Tuesday 9 June 2020

Retro - Hull United 2 Bottesford Town 1 (Northern Counties East League - First Division - 2015-16)


10th November 2015

Hull United   2  Bottesford Town 1  (Northern Counties East League – First Division)

It’s funny how things turn out isn’t it?

My first game of the season was at Hall Road Rangers, and it's worth remembering the story about how they were effectively booted out of their ground by Hull United, the young upstarts and moneybags club that had arrived late on the scene.

Well the Hull United story this season hasn’t been without it’s twists and turns. Some big crowds have been turning out to watch the club run by ex Hull City legend Ian Ashbee and pro-footballer turned pro-boxer, Curtis Woodhouse. However, two midweek games were abandoned due to floodlight failure, then all of a sudden about a month ago they postponed a game at short notice due to problems with the ground.

I won’t go into the somewhat tedious and predictable political background behind it, but they had basically been turfed out of the stadium, with lots of questions being asked about who actually owned the ground, and what the connection was with the former Hull United Chairman who had very recently been booted out of the club in controversial circumstances.

The cynics would say that justice was being served with what happened to Hall Road Rangers, but suddenly speculation arose about what the future held for Hull United Football Club. One thing you can’t accuse them of is not taking advantage of social media, very quickly messages were flying around suggesting that the future was still bright, and that very soon an exciting announcement would be taking place as to where they would be moving to following the demise of the Dene Park arrangement.


So, were they going to be grabbing the olive branch that Hall Road Rangers had very sportingly offered them? Would the Dene Park farce come to a sensible conclusion? Would they do a deal with North Ferriby United? No, of course not, that would be too obvious and by Hull United’s standards, a bit too tame.

Oh no, in a fanfare of publicity they announced that they were going to be playing at the KC Lightstream Stadium! Where the hell is that you may wonder? It’s more commonly known as Craven Park, the home of famous Rugby League club Hull Kingston Rovers! Talk about aiming high!

Would it last? Would it even get started? Who gives a flying to be honest, as soon as they announced the first game would be played on a Tuesday night in November, we were going, make no mistake about that one.


I drove, I took Steve and our old mate Paul Earnshaw, or Bury Paul as he is known by many due to his lifelong support of the club from Lancashire, but more about Paul later. We set off nice and early and as usual when Steve and I are in tandem, the banter flew from the opening minute. Other than a bit of a sticky section of traffic on Clive Sullivan Way, we were checking in at the pub nearest the ground around 6pm, it had been a very steady run. But then again you don’t get many traffic issues going to Hull, why would anyone be going to such a place without very good reason?

The pub was rough, we sat out of the way, but then I’ve never been to a pub in Hull that hasn’t been rough. We got back to the ground and soon realised that a gathering of groundhoppers had converged on the place. I recognised my mate Dave Garrow, but I also spotted the likes of Peter Ford, Colin Picken, Nigel Tasker, Andy Marnoch and groundhopping celebrity Tony Incenzo.

The ground was superb as you would imagine for a top flight professional club like Hull KR, the main stand and the terracing in front of it were the only parts open, but opposite was a huge terrace that spread the length of the pitch. Behind the goal to the left was a modern seated stand with executive boxes at the back, while the opposite end was just a small section of terrace that curved round what was the old speedway track (so Steve tells me). It was a very impressive arena, and in fairness to them they had opened the tea bar, and also the main bar in the stand, although the beer was almost twice the price as it was in the local pub, but then it didn’t come with the underlying threat of violence!


I’ve been to grounds like this before and two things often stand out, the rip off prices for food and drink, which we quickly spotted, although at four quid admission that tempered it somewhat. The other thing that can be annoying are over officious stewards, of which there were none tonight, and other than the restrictions about being on one side of the ground, the crowd of 431 were pretty much left to their own devices.

The game was very good, Hull won it 2-1 and looked a really good outfit, that weren’t playing for buttons every week. Bottesford came back into the game later on and could have snatched a point, which would have consolidated their second place in the table, but United held out. What impressed me about Hull was their attacking prowess and their intelligence in dealing with a high line that Bottesford were clearly well rehearsed in.


We escaped from the car park pretty easily, and by the time we had skated past The Deep and gone under the Humber Bridge, the roads were virtually empty along the M62 and the M18 until we reached the M1. I Dropped Steve off and then took Paul back to Kirkby in Ashfield. I said I would tell you about Paul, well Paul is a dying man. He was diagnosed with Brain Cancer in the Summer and after some pretty horrific spells of treatment he can no longer be helped, in fact he has managed to live longer than was initially expected, and the latest prognosis is that he may see Christmas, but not much more than that.

As I drove him home he was very candid with me, it will end in one of two ways, his brain will either just die, quite quickly, or he will suffer in pain. If a long protracted painful death is to be the outcome, it won’t be happening, he has already prepared for that by making his own plans.

It was probably the most sobering and indeed harrowing conversation I have ever had in my life, and as I dropped him off and watched him back into his house, I couldn’t help but think that there is a very real chance that I may never see him again. He is the bravest man I have ever known, it remains, and will always remain, a privilege to have known him.

  



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