from, you’ve got to head back to the Boer Wars and the Battle of the Spion Kop. In Afrikaans, the word ‘Spioenkop’ means ‘lookout mountain’, boasting a particular significance because of the battle that took place on the 23rd and 24th of January 1900.
The commander of the British forces in Natal, General Sir Redvers Buller, VC, was trying to relieve some soldiers that were besieged in Ladysmith by members of two Boer Republics: the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.
A battle ensued between the Boers, led by General Louis Botha, and the British, with the Spion Kop sitting in the middle of the South African forces. The aim was for the British to take it and be able to command the flanks, taking it by night but discovering in the morning that they only held a small part of it and were surrounded by Boers on higher ground.
In the end, a small number of men, some of whom were from the Lancashire Regiment, were able to protect the Kop and eventually won the battle, which was seen as a key moment of the war.
Liverpool’s Spion Kop
It was actually Woolwich Arsenal’s Manor Ground that enjoyed the first recorded reference to a ‘Kop’ as part of the football ground, when a local news-reporter likened the silhouette of supporters standing on a newly raised bank of earth as being similar to soldiers standing on top of the hill during the Battle of the Spion Kop.
That was in 1904, then two years later a Liverpool Echo sports editor named Ernest Edwards said the following about a new open-air embankment that had risen up at Anfield:
‘This huge wall of earth has been termed ‘Spion Kop’, and no doubt this apt name will always be used in future in referring to this spot’.
The Kop looking magnificent today.
— David Lynch (@davidlynchlfc.co.uk) April 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Edwards’ words proved to be prophetic, of course, with every generation since referring to the land as exactly that. In 1928, the name was given official recognition by the club when a cantilever roof was added and the capacity was extended to 27,000.
The roof was seen as part of the reason why the atmosphere from the Kop was so good, allowing the roar of the crowd to be amplified across the pitch and around the rest of the football ground. Ever since, the club’s most vocal supporters have tended to congregate there for matches.
How it’s Changed Over the Years
The official capacity of the Spion Kop stood at 27,000, even though crowds of more than 30,000 were recorded over the years. It was in the wake of the Hillsborough Disaster that all of that changed. In spite of the fact that the reason 97 Liverpool supporters died and countless more were injured, to say nothing of those that suffered irreparable damage to their mental and physical health, was due to police negligence and the FA Cup semi-final being held in a stadium that was unfit for purpose, the Taylor Report into the disaster ruled that football grounds around the country should become all-seater.
Unforgettable. pic.twitter.com/aTQx0fiXj5
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 7, 2025
As a result, the ‘Kop’s Last Stand’ occurred on the 30th of April 1994. Norwich City were the visitors for that game, seeing people stand in the ground without any rail seating or other impediments for the final time. It was replaced by an all-seater Kop that had 12,390 seats, which was still the largest single-tier stand in the country at the time.
In fact, it remained so until the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened, where the 17,500 seats in the South Stand took over the title. Other clubs have had ‘Kops’, but none of them have the history and passion of the one at Anfield.
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