Croydon Common Athletic Ground

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This page is on the former stadium of Croydon Common F.C. and Crystal Palace F.C. For the ex-Norwich City F.C. stadium of the same name see The Nest (football ground).

Coordinates: 51°23′27.74″N, 0°5′9.10″W Croydon Common Athletic Ground, commonly referred to as The Nest, was a football stadium in Selhurst, south London. The original occupiers of the ground were Croydon Common F.C., the Robins^[1], who occupied it from 1908 to 1917.

It was also the home ground of Crystal Palace F.C. from 1918 until 1924. Prior to Croydon Common's occupation, the land was owned by the church commissioners, and as a result conditions were entered onto both Croydon Commons and Crystal Palace's leases that no gambling or selling of alcohol could take place on the ground, and that no matches could take place on Christmas day or Good Friday. The 1872 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey Map merely shows the land as being "Selhurst Wood" prior to the ground being formed.

[edit] Crystal Palace

The club moved to The Nest in 1918, having spent four years at the Herne Hill Athletics Stadium and gained promotion 1920-21 season by winning the Division Three championship (Later to become known as Division 3 (South)). There is no connection between the Crystal Palace nickname 'The Eagles' and the name of this former ground - the nickname only coming about in the 1970's via the flamboyant manager Malcolm Allison.

In 1924, the club bought a new state-of-the-art ground, Selhurst Park, which would be their home into the next century.

The site of The Nest is now a train depot for the rail company "Southern". The only remaining trace of this ground is the front wall along Selhurst Road, opposite the railway station.