Ahead of Friday’s clash against the Robins, Hull FC’s Club Historian Bill Dalton takes a look back at the history of the Good Friday Derby…
I have no doubt that our supporters, like myself, always look forward to the Good Friday fixture. It was always a looked-forward-to event and there have certainly been a fair number of memorable contests over the Easter weekend.
The first Good Friday match that Hull FC played in was at Holderness Road on 27th March 1891, against Liversedge, winning 11-5. Prior to that, religious considerations dissuaded sportsmen from partaking in sport on that day.
By the time the Northern Union was founded, Good Friday had become part of the calendar for Rugby League and Hull met the Bradford club on 3rd April 1896 at The Boulevard.
To supporters of my generation, Good Friday has always been synonymous with a derby fixture. The first encounter with Hull KR on that day was on 21st April 1905 at Craven Street, the Airlie Birds taking the points with an 11-6 win.
It might be remembered that during the Robins’ hard times in the 1950’s, their home derby encounters was played at Boothferry Park. The first of those seven fixtures was on Good Friday, 3rd April 1953 and Hull were again successful, by 13-2, before the Red & Whites record “home” attendance of 27,670.
Indeed, Hull won six of the seven, although only three of the Boothferry Park encounters were on Good Friday, the last being on 27th March 1959 when Hull romped home by 24-12, only 6 days after beating the Robins at the Boulevard in the quarter-final of the Challenge Cup.
The Good Friday Derby encounters continued on for pretty much all the rest of my lifetime supporting Hull FC, except of course when the two clubs found themselves in different divisions.
While the Easter weekend double-header is now a thing of the past, the practice of playing more than once over this period was a common occurrence in past years. The Hull Derby at Craven Park on Good Friday 1969 resulted in a 10-10 draw; on the next day, Hull’s visit to Dewsbury brought a 10-5 victory, followed by another 16-9 win over Doncaster at The Boulevard on Easter Monday! With Castleford needing to complete their programme of fixtures, disrupted by their Challenge Cup run to Wembley, they arranged their outstanding fixture against Hull for 31st March – FC’s fourth match in five days.
In the Super League era, there have been seven derby meetings on the actual Good Friday, with two more on Easter Thursday – FC have taken the spoils on four occasions.
How To Buy Tickets
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Unreserved tickets are also available from our St Stephen’s Shopping Centre.
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