The Boulevard (stadium)

Rugby league

The Boulevard was mainly used for rugby league matches and was the home stadium of Hull F.C. before the opening of KC Stadium. The main entrance was on Airlie Street, giving rise to Hull FC's nickname as 'the Airlie Birds'. When it closed, the stadium's capacity was 10,500 spectators.

The ground consisted of three stands, the most popular being the 4,000 capacity Threepenny Stand, where the majority of singing and chanting occurred. It was given its name when the stadium opened as it was 3 old pence for entry. In July 1985, following the Bradford City stadium fire, the Threepenny Stand was closed due to the stand being a wooden structure.^[1] Following club and fan appeals, the stand was partially reopened with a severely reduced capacity of 1,500 the following September, with fans only permitted to use the bottom four steps of concrete terracing.^[2] The Threepenny Stand was partially demolished ahead of the opening of a new stand in November 1990,^[3][4] an all-seater stand by order of Kingston upon Hull City Council under the recommendations of the Taylor Report,^[5] and the remaining quarter of the old stand was demolished in 1995 to facilitate a standing terrace extension to the new stand.^[6]

The final match of rugby league at The Boulevard was a 2003 Challenge Cup third round fixture between Skirlaugh A.R.L.F.C. and York City Knights on 26 January 2003, moved to The Boulevard due to Skirlaugh's home venue at the Twin Towers Sports Complex in Hedon not being able to support a larger capacity.^[7] York City Knights recorded their first ever win as a club by defeating Skirlaugh 20–8 in front of an attendance of 943 spectators.^[8]

Test matches

The Boulevard also hosted four matches in various Rugby League World Cups, as well as various Test matches against visiting nations such as Australia and New Zealand:^[9]

More information Test No., Date ...

Test No.	Date	Result	Attendance	Notes
1	5 November 1921	Australia def  Great Britain 16–2	21,504	1921–22 Ashes series
2	13 November 1927	England def  New Zealand 21–11	7,000	1926–27 England vs New Zealand series
3	25 October 1970	New Zealand def  France 16–15	3,824	1970 Rugby League World Cup Group Stage
4	6 March 1983	Great Britain def  France 17–5	6,055	1983 Great Britain vs France series
5	7 March 1992	Great Britain def  France 36–0	5,250	1989-1992 Rugby League World Cup Group Stage
6	10 October 1995	Papua New Guinea drew with  Tonga 28–28	5,121	1995 Rugby League World Cup Group B
7	23 October 1999	England def  France 50–20	3,068	1999 Anglo-French Challenge
8	4 November 2000	Australia def.  Russia 110–4	3,044	2000 Rugby League World Cup Group 1

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Tour matches

Other than Hull F.C. club games, The Boulevard also saw Hull and the county team Yorkshire and a combined Hull F.C. and Hull Kingston Rovers XIII play host to international touring teams from Australia (sometimes playing as Australasia) and New Zealand from 1907 to 2002, with the exception of the 1980 New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain and France, which was played at Boothferry Park. Hull F.C.'s final match played at The Boulevard was a test match against New Zealand on 22 October 2002 during New Zealand's 2002 tour, seeing Hull F.C. defeated 11–28 by the tourists.^[10]

More information Game, Date ...

Game	Date	Result	Attendance	Notes
1	16 November 1907	New Zealand def. Hull F.C. 18–13		1907–08 All Golds tour
2	5 November 1908	Australia def. Yorkshire 24–11	3,500	1908–09 Kangaroo Tour
3	30 January 1909	Hull F.C. def. Australia 9–8	10,000
4	4 November 1911	Australasia def. Hull F.C. 26–7	6,000	1911–12 Kangaroo tour
5	24 December 1921	Australasia def. Hull F.C. 26–10	12,000	1921–22 Kangaroo tour
6	4 November 1929	Australia def. Hull F.C. 35–2	10,000	1929–30 Kangaroo tour
7	25 December 1933	Australia def. Hull F.C. 19–5	16,341	1933–34 Kangaroo tour
8	23 October 1937	Australia def. Hull F.C. 22–12	15,000	1937–38 Kangaroo tour
9	23 September 1948	Australia def. Hull F.C. 13–3	16,616	1948–49 Kangaroo tour
10	8 September 1952	Australia def. Hull F.C. 28–0	15,364	1952–53 Kangaroo tour
11	15 October 1956	Australia def. Hull F.C. / Hull KR XIII 37–14	17,172	1956–57 Kangaroo tour
12	26 October 1959	Australia def. Hull F.C. / Hull KR XIII 29–9	15,944	1959–60 Kangaroo tour
13	12 October 1963	Australia def. Hull F.C. / Hull KR XIII 23–10	10,481	1963–64 Kangaroo tour
14	29 October 1978	Australia def. Hull F.C. 34–2	10,723	1978 Kangaroo tour
15	16 November 1982	Australia def. Hull F.C. 13–7	16,049	1982 Kangaroo tour
16	16 November 1986	Australia def. Hull F.C. 48–0	8,213	1986 Kangaroo tour
17	14 November 1990	Australia def. Hull F.C. 34–4	13,081	1990 Kangaroo tour
18	22 October 2002	New Zealand def. Hull F.C. 28–11	12,092	2002 New Zealand Kiwis tour

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Speedway

In 1971, promoter Ian Thomas brought back speedway to Hull for the first time since 1949. The Hull Vikings raced in the British League Division Two and it proved to be exceedingly popular with large crowds cheering on the team each Wednesday.^[11] Hull had the dubious distinction of being the last league speedway team ever to appear at the famous West Ham Stadium, on 23 May 1972, when they beat the closing Hammers 40–38. Subsequent years saw their promotion to the first division and the inclusion of world champions Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger and Egon Müller to ride for the team. Promotional changes, falling crowds and financial problems eventually saw the Vikings demise until their resurrection some years later at Hull's other rugby league and speedway stadium, Craven Park.

The Boulevard was also the host of the annual Yorkshire Television Trophy meeting during the 1970s, and early 1980s. With the British leagues home to not only the best British riders such as 1976 World Champion Peter Collins, 1980 World Champion Michael Lee, Dave Jessup and Malcolm Simmons, but also to many top class riders from around the world including World Champions Briggs, Mauger, Müller, Ole Olsen and Bruce Penhall, plus Billy Sanders, Dennis Sigalos, Shawn and Kelly Moran, and Phil Crump (the inaugural Yorkshire TV Trophy winner in 1974), the meetings often attracted fields which were as good in quality as many World Finals.

The 380 metres (420 yards) long speedway track surrounded the rugby league field without intersecting it at the corners. This saw the Boulevard have fast, almost 100 metre long straights and tight bends. The run off the corners onto the straights was narrow due to the fence not following the curve of the track but being straight from back in the turns.

Greyhound racing

2003–2009

In 2002, Hull F.C. moved to the newly opened KC Stadium, entering into a groundshare agreement with association football club Hull City A.F.C. and putting The Boulevard under imminent threat of closure. The greyhound operation had just finished at the New Craven Park and transferred to the Boulevard, saving the stadium from closure.^[14]

The track was constructed with a circumference of 387 m (1,270 ft) and distances of 270 m (890 ft), 460 m (1,510 ft), 655 m (2,149 ft) and 845 m (2,772 ft). Racing started in December 2003, with Friday and Saturday night racing under the supervision of Racing Manager, David Gray.

After Hull City Council refused to extend the greyhound racing lease, the stadium remained unused until 25 October 2007, when it reopened again under a three-year lease for the first time in 28 months. A £250,000 refurbishment of the stadium was carried out, racing changed to Thursday and Saturday nights, and Mick Smith was appointed as Racing Manager.^[15]

Other uses

The stadium has also been used for football with Hull City A.F.C. using the ground at times for their home matches. The football team moved out after finding a new home at Boothferry Park in August 1947.