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First County Visit:	Tuesday 20th April 1982
Competition:	Football League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Hull City 0 – 0 Stockport County
Attendance:	3,526
Away Trip:	24
Away Day:	60
County Line-up	1 Brian Lloyd; 2 John Rutter; 3 Steve Sherlock; 4 Dean Emerson; 5 Andy Thorpe; 6 Nigel Smith; 7 Oshor Williams; 8 Trevor Phillips; 9 Tony Coyle; 10 Terry Park; 11 Andy Stafford:; (Sub not used 12 Martin Fowler)
Manager:	Jimmy McGuigan
County Visits:	8

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A RULE IS BORN: SIX DOWN AND TIME FOR HOME

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At least that’s what my records told me but it seemed such a big gap that I did wonder.  It was a relief when the 17 trips between Gigg Lane and Boothferry Park uncovered return visits to the normal suspects of perennial Division 4 outfits at the time.

So in late April 1982 it was about exploring the far reaches of the M62.  The dog end of yet another unsuccessful season.   It had been a weather hit campaign with only 3 games able to be played between the end of November and the last week in January.  County’s fortunes since the turn of the year had matched the elements. 

Playing catch up with all the postponed matches, they’d played 18 games in the space of 75 days, and frankly it was re-election form over that spell.  Even at 3 points for a win, which had been introduced that season the 18 games had yielded but 16 of the 54 points on offer and had seen a slide from a comfortable mid-table spot to one hovering just above the re-election spots, and more importantly with more games played than their fellow strugglers.

The trip eastwards came with a little bit of hope though – York had been taken to cleaners the previous weekend, by 4-1, but it only took a little longer to remember that the Tigers had been at Edgeley a week prior and had claimed the spoils that day.  Still, whatever the match might bring it was a new ground, and one that I was intrigued by.

Well aware that it was, in football ground terms, pretty modern and had held over 55,000 just after it’s opening in the early years after the Second World War, it promised to be something different from the more humble surroundings that Division 4 aficionados were used to. 

Approaching from the West there was certainly no missing it.  Very unusually, (maybe even uniquely), it had not four but six floodlight pylons, and these weren’t the small structures that I was used to at Edgeley where the lights seemed to hang just over the corner flags.  They reached seemingly to the clouds, and for the pre sat-nav traveller were a real beacon, literally and metaphorically.  Almost uniquely as well the ground had its own railway halt, (station would be far too grandiose a word).  I’d only ever seen that at Old Trafford and St James Park Exeter.

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Parking up I became acutely aware that football wasn’t really at the centre of attention in Hull.  They’d certainly had good days in times past, and the ground was a testament maybe to the vision of the individuals who had created Boothferry Park, after their early history at Anlaby Road.  The wheel has strangely turned full circle now, with the abandonment of Boothferry and a move to the new stadium they have returned to the exact site of their original home.  But football seemed to have taken very much a second place.   

It was unquestionably a Rugby League hotbed, and never even sure to this day of the topography of Hull it looked to me as though this was Hull FC territory.  Festooned in the windows were all sorts of black and white flags and posters extolling the virtues of one Steve Norton – even to this day described as “a living legend in the city of Hull”..  It was no surprise.  Research tells me that Hull, who would finish runners up to Leigh that season, had, a couple of weeks previously, beaten Castleford to reach the Challenge Cup Final, which was to be played 11 days after my visit to Boothferry Park. 

Given that bitter rivals Hull KR were also pushing for the title it was, on reflection, little surprise that the black and white of Hull and red and white of HKR were resplendent  whilst the gold and black of the Tigers was almost nowhere to be seen.  Finishing rock bottom of Division 3 the year before financial mire was beckoning – the attraction must have long gone when winners elsewhere in the city promised, and probably provided far better entertainment value.

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The original structure of the ground had already changed even though the place had only been built 30 or so years previously.  The North Stand, standing behind the goal to the left of the West (or Main) Stand, was previously seated with a terraced paddock in front had disappeared.  All that remained was the terracing, maybe 10 or a dozen steps deep.  In place of the stand itself was a retail emporium.  Not having seen the previous lay out I can’t relay comment on the impact of the change, but it’s a fair bet that it wasn’t for the better.

What always felt like a superb terrace for the home supporters, with the ubiquitous railway halt at the rear, occupied the far touch line, and a truly impressive seated South Stand, (below), with paddock in front stood behind the other goal.  The West stand itself was more than satisfactory. 

All in all it met my expectations, despite the incursion of the supermarket.  At least that had been done with a bit more thought than the abomination that encroached onto the open end at Burnden Park – now that was, as I turn to on Away Trip 36, a veritable paean to an architect with no vision.

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But, and it’s a big but.  A place that had held 55,000 felt strange with less than 4,000 scattered around.  Difficult to create any atmosphere that goes without saying, but the huge tracts of unoccupied concrete didn’t feel right.  I’ve no real feelings for Hull as a club either way, but at that point it was almost a case of feeling sorry that however the mismanagement both on and off the field had led to their slump into the lowest league tier this ground deserved so much more.

We got a draw that day.  My memory is more than good, but it must have been a dire affair, because not a single mental image of the encounter comes to mind.  But it didn’t take long for a trip to Boothferry Park to leave an indelible mark

A decade later my time travelling to County with Jeff Lawrenson started.  We’ve seen almost countless games away from the environs of Edgeley Park.  Travelling through thick and thin, to watch games at levels from the Championship to the Conference North we have always had a single inviolable rule.  On grim days, if the score gets to six, (for the opposition of course!), then is the time to go, if we are more than an hour away from the warmth and succour of home.  There’s been a fair few of those. 

At Deepdale, when Tim Flowers belied any reputation he had as a decent keeper:  Up at Brunton Park, as a truly desperate display from Carl Ikeme saw Carlisle put their sixth in with plenty of time before the final whistle; an evening at Blundell Park when the players inherited by Gannon had drawn the epithet of “social loafers” a couple of days previously and promptly went on strike in a spineless display that brought shame upon them; Alfreton when referee Stockbridge had a nightmare and most latterly an FA Trophy replay at Wrexham.  Definitely an inviolable rule. 

I don’t know how it really arose but it’s always been the case. Well, no more than 10 months after my first visit to Boothferry Park I clearly had a trial run at this.  I travelled solo in those days.  A reasonable vehicle meant that I had sufficient trust and faith to venture out a bit more.  So on January 29^th 1983 I headed along the M62 again.  This time there was no taking in the area.  A quick park-up in the street outside the ground; into the West Stand and a look forward to the game. 

Hull looked to be on the up, standing top of the table before the days proceedings.  (They were to go to get promoted finishing runners-up to Wimbledon). Things had obviously changed on the field and maybe that had awoken some of the slumbering support.  The crowd at just under 6,000 was vastly improved from that visit only a few months previously, but it still felt like marbles rolling round in a tin can in the spacious stadium.

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As the proceedings unfolded it was men and boys.  At 5 down shortly after half time my thoughts turned to the trip home.  A late January evening; cold; and as ever the drag over Saddleworth on the M62 always at risk of the weather up on the tops.  Don’t go yet was the thought, maybe we can get a consolation or two.  It was a fond thought, but realistically more of a delusion … on a grand scale.  The sixth went in and my mind was made up. 

Gathering my goods and chattels I made my way up the stand to the exit at the rear, only to turn around and see number seven flash past Brian Lloyd.  Enough was more than enough.  By 4.25 the lights of Hull were receding into the rear view mirror.  It was with trepidation that I turned on Sports Report at 5 o’clock to see whether the carnage had reached double figures.  Fortunately not – in true cricketing spirit the Tigers had declared at seven!  It was with some surprise to my brothers that they saw me walking back through the front door well before the six o’clock news started.

So started a tradition, and one that Jeff and I have always kept.  Madness I know.  Spending hours on the road decent money on petrol; entrance; pies and programmes it seems foolish not to exact full value.  But there again I’m not certain that humiliation is a real component of value. Strangely that nadir of a performance was the only time I ever saw County lose at Boothferry.  The other seven visits brought three wins and four draws. 

An intriguing stadium definitely, and one that must have one of the most successful points to visits ratios out of all.

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There’s an interesting clip about Boothferry Park on the Boothferry Legend You Tube Channel. You can have a look here.

January 2017

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Tues	20/04/82	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Hull City	D	0	0	3,526	60
Sat	29/01/83	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Hull City	L	0	7	5,901	71
Sat	11/01/92	Barclays League Division 3	Tier 3	Hull City	W	2	0	3,982	223
Tues	27/04/93	Barclays League Division 2	Tier 3	Hull City	W	2	0	4,079	260
Sat	27/11/93	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Hull City	W	1	0	7,119	271
Sat	18/02/95	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Hull City	D	0	0	4,576	295
Sat	21/10/95	Endsleigh League Division 2	Tier 3	Hull City	D	1	1	3,496	310
Tues	18/08/98	Worthington Cup	Round 1 – 2nd leg	Hull City	D	0	0	3,480	387

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – GIGG LANE Next stop – ASHTON GATE