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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