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Went to Hull to watch the
mighty Seasiders on their first visit to the KC stadium.
We left in good time and arrived parked in the Infirmary
Hospital car park, which cost £2. The
impressive KC is about ten minutes walk from here via one of two routes. One
over the bridges over the railway takes you straight to the away turnstiles
where you can pay on the gate (£17 adults £10 concessions). The other route
takes you onto Anlaby Road and is less direct but you can call in at one or
two local shops on the way over the flyover to the main entrance of the
stadium.
The stadium is situated in a park and
on its exterior it has impressive windows depicting
a footballer and a rugby player to reflect the shared nature of the stadium.
From the main entrance we walked around the stadium, going
past the club shop and were assisted by very
proactive stewards all the way. There was also a fair amount of good natured
banter from the home support and we encountered nothing but friendliness from
the good people of Hull.
Once inside the Stadium there was live Villa V Chelsea
match on the screens and plenty of pies and pints in the kiosks. One
disappointment is that the club
don't sell the balti pies, but there was the usual suspects including
cheese and onion pasties for us veggys. Inside, the stadium is breathtaking. Completely enclosed and very impressive.
The PA announcer does his best to whip up some enthusiasm and is quite
effective with the medley of footy type songs that are played up to kick off.
Just before the teams enter the arena he welcomes the away supporters and
introduces the three home stands to us culminating
in the East Stand who made as much noise as possible to intimidate us. The
teams come on to some gladiatorial music and all in all a sense of occasion is
created. Excellent!
During the game I found the Hull fans to generally be fairly quiet, however
the team definitely had an off day even though they beat us 2-1.
I found the seat treads to be less than generous to anyone with a
big backside like mine!
and perhaps I wouldn't have enjoyed being squashed
too closely if Blackpool had brought a large following. At the end of the game
we were held back a few minutes while the home fans were cleared. Again Sky
sports was left on in the concourse and we were
able to find out that Carlisle had drawn again! Good move this, one that the
miserable sods that run Bloomfield Road could follow.
We had a trouble free walk back to the car and were out of the car park in 5
minutes. After the game we had a run round the local run down streets and
visited The Boulevard, former home to Hull RLFC. I was delighted to find that
they were preparing for greyhound racing that evening and we were able to gain
access to the Threepenny Stand for a look around. Hard to believe this place
was staging Super League rugby two years ago. Still in good nick though and
the pitch was marked out and ready to play on.
A further five minutes brought
us to Kwik Save and Boothferry Park. Couldn't get access here, but did manage
to peer through the gates to see the overgrown pitch and the crumbling South
Terrace. Also managed to have a look at the former Boothferry Park rail halt
which is also crumbling away. A good day out this one all in all bought medium
haddock and chips on the way out of town. The haddock was about the size of a
small whale and we paid a visit to the Humber Bridge observation point too
which is ok if you like big structures (I do) Yeah it was
a good day out. |
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