I think they send new people from outside Hull employed by RH and the Fail on a brainwashing course run by Gollum and Tingly Dick. I remember one newcomer coming out with the remark that rugby would always be king in Hull as long as the first thing kids do when they learn to walk is pick up a rugby ball. Comedy gold.
I was around when Dick Tingle came to work at the HDM. He was from Scunthorpe, his father was a director of Scunthorpe United and Dick had never seen a RL game in his life, and he actually came to report on the speedway. He eventually took over from Mike Akroyd as the Fc reporter when he realised there was not a lot of life left in the speedway. I know the directors of Fc were very pally with the sports editors and were often in the office with little gifts. Never ever saw anyone from City, except Terry Neill when he came in once a week to do his column for the Sports Mail. DT quickly swallowed the RL directive and maybe not connected but I think he was paid in lineage, the more you wrote the more you got paid. So RL got equal coverage with City who at that time (70/71) were box office. In 1970 the HDM were still headlining with 'Hull's Big Three', City, Fc and HKR, it sold papers especially the Sports Mail and coverage was fair and not bais to either sport. Not blaming Tingle but the pendulum swung in the mid 70's when City were on the decline and RL was on the up in this city. This peaked with the all Hull RL Final at Wembley in 80 at a time when City were at their lowest ebb ever. The references of rugby town and divided city etc were all the work of the local media. No-one ever mentioned anything like that before Tingle came and of course 1970 was also the start of BBC local radio. Now it's deep, deep seated.
That attendance is about accurate as when we tried to claim there was over 10k in the stadium when we played Blackpool last season!
Remember when clubs said there were less there than there actually were to avoid tax? Allegedly of course.
Oh dear. Is it time for the city of Hull to give up rugby as a bad job and everyone get behind the team playing the national sport?
But Salford didn't just beat Fc, they 'edged home and ground out the win' according to Hull Live (again) and of course Fc were 'plucky, gritty and resiliant. ( fighting Fc, added to the following mornings report, erm and now spirited) ' No mention of this being the fourth or fifth loss on the bounce, or the ten point winning margin. The propaganda doesn't end there either. The fc woman's teams were hammered by Salford in the curtain raiser BUT 'great strides are being made by them off the field' according to Hull Live, again. Rovers also lost meaning both Hull club's are in the bottom four of the 12 club league leading up to the world famous and beyond biggest derby in the universe in this divided rugby mad city next week end. Of course it's bound to be a 'near sell out' according to you know who. Very latest....it was now a' valiant defeat'. At this rate they will have won by dinner time.
I thought the same and I thought we had priority but obviously not on this occasion. I also thought we wouldn't be playing football again the day after a rugby league match had been played on the pitch because of the short turn around in getting the pitch prepared. So the SKY schedules might have something to do with it and, although you will never hear this mentioned in the local media, Fc need this derby on the scheduled date because they are totally dependent on the gate money and apparently they had sold all the corporate deals in advance. Of course when they were sold both Hull clubs had a slight chance of reaching the play off's, which means finishing in the top half of the 12 club league. Now it is a meaningless end of season nothing game. But of course the local media will build up the 'bragging rights' bullshit as the draw. Nothing will be made of the rivalry between City and Sheffield United the following day though.
I agree about the RL spin, but do you think the young uns (and a lot of less young uns) really get the Sheff U rivalry thing? It was all before their time.
Thought it was agreed when the KC was built that when there was a clash it was the team whose season was at the end who took precedence? So in this case it is rugby? Seem to remember FC having to rearrange a game when it clashed with ours at the end of the football season. The biggest derby in the universe and everywhere else has not sold all the tickets available at the MKM once. And won’t break that duck this year either.
But, wait for the spin. The Upper West Stand is being opened for the City v Blades game. Therefore it will take extensive and expensive cleaning to get it ready. It makes business sense to also have it open for the game the day before, as a dummy run perhaps ? but it just happens to be the biggest derby in the universe ( and beyond). So the headlines will be all about the Upper West being opened for the first time in 12 months ( probably more, I've forgotten) for the rugby.
You can bet that will be the case. Would love to see the ducking and diving if City’s game, which I expect it to be, is higher than than the biggest derby in the universe.
City have already sold more tickets for the Sheffield United game in over a weeks time then they sold for the Norwich match. And it's live on SKY. Not a peep on Hull Live. Would they keep it under wraps if the biggest derby in the universe and beyond was heading for a sell out, more then a week before kick off ? The headline for that would probably be 'Tickets like gold dust etc etc'
I was planning on getting there for 3pm with my son and grandson after a few drinks (unless the trains are on strike and I have to drive). That is the kick off time shown. The 12o’clock game on SKY is Reading.
