Came across this tonight 'Abandoned Stadiums That Will Haunt Your Tepid Soul'. I suppose in the end it was dump but in my memory it was a magical place that I was proud to take my kids to and am happy that they still have memories of the old place like I do. Gone but not forgotten. Boothferry Park With all due respect, Boothferry Park, Hull City A.F.C.’s home from 1946-2002, looked like an absolute dump. The stadium held about 16,000 people and was a landmark for the light towers that rose above the city of Hull, England. Combine the perpetually bleak, gray skies of England with the old stadium design that lacked color, personality, and any luxury amenities and you have Boothferry Park. please log in to view this image It was a forgettable venue that was literally forgotten. After Hull City left, the stadium sat abandoned for years while vandals raided and graffitied the place to their heart’s content. In 2011, the final demolition took place, clearing Hull of this monstrosity.
In its heyday the light towers (some would say floodlight pylons) were amongst the best in the country, the playing surface likewise, the stadium had its own railway stop, the stands were well maintained and modernized and the atmosphere unlike anything else I've ever experienced. (In the sense that your first time at anything tends to etch on your soul - sex, pint, rollercoaster, whatever). Roll forward 20plus years then the description's fairly accurate. That's the ravages of time for ya.
Written by someone who is clearly a ****. There are stadiums currently in the Football League that are as bad as Boothferry ever was. EDIT: the person who wrote it is a Yank called Eli Laskey. ****ING ELI. He has no ****ing clue. EDIT 2: Just looked at the article, and I think they don't know what abandoned means, as a good chunk of his selections aren't abandoned stadiums at all, they are just old stadiums that have been replaced and demolished. Old Wembley is on there ffs, how is that abandoned?
When you look back at Boothferry Park, and I only started going in 85/86.....it was a bit of a dump wasn't it. I loved the placed don't get me wrong, so many good memories of big games, then the sit ins, banging chairs in South Stand, then moved to Kempton, when the rain used to pour in, people used to try and push the portaloos over. Pitch apart, which was to die for, the ground was a bit of a dump........really......go on .....you all know its true.......
It's the best dump I've ever been to full stop. The entertainment value after 3pm on a Saturday afternoon will never be surpassed.
"Combine the perpetually bleak, gray skies of England with the old stadium design that lacked color, personality, and any luxury amenities and you have Boothferry Park." Silly ****. How many times can you be wrong in one sentence?
Whoever wrote that has about as much idea of what football is all about as the Allams. ..and that takes some doing.
Just a mile or two from Hurworh (home of Boro's Rockliffe Training Centre) were I lived after moving from Hull as a youth. Was never in the Reynold's (****) Arena which was a ****ing stupid white elephant but had some enjoyable times at Feethams.
Well said Ernie. My first visit to Boothferry Park was probably in 1960 and watching games from Bunkers Hill. We moved to Hurworth (Darlington) in 1963 but I remember the pride I felt on my return visits and yelling along in the new south stand. As others have mentioned, the floodlights were spectacular and I always knew I was nearly home when hitching back and they appeared on the horizon. Dump, monstrosity ... never ... hallowed ground and my "theatre of dreams."
The bridge over Boothferry Road could do with a lick of paint. Went this way for the first time in many years, brought a tear to a glass eye.
Very true! BP only got into the state that it did when the then owners effectively stopped maintaining it. There were several plans to update it over the years but sadly nothing came of the plans. The KCOM was a great opportunity to grow the club. Unfortunately the Allams have taken the lack of maintenance to a whole new level. I don't think its accidental. I imagine they would be happy to see the place crumble as they would see it as a way of further upsetting the council and the fans.
