Craven Park, Hull

Hull College Craven Park Stadium (formerly known as KCOM Craven Park) is the home of the Hull Kingston Rovers R.F.C. It is situated on Preston Road in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.

Not to be confused with Craven Park, Barrow-in-Furness or Old Craven Park.

Craven Park
Former namesMS3 Craven Park
KC/KCOM Lightstream Stadium
KCOM Craven Park
LocationKingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, HU9 5HE, England
Coordinates53°45′14″N 0°15′53″W
OwnerHull City Council/Hull Kingston Rovers
OperatorHull Kingston Rovers
Capacity12,225[1]
SurfaceGrass
Opened1989
Tenants
Hull Kingston Rovers (1989–present)
Hull Vikings (1995–2005)
Hull United (2015–2016)[2]

History

Hull Kingston Rovers moved to the new ground in 1989 from the Old Craven Park which was sited on Holderness Road.[3] The stadium was the former home to the Hull Vikings speedway team, but they left when the ground was refurbished for the Hull Kingston Rovers use in the Super League. The first match was played against Trafford Borough packing in a full capacity 8,500 crowd to watch. Rovers convincingly started the new era, and in that season were crowned Division Two champions.[4]

In 2006 the ground and pitch were substantially improved as the club sought a return to the top flight of English rugby league. Plans for the Hull Kingston Rovers to move from Craven Park to a new purpose-built rugby league stadium to be constructed at a new, unconfirmed site were suggested in 2007, but shortly after this, Hull City Council, in partnership with Kingston Community Developments Limited and the Hull Kingston Rovers, announced that terms for lease agreements had been reached to support the long-term future of Craven Park. These terms enabled investment and development of the stadium to move forward.

The initial phase of redeveloping Craven Park was the lease purchase of a temporary seated stand which replaced the use of the inadequate south terrace for visiting away fans. The Hull Kingston Rovers' second season in the Super League coincided with work beginning on the extension of the standing terraced East Stand. This extension increased the capacity of the stand by 1,120 bringing its overall capacity to 4,750. A similar extension to the opposite end of the stand was completed in 2009.

A new purpose built South Stand is likely to house away supporters. This would allow the new North Stand to be used by home fans. A new South Stand is likely to have a capacity of around 2,500 with facilities that will take the club forward. Designs are yet to be announced, but it is likely to be a terraced stand. An extension to the East Stand and a new purpose built South Stand will take the grounds capacity to 14,500, which would see Craven Park become the 5th largest ground in Super League.

On Good Friday 2018 a new Craven Park attendance record was set, beating the previous record of just under 12,000 against the Leeds Rhinos. 12,090 packed into the stadium to witness cross city rivals Hull FC beat the Robins.[5]

Layout

Colin Hutton North Stand
Colin Hutton North Stand.

Capacity- 2,600 (seated)
The North Stand was originally a temporary stand that was erected after the ground ceased being used as an athletic venue. In 2013, the new £8 million Colin Hutton North Stand opened for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup game between Papua New Guinea and France. The North Stand also deliver an Enterprise Business Centre and Training Centre. There are 42 fully furnished offices which make up the Enterprise Units, all of which are located on different floors within the North Stand.

Roger Millward West Stand
Roger Millward West Stand.

Capacity- 5,000 (seated)
The West Stand includes the main seated stand a small terraced area below executive boxes, which holds around 500 fans. The stand houses the stadium's main changing rooms that were redeveloped before the 2014 season to improve the size and facilities of the changing room. Inside the stand there is the Robins Nest & Harry Poole bar for home and away fans. This is a restaurant with pitch side views and exclusive player and coach interviews after a match. The stand also houses the TV gantry.

Joinery Depot East Stand
Joinery Depot East Stand.

Capacity- (standing)
The East Stand is considered the Kop end of the ground and is covered terrace that runs almost the full length of the pitch. The right side was extended in 2008, and the left side is due for future expansion, although no date has been given.[6]

Academics South Terrace
Academics South Terrace.

Capacity- (standing)
There is currently a small stand in the south end of the ground that goes around where the greyhound track was. While the stand has fallen out of usage, it is opened up for games with high attendance, for example, derby games. Future plans are to build a permanent stand behind the sticks for away fans.

Naming rights

On 25 January 2014, Hull Kingston Rovers announced that it had secured a new stadium naming rights partnership with local communications provider, KC.[7] Under a five-year agreement, Craven Park was renamed the KC Lightstream Stadium (following re-branding, it became the KCOM Lightstream Stadium), not to be confused with the KCOM Stadium in the west of the city. On 3 February 2017, it was renamed again, and is now known as KCOM Craven Park.[8]

On 21 August 2019 Hull Kingston Rovers announced a new partnership with Hull College, which will also see the stadium become known as Hull College Craven Park Stadium in a link-up that will also provide a life-changing opportunity to the club's existing senior and junior players, as well as bring new faces into the academy.[9]

YearsSponsorName
2014–2016KCOMKCOM Lightstream Stadium
2017–2019KCOM Craven Park
2019Hull CollegeHull College Craven Park Stadium

Usage

Concerts

Westlife will be performing in the stadium on 10 July 2020 for their "Stadiums in the Summer Tour" for the first time. Sir Tom Jones will also be performing on 13 June 2020.[10]

Rugby League

Hull Kingston Rovers moved to the new ground in 1989 from the Old Craven Park which was sited on Holderness Road.[3] The stadium was the former home to the Hull Vikings speedway team, but they left when the ground was refurbished for Hull Kingston Rovers use in the Super League. The first match was played against Trafford Borough packing in a full capacity 8,500 crowd to watch. Rovers convincingly started the new era, and in that season were crowned Division Two champions.[4]

Football

On 21 October 2015, it was announced that Non-League football team Hull United A.F.C. will play their home games at the stadium.[2]

Greyhound racing

The greyhound racing operation followed Hull Kingston Rovers to their new home from Old Craven Park after it closed in 1989.[11] The first race meeting was held on 11 November 1989.[12] The management team of John Kennedy and Roy Thickett had overseen the move and set up racing for Monday, Thursday and Saturday nights. The new circuit had a circumference of 415 metres and race distances of 290, 462, 490, 655 & 705 metres. Prentice Racing came in as new promoters during the nineties but the racing switched to the Boulevard Stadium in 2003.[13] Both the speedway and greyhound tracks were grassed over.

Track records

Distance
yards		 Greyhound Time Date
240Curaghator Lad14.7112 May 1998
290Handsome Dan17.5723 November 1989
462Gulleen Darkie28.655 February 1990
490Bally Fever30.221989
490Macsea Tom30.0517 May 1990
655Appleby Lantern41.435 March 1990
655Fearless Misty41.242002
705Hot News45.001989
705Dalcash Duke44.9812 July 1990
875Supporting Blue57.6729 November 1990
875Spenwood Gem57.3715 July 2001
1070Ridgefield Dream72.0020 March 1997

Speedway
Main article: Hull Vikings

Speedway arrived in 1995 hosting the Hull Vikings but finished in 2005.

Boxing

In 2015, Craven Park hosted the 'Rumble on the Humber', where after ten rounds, Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell defeated local rival Tommy Coyle, with crowds numbering around about 15,000.[14]

Quidditch

On 26 August 2017, Craven Park hosted the first ever Championship fixture of the Quidditch Premier League. The fixture involved eight teams from two regional divisions (North Division and South Division),[15] and the winners were the West Midlands Revolution.[16][17]

Rugby league internationals

Craven Park has hosted six rugby league internationals.

The list of international rugby league matches played at Craven Park is:[18]

Game#DateResultAttendanceNotes
129 October 2000 Fiji def.  Russia 38–122,1872000 Rugby League World Cup Group 1
215 November 2000 Morocco def.  Japan 12–82000 Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament
33 November 2012 England def.  France 44–67,1732012 England vs France[19]
427 October 2013 France def.  Papua New Guinea 9–87,4812013 Rugby League World Cup Group B
54 November 2013 Samoa def.  Papua New Guinea 38–46,8712013 Rugby League World Cup Group B[20]
628 October 2016 Australia def.  Scotland 54–125,3372016 Rugby League Four Nations[21]

References
  1. "Stadium capacity increased". Hull Kingston Rovers. 15 April 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  2. "Hull United move to Hull KR's KC Lightstream Stadium". Hull Daily Mail. 21 October 2015. Archived from the original on 26 October 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  3. "Ground guide – Lightstream Stadium". Love Rugby League.com. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  4. "Club Honours". Hull Kingston Rovers. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  5. "Super League: Hull KR 22-30 Hull FC". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 March 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  6. "Hull KR: East stand extension ready to start". Hull Daily Mail. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  7. "Hull KR: Craven Park becomes KC Lightstream Stadium". Hull Daily Mail. 24 January 2014. Archived from the original on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  8. "Hull KR's Lightstream Stadium to be renamed KCOM Craven Park". Hull Daily Mail. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  9. "Hull KR's KCOM Stadium to be renamed Hull College Craven Park". Hull Daily Mail. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  10. "Tom Jones announces huge Hull gig at Craven Park". Hull Daily Mail. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  11. "Closures and openings over the past 10 years, July 1993, page 18". Greyhound Star. 1993.
  12. Barnes, Julia (1991). Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File. Ringpress Books. p. 64. ISBN 0-948955-61-9.
  13. Hobbs, Jonathan (2003). Greyhound Annual 2004. Raceform. p. 158. ISBN 1-904317-21-9.
  14. "Luke Campbell beats Tommy Coyle in 'Rumble on the Humber' fight". ITV. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  15. "Divisions & Teams". Quidditch Premier League. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  16. "West Midlands Revolution crowned Champions!". Quidditch Premier League. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  17. "West Midlands Revolution crowned champions of first ever Quidditch Premier League". ITV News. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  18. Craven Park at Rugby League Project
  19. Hudson, Elizabeth (3 November 2012). "Autumn International Series: England 44–6 France". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  20. "Rugby League World Cup 2013 fixtures announced". Code 13 Rugby League. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  21. "Hull KR's Lightstream Stadium to host Australia v Scotland Four Nations opener". Hull Daily Mail. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
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