My unbiased assessment of fans from Hull

[gpartin]

I've lived in Hull for nearly 4 years and have had regular discussions about rugby in general with Hull FC fans, and more recently, Rovers fans. I regularly wear my Wigan shirt with no problems whatsoever. One day I was sat in a pub in Hull city centre after a Hull and Bradford game and I was wearing my Wigan shirt, when a group of about 20 'not to be messed with' Hull fans came into the pub. The Hull chanting stopped and having ordered their beers they all came over and sat around me so I was trapped in the corner, to be honest I was bricking it!

The first thing that was said was 'alright mate?' I went on to have a discussion with them for about an hour and half about different players, predictions of league positions and the like. My experience with Hull fans has always been like this, in whichever pub, or wherever I see them.

Rovers on the other hand seem to have a real arrogance about them (I know there are exceptions to the rule). One discussion I had with a Rovers fan (just after Rovers' impressive start to the season), and this is just one example, went along the lines of:

Me: Glad to see Rovers doing well, its good for the city.
Rovers fan: Yeah, we'll beat them black and white B######s.
Me: The problem is when teams start doing well they can get complacent and start to think of certain games as easy and end up getting beaten.
Rovers fan: Do you honestly think Justin Morgan is going to allow his team to get complacent?
Me: I don't know that for a fact but it happens to the best of teams.
Rovers fan: You obviously don't know Rovers then...
End of conversation

No I don't know Rovers, I don't know Rovers because even though I have lived in Hull 3 years and been over here every weekend for the last five years, its only the last 6 months or so that any of these so called fans have had the pride in their club enough to wear a Rovers shirt in the city centre. And now they're everywhere, perhaps if these shirt buyers had been supporting their club over the last 15 years, it wouldn't have taken as long for Rovers to get into Super League. I'm also not overly convinced that if I went out for a few drinks on the Rovers side of town with my Wigan shirt on, the reaction would be anywhere near as amiable as that of
not just the majority, but every single Hull fan I have ever met.

Rugby League fans need to accept that all clubs have their rogue element.. The worst trouble I have ever seen in 20 odd years of watching rugby was Wigan 'fans' at Old Trafford against Bradford. This was unreported in the papers but my family and I left at half time because it was so bad!

[Mike]

Contrairy to your experiences, IMO Hull FC fans are nasty. Every time I've been there in the last 2 seasons there has been an incident, most recently rocks were thrown at my car whilst I was leaving the ground. I didn't go to the Boulevard as it was common for the Wigan caoch to be pelted with bricks after the game. I thought I'd see if there KFC stadium had civilised them but apparently not.

[wigan_twins]

Most fans get along as did we last hoilday. Me and dad was walking back from the super market on hoilday and a London fan walked past us and we had a good 15min convo with him about wigan and London and ended up sneaking into a posh hotel to watch the match on sky But then there will allways be the few spoons who have to spoil it!!!!

[gpartin]

I live on the Boulevard and have done for nearly 4 years. There are idiots in the area no doubt, but the fans are great and passionate about Rugby League. I live amongst them and work with them so I am not talking isolated incidents.

[fitzy]

fair enough it sounds like most hull fan's are allright but every club has some idiot's who call themselves supporters and just go to get drunk and cause agro these are the scumbags of rugby league :conf:

[- psycho -]

there was a lad at our school who supported saints and iv always got on with him.

however, hull fc fans don't strike me to be great followers of rugby league and it's many rules. hull KR fans are no angles either, my dad went when he was younger (late teens early 20s) and my nan and grandad's mini that they had was being jumped on by hull fans and pushed, trying to push it over, my dad wanted to get out and hit them (he aint small as wigan twins).

on the other hand, salford fans don't strike me as a good bunch either. i remember last season (snowy night if anyone remembers). outside the ground they were throwing stones, snow, anything they could fidn tot hrow at the coaches and cars they were donig so. awful set of fans. not all of them, but quite a few can spoil the bunch.

[Shevi 4 life]

every sport will have them you can guarantee it but these days football seems to get the most uncivilised fans

[adrenalinxx]

Crowd trouble seems to be a bit of a problem with Hull FC, we saw them fighting at the JJB last season. There have been reports of crowd trouble in other grounds as well, also they invaded the pitch and pulled down the posts after they lost to Leeds in a Challenge Cup match in 2000.

I agree that every clubs has some idiot at matches but Hull FC fans seem to be more aggressive than most but then again I would be a bit angry if I lived in Hull, it was voted Britain's worst town/city a few years ago.

[mike binder]

never had a problem with any of them ,come to that never had a problem with any 1 in the RL family ,seen a few scarey incidents but never been involved with any ,had a great day out with the hull fab=ns at cardiff a couple of seasons ago

[warrior till i die]

personally i think all fans are decent and you can have a good chat with them then they get on the beers and thats when the arguements happen,as with everyone with beer! salford fans can be portrayed as bad fans but last year i went to salford and wire and was in the salford end at the halliwell jones with my wigan top on. Me and their red army had a good conversation about millward and everything and they even ended up buying me a drink!