Boothferry Park
Fer Ark
Location	Hull, England
Opened	1946
Owner
Surface	Grass
Tenants	Hull City (1946-2002) Kwik Save Iceland
Capacity	15,160

Boothferry Park was a football stadium in Kingston upon Hull, and was home to the football club Hull City for over 50 years from 31 August 1946 until December 2002, when they moved to the Kingston Communications Stadium. Kingston upon Hull ( almost invariably referred England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hull City Association Football Club are an English football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. This article describes the now defunct UK-based chain There are also several unrelated shops of the same name in the United States Iceland is a Supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, partly owned by the Icelandic retailer conglomerate Baugur. Kingston upon Hull ( almost invariably referred Hull City Association Football Club are an English football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. Events 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill dying suddenly a few days later without children to succeed the Throne Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Kingston Communications Stadium, often shortened to KC Stadium or just the KC, is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull (Hull

Kwik Save and Iceland supermarkets form part of the stadium's structure. This article describes the now defunct UK-based chain There are also several unrelated shops of the same name in the United States Iceland is a Supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, partly owned by the Icelandic retailer conglomerate Baugur. Parts of the ground were finally demolished in early 2008, more than five years after the last game was played there, though other parts remain due to the existence of the supermarkets. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common

History

The planning years

The ground was originally planned in 1929, and work began on the site from 1932 based near the River Humber. The Humber is a large tidal Estuary on the east coast of northern England Financial difficulties severely hampered this development, with the playing area and part of the terracing appearing over the following 12 months before work and progress ground to a halt. A terrace or terracing in sporting terms refers to the traditional standing area of a sports stadium particularly in the United Kingdom and Ireland. A proposal in 1939 for a sports stadium on the site was the catalyst for further development, as even though this threw up doubt for the original stadium plans, no suitable financial offer for the land was forthcoming, and instead the Hull City board enquired after, and were granted, a Football Association loan to the sum of £6,600. The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey This meant the new ground would be ready for the opening of the 1941 season.

The onset of World War II was to again frustrate the development of the football ground, as during the war, the ground was used by the Home Guard, and was, for a period, used to repair tanks. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The British Home Guard (initially "Local Defence Volunteers" or LDV, or in slang Look-Duck-Vanish, hence the name change was a defence This, not unexpectedly, had an adverse effect on the playing area - following the end of the war, the pitch was in very poor shape and prone to waterlogging.

Building materials were hard to come by in the postwar years for something as "frivolous" as a football stadium in the heavily-bombed city, this and the state of the pitch meant that the ground was still not in a usable state by the 1945/46 season, so the club was forced to return to playing its matches at one of its former homes, The Boulevard, the then home of Hull F.C., one of the city's two the rugby league clubs. The Boulevard is a multi-use Stadium in Hull, England. The venue was saved from demolition and reopened on 25 October 2007 as the Hull FC is a professional Rugby league football club formed in 1865 and based in Hull, East Yorkshire, England.

The ground is opened and building continues

The ground was opened in August 1946, 17 years after its initial proposal, but only had planning permission for one stand along the west side with an upper cost limit of £17,000. The ground was still not fully completed and it became a race against time to make the stadium ready for its opening match against visiting Lincoln City. Lincoln City FC are an English football team currently playing in Football League Two (the fourth tier of the English football league system

Twenty-thousand people gathered to watch the opening ceremony performed by the city's lord mayor. By 1948 the attendance record had swelled to 40,179 as the stadium hosted visitors Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. Middlesbrough Football Club, also known as The Boro are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Premier League. The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after

The terracing embankments were raised and by February 1949 a ground and club record which still stands was hit - 55,019 turned out to watch Hull play Manchester United. Due to the overwhelming crowd, ferries had to be employed to take fans away from the ground as the streets near 'Fer Ark' became clogged. This gave the team one of their nicknames, The Ferrymen, which can be seen as a double entendre on Boothferry Park as well.

The locally famous Boothferry Halt opened in 1951. Boothferry Park Halt railway station was a British railway station which opened in 1951 on an embankment of the former Hull and Barnsley Railway to serve the Year 1951 ( MCMLI) was a Common year starting on Monday. Events of 1951 January The ground now had its own railway station, its first use being a fixture against Everton when six trains ran the football service between Paragon Station, Hull's central railway station and Boothferry Park. Everton Football Club is an English football club located in the city of Liverpool. Hull Paragon Interchange is a major transportation complex in the city of Kingston upon Hull (usually known as Hull England. At the same time, work proceeded on the covering of the North Stand.

The East Terrace was the next to be covered, albeit with a temporary structure. This temporary structure was never replaced, and stood throughout the years of the ground. With the three stands completed, the ground was now suited to a floodlight installation. Two gantries housing 96 lamps were built, one on the west and one opposite on the east following a licence being granted. Although this lighting system was the envy of many clubs, advancements in stadium lighting came rapidly, and the system soon needed replacement. A six pylon system replaced the old gantries in 1963.

The new lights were used for the first time in 1964, using 4 of the 6 available, in an evening match against Barnsley which ended in a 7-0 win for the Tigers. Barnsley Football Club is an English football club based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and nicknamed the Tykes, with Toby Tyke

In 1965 a new South Stand was built over the Bunker's Hill Terrace. The new two-tiered structure included a propped cantilever roof, 2,500 seats in the upper tier and terracing for 4,000 more in the lower tier. A cantilever is a beam supported on only one end The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and Shear stress. The new stand was arguably the best stand at Boothferry Park, and a reminder of the golden days in the declining years to come.

The lights of boothferry park

Demolition

Demolition of the ground eventually started on 10 January 2008 and took nine weeks to complete. Events 49 BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Now only the North Stand and the terracing on the South and East Stands remain along with the floodlights. ^[1][2][3]

Boothferry Park being demolished in March 2008

Records

The highest attendance before the new stand was built was 40,179 in 1948 when Hull City played Middlesbrough in the F. A Cup. 55,019 witnessed the visit of Manchester United when the height of the terracing was increased.

Nicknames

FER ARK

The stadium became affectionately known by supporters as "Fer Ark" in its later days, due to the lack of finances for maintenance (which also meant the scoreboard didn't actually show the score throughout the match), which meant that only those letters were illuminated on the large "boothFERry pARK" signage.

Bothferry

Another nickname is "Bothferry" - this came around when the second "o" fell off the stadium sign, as shown in the picture.

Boothferry Park from the car park with the "o" off it.

Boothferry Park from the road outside the stadium with the "o" off it.

Trivia

Boothferry Park once hosted an FA Cup 2nd replay between Leeds United and Sunderland. Leeds United Association Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Leeds United or informally Leeds, are an English professional football Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional Association football team based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, which plays in on 20 March 1967 over 40,000 fans attended and Leeds won 2–1. Events 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. It was standard procedure in the pre penalty shoot-out days for 2nd and subsequent replays to be held on neutral grounds. On 16 February 1972 Boothferry Park hosted a full international match between Northern Ireland and Spain. Events 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The result was drawn at 1–1.

Boothferry Park was also the scene of a rugby league international when it hosted the 1st ashes test of the 1982 Kangaroo Tour between Great Britain and Australia. History See also History of rugby league The grass roots of rugby league can be traced to early football history, through the playing of ball games Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian Rugby league tours of Great Britain and France See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Aussies ran in 8 tries to nil in a 40-4 thrashing watched by a vocal crowd of 26,771.

References

External links

• History of Hull City Boothferry Park on official website
• Boothferry Park on Worldstadia.com
• Demolition photographs