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Kop End

The Kop End is one of the stands at Liverpool Football Club's stadium at Anfield Rd.

On deeper research I discovered that other teams, including Wrexham and Norwich City also have Kop ends.

This us a bit like Athens Georgia having an Acropolis, but I digress.

The stand is named after Spion Kop, a mountain in Natal on the north side of the Tugela River, and 24 m. W.S.W. of Ladysmith. It is celebrated as the scene of a battle (Jan. 24, 1900) in the Transvaal War, in which the British forces under Sir Redvers Buller were defeated by the Boers. The Spion Kop incident led to much controversy; for an admirable elucidation of the facts see The Times History of tile l'Var in South Africa. The name itself (Dutch for "Look-out Hill") is fairly common as a place-name in South Africa.

It takes a peculiarly British sensibility to name part of a stadium after a heroic military defeat. Still, it gives the players the right idea.

If I ever have a son he's going to be called Redvers.