Anlaby Road was a

sports venue A sports venue is a building, structure, or place in which a sporting competition is held. A stadium (plural: stadiums or stadia) or arena is a place or venue for sports or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely ...

in Hull. The ground was used for football club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

between 1906 and 1939. The record attendance was 32,000 in a

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

game against Newcastle United. The stands were bombed during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

but Hull City used the site for training and reserve matches until 1965, when a railway line was built over the pitch.

History

Hull City football club played its first game at Dairycoates then seventeen games at The Circle cricket ground. The club then moved to their own ground, Anlaby Road adjacent to the Circle. The ground was opened on 24 March 1906 with 2,000 spectators in covered stand for the visit of Blackpool, which ended in a 2–2 draw. The covered stand was extended to 8,000 by the start of the 1907–08 season with a further 8,000 capacity of uncovered terrace. The season passes for the first season cost one guinea (£1–1s–0d/£1.05). Over the next few years, parts of the north and east stands were covered over despite wind damage to several sections of the stand. On Easter Monday 1914, a few hours after a 0–2 defeat at home to Bury, a fire destroyed the main stand and it was only the considerable efforts of the

fire brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

that prevented the destruction of the north stand too. The cause was never determined though speculation included a carelessly discarded cigarette, arson and even the actions of suffragettes. The stand was replaced in the summer with a new brick and steel structure provided largely through the generosity of one of Hull City's directors, Bob Mungall. On 21 April 1934 after a 1–0 home defeat by Preston North End a crowd incident resulted in the ground being closed for the first fourteen days of the 1934–35 season. Hull City suspended their operations in 1941 as a result of the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. The ground was damaged during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

of Hull and estimated repair costs were in the region of £1,000. At the same time, the cricket club had been served notice to quit and in 1943, the tenancy was officially ended. The team then moved to

Boothferry Park Boothferry Park was a football stadium in Hull, England, which was home to Hull City A.F.C. from 1946 until 2002, when they moved to the KC Stadium. In later years, financial constraints forced Hull City to allow Kwik Save and Iceland superma ...

After closure

Although the Hull City first team never played at Anlaby Road again, football was played at the Circle until 1965. This included several war time fixtures, two seasons of use by Hull Amateurs and Junior matches for Hull City. The last game at the ground was played on 20 April 1965 and two days later it was demolished to make way for a section of rail track to link the East Coast line to

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

and allow the removal of three

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

s.Anlaby Road Website
/ref> Hull City AFC, along with Hull rugby league club, moved to the new Kingston Communications Stadium built on the land at Hull Circle in December 2002.

References

External links

Anlaby Road
{{Sport in Hull Hull City A.F.C. Defunct football venues in England Sports venues in Kingston upon Hull Sports venues completed in 1906 English Football League venues 1906 establishments in England