1. Twenty Eight Years BC (1877-1905)

Chapter 1 - Twenty Eight Years BC (1877-1905)

To tell the story of the Bridge properly we have to go back as far as 28 BC, that is 28 years ‘Before Chelsea’, more commonly known as 1877. Actually we need to go back even further than that as there is a need for a little scene setting. In the mid 1860s the Waddell brothers (James and William) took over the running of the London Athletic Club which was initially based at the Lillie Bridge track however the condition of the track was very much on the decline and by 1876 the brothers had decided to locate new premises (this decision also as a consequence of the Lillie Bridge owner, a man called John Chambers, looking for a greater slice of the LAC gate receipts).

For £2,899 they leased a plot of land a stones throw from the Lillie Bridge track and, within a few months, had built a fine new athletics stadium. The ground was accessed via the Fulham Road and maps dating back to the 18th century show a Thames tributary called ‘Stanford Creek’ which runs along what is now the railway line behind the East Stand. There were two bridges over this stream, one called Sanford Bridge, which was on the Fulham Road, and another called Stanbridge on the King’s Road. The combination of these names is strongly rumoured to have played a part on the naming of the stadium with Sanford Bridge (the bridge that crossed the railway thus enabling the Fulham Road to continue into Kensington and Chelsea) thought to be the more likely origin of the name.

It was officially opened on April 28th, 1877 and the stadium was packed with London’s most fashionable residents (see not everything has changed, just need to look at how Geezer dresses up on match day) who had all flocked to witness the finest athletics stadium London had to offer.

For the next six years the fortunes of the stadium oscillated, as did the business ventures of the Waddell brothers and in 1883 they had racked up £30k in debt and left Blighty rather hurriedly with their tales between their legs (thus setting a trend that Adrian Mutu would follow 121 years later). After this the freehold of the stadium was passed onto Mr Stunt, very much an athletics fanatic and far less a fan of football. This dislike of God’s game was not shared by another set of brothers, this pair being the Mears brothers who were the children of Joseph Mears who was a phenomenally wealthy building contractor. H A (Gus) Mears and J T Mears had a grand plan and that was to buy the stadium and convert it from an athletics stadium into a football one (imminently sensible and clearly men of taste, athletics being a sport for people who can’t trap a ball) however Stunt was a stubborn bugger, so much so that even when he died in 1902 the Mears brothers discovered he has inserted a clause in the stadium lease that meant it had to be used as an athletics stadium for two years after his death. In those two years the Mears bought up land adjacent to the stadium and in 1904 they bought the stadium with the deeds being in the name of Henry Augustus Mears. Now block your ears here folks. Mears original intention was that Fulham would play at the Bridge and he offered the stadium to them on match days in return for an annual rent of £1,500 and any additional revenue gained through the hosting of games such as cup semi finals and finals. It was the latter clause that the Fulham chairman objected to, an objection which was somewhat bizarre as Fulham’s ground was a total hovel and it was only a year later that they were ordered to demolish the main stand due to its state of disrepair.

Mears disappointment at this deal not materialising led him to consider selling the stadium and he was offered a tidy sum for it by the Great Western Railway who wanted to turn it into a coal and goods yard. This would have seen Mears make a tidy, and swift profit and he was very close to agreeing to it, and would have done so but for a bizarre occurrence. Frederick Parker was an athlete who used to run at the stadium who was a friend of the Mears family and was as keen as, if not more keen than, Gus Mears to turn the stadium into a football stadium. When Gus decided to sell to GWR he took Parker for a walk to break the bad news to him and also took his dog. No that isn’t a bit of absurd Loz unnecessary detail - that dog is our saviour!

For some unknown reason Mears dog took a chunk out of Parker’s foot and Mear’s reaction to this was to say ‘Scotch terrier; always bites before it speaks.’ Instead of being furious at his friend’s somewhat casual response Parker found it hilarious and this response led Mears to say 'You took that bite damned well. Most men would have kicked up hell about it……… Go to the chemists and get that bite seen to and meet me here at nine tomorrow; then we’ll get busy.’ Within the week the pair of them were Glasgow bound to meet Archibald Leitch who had designed Ibrox, Hampden and Celtic Park, then three of the largest grounds in the world and from that visit they decided to copy the bowl format with a main stand to the East and three terraced sides. Leitch was commissioned and construction of the new grandstand started in February 1905. If you thought Roman Abramovich was the savviest business man in Chelsea’s history think again. The three terraced sides were largely built out of thousands of tons of soil and clay which had been dug up during the building of the Piccadilly tube line. The man contracted to remove all this sold and clay? None other than Joe Mears who had it transported on lorries then barges to Crabtree Wharf in Fulham from where it was then transported to the Bridge – so the Mears were being paid for the material they were using!

However don’t forget there was still no football team to play there. Gus Mears signed an agreement allowing the LAC to use the stadium for a further seven years and a new running track was laid around the football pitch. Meanwhile discussions had commenced about the creation of a football club with the name for the new club being something of a sticking point. The people of Fulham expected it to be Kensington FC whilst the committee wanted to cash in on the global fame of the stadium by calling the team ‘Stamford Bridge’. When Parker suggested ‘Chelsea’ as a name the idea was quickly shot down but he fought his corner and on March 14th, 1905, at the Rising Sun Tavern on the Fulham Road, Chelsea FC were officially named. This is a history of the stadium rather than the club so I will try and avoid describing the club history excessively however obviously the two things are inherently linked.

Click here to read Chapter 2 - From the Blues to the Doghouse (1905-1935)