The Valley has been, since 1919, the home of Charlton Athletic Football Club.
The Valley lies, as its name suggests, in a valley. The huge bowl is an old chalk pit, and forms with its steep banks a natural stadium. On 12th February 1938 75,031 spectators (one of the biggest ever attendances in English football)standing on these banks saw Charlton play Aston Villa. The modern all-seater Valley stadium seats just over 27,000.
In 1984 Charlton ran into financial difficulties, and could not finance necessary safety improvements to the ground. The club left the Valley for an eight-year period of homelessness, first ground-sharing with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, and briefly in 1991 with West Ham at at Upton Park.
In the interim the battle to return to the valley carried on, which even involved the formation of a political party "The Valley Party" - with one issue on their agenda: to get Charlton back to the Valley. In the local elections they gathered more than 10% of the vote.
In 1992 Charlton returned to the Valley, and since then the new stands have gradually been added: The East Stand in '93/'94, the West Stand in '98/'99 and the North stand in '01/'02.
Charlton made it back to the top flight of English football in 1998 - after a breathtaking play-off at Wembley against Sunderland, in which Clive Mendonca contributed a hat-trick, but it was still 4-4 after extra time. Stefan Lilic pulled off a save in the ensuing penalty shoot-out and Charlton were up!
They were relegated again the next season, but were runaway winners of the First Division in 1999/2000 and returned to the top flight, and settled down to a life of comfortable mid to lower table mediocrity.
In 2006, Alan Curbishley resigned after 15 years as manager and it all went horribly wrong. Charlton were relegated to "The Championship" (the new and fatuous name for what used to be the second division, and was subsequently known as the first division).
On 1st January 2008 Charlton Athletic took on Colchester United (who were lying bottom of the table). This is the match at which this Waymark was created. A dismal affair which Charlton lost 1-2, with both of Colchester's goals being scored by Kevin Lisbie, a former Charlton player whose days at the valley were (one match against Liverpool aside) not marked by any discerible goal-scoring ability.
A cold and miserable start to the new year. The premiership looks a long way off.
You can learn more about "The Addicks" (as Charlton are known) and the Valley at the following sites:
Official Site
History of Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Wikipedia Entry
The Valley Wikipedia Entry