DOWN AT THE VALLEY

Charlton Athletic host Portsmouth FC today in Division One, the first time in the Third Tier (Division 3) since April 1981 when Portsmouth won 2-1. The two teams last came together at the Valley 25 years ago on 5th December 1992. They last met at the famous stadium in front of 8,307 and the Addicks won 1-0. Present v Past!
This link takes you to the CAFC website and their anniversary page:
http://cact.org.uk/news/charlton-greats-to-return-to-the-valley-for-anniversary-game How many oldies do you remember?

Founded in 1905 and playing at the Siemens Meadow by the River Thames, for two years, a new team was formed by a collection of local SE7 youth clubs. After the !st WW the club cleared a chalk quarry and was named the Valley. They stayed there until 1923 linking up with Catford Southend FC at their Mount Stadium. This did not work out and the Addicks moved back to the Valley.

The club moved to the Valley in 1919 and turned pro in 1920, joining the Football League in 1921.

The first time CAFC and PFC met was in December 1922 when Charlton hosted Pompey who won 1-2 in Division Three South. There was a cup tie in 1929 and a Division 1 game in 1936, The next time they met was in 1959 in Div 2, then 1980 in Div 3 and occasionally though to 2003 when they met in the Premier League 8 times until 2007.

There have been other odd games in the Full Members and Anglo-Italian Cups adding up to 112 games with Charlton winning 33 and Pompey 42. At Charlton there have been 19 home wins and 16 away wins.

Charlton had to leave The Valley in 1985 after the Bradford City fire highlighted the issues of old stadia and various dangers associated with wooden stands. They ground shared at Selhurst Park and Upton Park until 1992 while renovation took place. Probably their most exciting match would have been the 1997-8 Play off when Charlton and Sunderland played out a 4-4 draw aet and scored 7-6 penalties to reach the Premier League.

Recently under the ownership of the Belgian family, Duchatelet, the club has been far from stable. CARD is a fan based group Campaign Against Roland Duchatelet! demonstrations have been numerous.