Just seen this... On This Day: Farewell Boothferry Park! It opened with a 0-0 draw and closed with a 1-0 defeat. Yet for nearly 60 years in between it provided the setting for drama, despair and delight - and a host of memories which will never fade - on this day in 2002, the Tigers played their final game at the place that they had called home for over half a century. Boothferry Park - the home of football in Hull from 1946 to 2002. The Kempton stand, Boothferry Halt, six flodlights, and one of the best playing surfaces in the country. It had it all. And it saw it all too! Promotions, relegations, more than 55,000 packed in to see Manchester United, the first competitive penalty shoot out, and even a rugby league international. For thousands of City fans it was their introduction to the Tigers, the place where they were taken by their dads, where they would gaze, wide eyed in awe, under the glare of the six floodlights - except for Wembley, the only ground in the country to have that many. The first game took place in August 1946, when 20,000 watched City draw 0-0 with Lincoln. Just three years later, the record attendance was set when 55,019 turned out to watch Hull play Manchester United. And two years after that the ground had its very own train station, with the opening of Boothferry Halt. For thousands it would become a Saturday ritual of a bus into town followed by the short train trip from Paragon station to the ground. Over the following years it would grace some great games, including in 1970 the Watney Cup semi-final against Manchester United, which finished in a draw and which then saw United run out winners in the first competitive penalty shoot-out in English football. The first footballer to score from the spot that time was as good as they got - George Best. The first to miss wasn’t far behind - Denis Law. In 1982, more than 26,000 fans watched Australia crush Great Britain in a rugby league international. And there were many other notable games, and many big names strutted their stuff on what was regarded as a superb playing surface. Ken Wagstaff, Chris Chilton and Stuart Pearson all played there. After that came the likes of Brian Horton, Billy Whitehurst, Garry Parker and Keith Edwards. More than 20,000 turned up to see City push Liverpool close in the cup in 1989, before going down 3-2, goals from Whitehurst and Edwards giving the Tigers real hope and a 2-1 half time lead. Duane Darby scored six times under the floodlights on a chilly November night in 1996 as City beat Whitby 8-4. On those glory afternoons and evenings, the Kempton stand would rock, thousands crammed in, goading the opposition supporters just a few feet away. At times, though, dark clouds would hover over the old ground, none more so than when City were locked out in a dispute over unpaid rent. And there were times, towards the end, when the rust would fall onto the heads of the fans, whenever a ball landed on the roof of a stand, and gaping holes would let the wind whistle through. The last game at the old stadium was a disappointing 1-0 loss to Darlington. The next match was at the lavish surroundings of the new KC Stadium, which more than highlighted the fact that Boothferry Park had had its day. But on the whole, when viewed with more than a little nostalgia, Boothferry Park is remembered with a great deal of affection by City fans. It was the place where they cut their footballing teeth. It was a ground which, in its glory days, was one of the best in the land. And it was the place where many golden memories were made.
Except it didn't close. The reserves continued to play there up until the actual last game with Barnsley, where Mr I Rankin scored the ultimate final goal.
"more than 55,000 packed in to see Manchester United" He can **** right off with that bit too, did no one turn up to watch City play Man Utd?
Several famous players names missed out too. Better then not mentioning the anniversary at all I suppose. No mention of the Raich Carter days and the huge crowds his team attracted, and I doubt if even 1% of that 55,019 crowd ( which used to be the club telephone number someone informed me recently) turned out just because it was Manchester United. The European floodlit games when City were one of the forerunners of European football. Instead of mentioning the one rugby league international played there are many football internationals, even the one First Division game and FA Cup replays that deserved a mention before that which leads me to the conclusion the piece was written by someone who had never set foot in the place.
One would have thought that as it was put out on the clubs social media the writer would be better informed even if they hadn't set foot in the place.
There's a lot of romantic guff written about Boothferry Park, we never did any good there, and it was a dump in its later years. The best thing we did was moving to the KC.
Before going on 'Red top reader' may I wish you a very happy 60th birthday today(Tues) and trust you have a truly wonderful celebration with your family. My husband was at the first match played at BP and we made arrangements to come to Hull for the last City match there against Darlington. It was also a chance to attend a match together for the first time featuring both our teams. Unfortunately my husband contacted Psittacosis(commonly called Parrot Flu) after coming into contact with a dead cockatoo in our garden a few days before our departure. He reached a temperature just short of 42 degrees C the day before we left and the trip was abandoned. Antibiotics cured the problem within a week. It was such a huge disappointment for him and I was sad too that my team rather luckily won 1-0 when a 0-0 result would have been a more appropriate finale.
I recall in the eighties and nineties beginning to think fer ark had been cursed by some gypsy! Still loved the place though.
Doesn't mention that despite reminiscences from people saying their dad told them it was so packed he couldn't have a smoke as he couldn't get his cig packet out of his pocket that it was quite a few thousand under a capacity crowd.
Bet it doesn’t mention the schizophrenic nature of our support in the 50’s either Average of 37000 in 1950 down to 10000 by the end of the decade
Not just in the 50s. 40,000 against Millwall, next home game 22,000. Even in Terry Neill's first season, our best season since WW2 until recent times, it was the same. 34,000 against Blackpool in the Cup 10,000 less against Sheffield Wednesday, who brought 4,000, the next league game. Our crowds have always fluctuated greatly from game to game until the move to the KC and a large number of season ticket holders other clubs at the higher level don't fluctuate as much nowadays as their season tickets sell out and there aren't many tickets available on a match by match basis.
