‘Pack up tight and we’ll get another 2,000 in’ - new digital archive reveals life on the terraces for Hull City fans
PAGES OF HISTORY: The programme cover for Hull City’s first match at Boothferry Park
IT’S hard to say what’s more striking – the sheer optimism that jumps off the page, the super hero athleticism of the man kicking the ball into a cloudless blue sky, or the fact there’s not a shred of Black or Amber on his kit.
But to the more knowledgeable Hull City fan, the most significant element of this match day programme is not the visit of Lincoln City, or the 6d price of the programme itself, but the date at the foot of the page – August 31, 1946.
In general terms, a world war had been won and it was time to return to pressing domestic matters, like football. But here in Hull there were other reasons for cheer, for this day marked the first ever game at the iconic Boothferry Park, and the launch of what was effectively a new association football club.
It really was, as it says, a “Souvenir Programme”. And it is now among hundreds of Hull City programmes that are being preserved for posterity in an online archive, publicly and freely available to view as part of The Hull City AFC Database Project, tigerbase.hullcity.com.
Run by Matt Wales, the website is non-profit making and independent of the club, with the programme side of it sourced and developed by lifelong City fans Martin Batchelor, 63, and Andy Medcalf, 52.
It’s user friendly, easy to locate any programme that’s up there. There’s even a button that allows you to flip through the pages to see the programme in its entirety. As well as information about the clubs involved, the programmes are also a remarkable record of social history. “It’s like a window into another world,” said Martin.
The first game at Boothferry Park programme contains a centre-spread of a detailed plan for the wider development of the ground, with covered stands and “Boothferry Park Station”, which never quite came to fruition.
The inside cover suggests the state of play in the wider city, with an advert stating: “The really modern home is serviced by electricity.” It adds that “advice is available at your Electricity Showrooms” in Ferensway. Guests included Chief Constable Thomas Wells Esq, with entertainment provided by the “Band of The 2nd Btn. The East Yorkshire Regt”.
One of the most valuable is a rare programme from a Cup replay at New Brighton on December 4, 1946. The back cover contains an “SOS” from the home club, saying: “The inclement weather has played havoc with the player’s [sic] jerseys etc., and the management are in urgent need of Clothing Coupons.”
Ten days later, City played at Darlington in the Second Round of the FA Cup – for which the programme was just a single black and white piece of paper. It was not just this that made its survival so unlikely. Martin said: “Because there was a paper shortage after the war, they had skips and bins to put your programme in on the way out to recycle your paper, so that’s why few survived, which makes it even more remarkable.”
Some programmes have been annotated by their original owner, some of whom diligently recorded statistics such as the score and crowd. Another has a comment that for some will echo down the ages: “Dreadful game.”
The oldest programme in the collection marks the visit of “Middlesbro’” on February 5, 1926, which retailed at the time for “two pence”. The fixture looks almost like an afterthought to the main front page image - an advert for a “Weather Coat” from Wood Bros in Whitefriargate, featuring an image of a shotgun and fishing rod.
Martin originally set out with the aim of obtaining every programme since the year of his birth in 1956. Then he extended it to every programme since 1946. Now he’s going after them all. He still remembers vividly the first game he attended at Boothferry Park with his father Cliff in 1966, a 1-0 win against Southend. “I’d never seen floodlights over grass so green,” he said. “There were over 30,000 there – I’d never been in such a big crowd before – the noise, the smell. I’d never been near so many men smelling of beer.”
Few City fans have made such an auspicious debut. It was a Championship-winning side. “I was a glory-hunting ten-year-old,” he said. “I got a programme and I’ve still got it. They scored over 100 goals that season, with five players reaching double figures, and they got to the Quarter-Final of the Cup.”
Some of the programmes reveal how little concern there was for the health and safety of fans. Martin said: “It was, ‘Don’t be selfish, pack up. If everybody moved a bit closer to each other we could get another two-thousand in’.”
Another bit of advice was: “After the recent fire please extinguish your cigarettes.” “There were regular fires at football grounds,” Martin said.
Martin believes more recent programmes lack the charm and integrity of older versions. “I’m not a great fan of modern programmes,” he said. “There are an awful lot of adverts and not a great deal of content. There is very little local advertising, it’s all multinationals and sponsors.”
AWAY DAYS: The programme for the Europa League clash with AS Trencin in 2014
Martin and Andy are inviting anyone who can fill in gaps in the programme database to scan or send photographs of missing programmes on email to programmes@hullcity.com. “It would be shame to lose this,” Martin said. The days of buying an actual match day programme may soon be coming to an end, with some clubs looking at electronic versions.
Martin, who is originally from Anlaby, has barely missed a game home or away for the last 25 years, which includes the commute from his home in Oxford. He has been to about 120 different grounds following his beloved Tigers. Asked to name his favourite away ground, Martin looks blankly for a moment. Then his smile returns as he says: “I don’t have one. I could tell you my favourite pub before the game…”