Croydon Common Athletic Ground

51°23′27.74″N 0°5′9.10″W / 51.3910389°N 0.0858611°W / 51.3910389; -0.0858611

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. The Nest was subleased from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, the parties being The Croydon Common Football and Athletic Company Limited and then Crystal Palace Football and Athletic Club, The London Brighton and South Coast Railway Company and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England. The reason for three parties to this lease was that the Ecclesiastical Commissioners actually owned the land, the Railway Company had leased it from them and thus the club was subleasing it from the Railway Company. The lease stipulated that the ground could only be used for soccer or athletics or for "the holding of Flower Shows and School treats". As the ground was owned by the Church, the lease also prohibited its use for any purposes on Good Friday and Christmas Day and so the club played only away fixtures on these particular days. The 1872 1:10,560 Ordnance Survey Map merely shows the land as being "Selhurst Wood" prior to the ground being formed.

The ground was quite basic, having only small earth banks around the major part of its circumference. These banks were topped by bushes known to the supporters as "The Jungle". When Croydon Common FC took over The Nest there was a small stand with seats on the northern side of the ground, but this burned down shortly afterwards. A new stand, significantly longer than the previous one (approximately 75 metres long), was erected to replace it. This stand consisted of an elevated tier with seven rows of seating, achieving an approximate capacity of 1500 seats, and a small standing paddock at the front. The roof had a small triangular white painted gable in its centre. In addition to the dressing rooms, there were a number of stores, rooms and offices under this grandstand. A cinder athletics track ran around the pitch.

The name of "The Nest" came about because the first club to occupy it were Croydon Common FC – they wore red shirts and were nicknamed "The Robins", hence their ground being known as "The Nest". It typically held a maximum of 20,000 supporters. The Robins were wound up in 1917.