The South Stand

Lights Out

/ Christopher Perry / Leave a comment

Do you travel to Pompey matches by train?  Are you old enough to remember walking over the footbridge at Fratton station, turning to your left and looking for Fratton Park, marked for nearly 60 years by four classic floodlight pylons?

For many fans using the footbridge, looking for the floodlights was a ritual, even on non-match days.  The floodlight pylons marked our spiritual home, our Mecca.  The removal of the pylons had huge symbolic significance for many.  Not least, reminding us that nothing stays the same, but also that our new owners were not going to let our ground fester.

Despite the best efforts of fan ownership, Fratton Park was fast becoming a liability, with crumbling staircases, rusting beams and shaky foundations, if there were any foundations at all at the Milton End.  Removing the floodlight pylons also eliminated a major workplace hazard.

I had often looked up the ladder of the pylon that stood at the western end of the North Terrace in awe of the height of the structure.  Who would be the person charged with climbing all the way up there to change a light bulb, I wondered.

With Portsmouth being a nautical city, there once would have been plenty of capable deck hands, experienced at clambering up the rigging and out over a spar to reef the sails in a storm, but not recently.  It would take some nerve climbing up the floodlight towers, above the concrete terrace, whatever the weather.  Before the Millennium Tower was completed, only a few, those living in the tallest tower blocks on the island, would have the privilege of enjoying such a dramatic perspective of Portsmouth, as the person charged with lightbulb replacement.

The floodlight pylons were installed during 1962 to replace lights situated on the roof of each stand. The new lights were funded by members of the Portsmouth Central Supporters Club and as such, the new structures were a dramatic symbol of Pompey fans’ commitment to their team, a commitment that was put to the ultimate test during the later financial collapse of the club.

Mark Caitlin, when CEO here, was taken aback by the many expressions of dismay that the pylons were going to be taken down.  Those pylons marked our home and in this topographically challenged city, they were something for us all to look up to.  As a result, at significant expense, a lone pylon was removed by PMC Construction and set up in a corner of the club carpark.  It still stands there, naked of any lights, a bare steel frame, looking a little forlorn, with nothing yet to acknowledge the emotional attachment that it, with its three siblings, held for so many Pompey fans. 

Originally floodlights had run along the top of Pompey’s two Leitch Stands. They would have not looked much dissimilar to the current pitch lighting arrangements.  Apparently, the original lights had a dramatic power failure during a match with Sparta of Rotterdam, that was being played to test whether professional football was practical under lights, before Fratton Park hosted the first ever Football League floodlit game against Newcastle United in 1956.

As we gathered with Millwall fans last season in excited anticipation of a keenly-awaited contest, we too suffered a power failure that meant everyone had to be sent home. This provided visiting Millwall fans the chance to sing how poor Pompey must be because, “…Southampton’s got lights!”

It was an embarrassing evening for the club, but one not of its making.  A sub-station feeding into Fratton Park, operated by the local electricity company blew up and all the frantic work of the stadium management staff to overcome the power outage was to no avail. With the return of our fierce rivals from Bermondsey, (their fourth trip here since 13th August 2024), please pay a thought for the stadium maintenance team whose work at Fratton Park is dedicated to ensuring we have a safe, well-lit and comfortable ground this afternoon, where we can watch the whole illuminated match uninterrupted.

~

Lighting Up
 
All the clocks have been changed
Winter gales are rolling in
By ten past four the Sun will be gone
Time to switch the floodlights on
 
Visible from Bognor Regis and from Ryde
Those floodlights call us back home again
Engine driver, ferry captain
Please make sure we're there on time
 
Cross the footbridge at Fratton station
Look left and see the bright white glow
Pompey and Millwall are at it again
Fingers crossed these lights won’t blow
 
There’s something special about floodlit games
The pitch is greener, the faces shine
The players shirts are much more vibrant
Our club songs shake this proud island
 
It’s a Saturday, close to three o’clock
The Fratton crowd is ready now
Soon the whistle will be blown
Time to get the football on

~

n.b. This article was first published in the Portsmouth FC v Millwall FC match programme on 22nd November, 2025.

Chris Perry

30th May 2026

South Stand Tea Hut

/ Christopher Perry / Leave a comment

Football on Boxing Day is one of the nation’s favourite fixtures.  To have a home match is particularly satisfying, but frankly, any Boxing Day match is to be savoured. 

I was once a regular on the South Terrace, Milton Enclosure, before it was re-fashioned into the seating it is today. The South Terrace was a cold, draughty, but dry place.  Close enough to the pitch to be able to smell the cut grass, the turf and players’ embrocation.  The ball would frequently end up cannoning around this patch of terrace and it would sometimes be followed by a player who had slid off the pitch, across the orange tartan track and over the retaining wall onto the concrete.  Players on the field could also clearly hear the expert tactical advice on offer from the enclosure and would sometimes respond directly verbally or more often using hand signals.

At the back of the enclosure, wedged underneath the Leitch commissioned steelwork, was a tea hut. It looked like a garden shed from B&Q and was staffed by a lady called Joyce Tynan. She worked alone, which meant that a massive queue for beverages would develop at half-time. This queue then merged with the queue for the toilets beside her hut. On more than one occasion, I found myself following the wrong painfully slow procession, when I actually wanted a tea not a pee.

Eventually, my friend, Dave and I agreed to take turns from match to match to nip along just before half-time to get our drinks order in early.  Neither of us minded taking on the task, because it was possible to still see some of the pitch from the tea hut counter. As well as being able to keep alert to the action, it meant having a chance to have a brief chat with Joyce, who was always good natured, however poorly Pompey might be playing.  Joyce had served teas at Fratton Park for many seasons and along with the senior turnstile operator, who definitely remembered Pompey’s glory years, they were two people who would always brighten any visit to PO4.

I also remember a limited option of chocolate bars at extraordinary prices being available from Joyce’s tea hut, so not many of those were bought.  I used to always check the date of these slow selling products to make sure they were at least fresh that season.

Besides the steaming urn and plastic cups of coffee, Bovril, or tea options, there was a glass cabinet for keeping pies warm.  After the match, with the hut locked up, unsold pies were left on the counter to take away for free to stop them going to waste. 

Having beaten the half-time queue, Dave or I would be back on the terrace in double-quick time, where we could gingerly sip the boiling hot drink, sometimes having a brief chat with Touchline Tony, as he took a break from stadium announcements, to dissect with us what had gone right or wrong in the first 45 minutes.

Joyce at the tea hut was a lovely woman with an impossible job.  Towards the end of her time at Fratton Park, Joyce did get an assistant, a student, who I think was simply bemused by what was expected, as waiting times did not get any shorter. Thankfully, things around Fratton Park have changed for the better.

Unlike professional rugby and non-league football, it is illegal to drink alcohol while watching a men’s professional football match, so it has been a priority for the club to ensure all catering facilities are totally out of sight of the pitch, which allows Pompey to sell alcoholic beverages throughout the match, for those who enjoy, or need, a pint at the football. 

Sadly, Joyce is no longer with us, but the club is able to offer many more part-time job opportunities on match days than was previously the case, emphasising the contribution Pompey makes to the local economy. The hospitality and catering team, led by Kayleigh Young, have a challenging job in that football stadia are only opened to fans on match days, whenever they may be, whether weeks apart, or three times in eight days. Getting the food and drink stocks for each game on such an irregular basis is a bit of a gamble, which explains in part why a limited choice of food and drink is available. It is not easy getting the stock levels right for perishable products under such circumstances. Look in the Victory Bar after a win and it will be buzzing, but after a defeat, even with a full house at the game, there can be more staff than customers, as supporters head for home. As ever, success on the pitch is a big factor in how well the club does in all aspects of the operation.

After a traditional Christmas lunch, eating is the last thing on your mind, or you may have been saving yourself to tuck into a hospitality meal at Fratton Park today. Whichever it is, I hope that Pompey and QPR can provide a cracker of a match and Pompey can put the icing on the cake with a win this Boxing Day. Happy Christmas.

n.b. A version of this article was published in the Pompey v QPR match day programme on Boxing Day, 2025.

Chris Perry

25th May 2026