Later today, instead of paying fifty quid to see The Tigers entertain the reigning Premier League champions, I'll be heading off to the village of Bentley near Doncaster, where my local team Easington United meet Bentley Colliery in a Central Midlands League North fixture.
The Avenue has been a decent ground for us in recent years, with a 2-1 win on each of our last three visits. Making the most recent of these, in April, more enjoyable, was the post-match hospitality provided by the nearby Jet Club. For the host at this establishment was none other than former Tiger, Stuart Croft.
According to Douglas Lamming's "A Who's Who of Hull City AFC 1904-1984", Crofty joined City as an apprentice before turning full professional in April 1972. He remained a City player for nearly a decade before joining Portsmouth in March 1981.
Lamming says: "Developed into a very useful central defender, permanently supplanting Steve Deere in the mid-1970s. Mostly a regular thereafter until his departure to Pompey but left the League scene in a matter of months."
A brief stint at York followed before the player saw out his days with non-league Bridlington Trinity.
Stuart Croft was a member of the first City side I ever saw, against Fulham at Boothferry Park in 1975, as well as in most of the teams I saw in action for a few years thereafter.
Prominent among my memories of the man, however, was the goal he scored at Elland Road in December 1980. Along with an effort from much-maligned young striker Craig Norrie, it helped City overcome non-league Blyth Spartans at the third attempt. It was also my first "away game" watching City, as recounted below in an extract from my, er, forthcoming book...
FA Cup 2nd Round 2nd Replay:
City 2 Blyth Spartans 1
I’d actually attended Boothferry Park Grimsby Town
City exited the competition following
defeat at Sheffield United and a draw with Chesterfield Lincoln
Another four months were to elapse
before I found myself back in the ground and standing on Bunkers Hill with my
mate Al to watch City eke out a nervy 2-1 win over Halifax Town
 |
| The programme for the first of three meetings 13/12/1980 |
Les Mutrie’s late strike cancelled out
Keith Edwards’ early goal in a 1-1 draw at Boothferry Park
As was the format back then, the teams
reconvened for a second replay on a neutral ground. The venue in question was Elland Road Leeds and on 22nd December 1980 I attended what could be
termed my first City “away” match.
As the self-styled ‘Cottingham Tiger’
recalled in a City fanzine some years later, the game has gone down in Hull supporters’
folklore on account of the “infamous British Rail football special with its
unofficial stop and pick-up at Hessle Road flyover, the scenes at the final
whistle and on the motorway as we all celebrated a small piece of overdue
success”[i].
It was quite surreal to be stood on the
Gelderd End, Leeds fans’ own “Spion Kop”, with a couple of thousand Hull City Blyth
returned home with reputation enhanced and Mike Smith, in perhaps his best decision
as manager, immediately signed Les Mutrie for City.
The third round draw threw up a home game
with Yorkshire rivals Doncaster Rovers,
managed by Billy Bremner. It drew a near-11,000 crowd to Boothferry Park
 |
| From the City v Doncaster prog, FA Cup 3rd Round, 03/01/1981 |
I had travelled to Leeds for the Blyth game ‘door-to-door’ thanks to the fact that
Easington bus company Connor & Graham was the operator chosen for use by
coach organiser Simon Gray. Simon was – and still is – something of a cult
figure among a generation of City supporters thanks partly to his trademark
“red and white jacket” but mainly due to his insatiable appetite for organising
coaches, which would enable him to follow his team almost anywhere. It’s
impossible to say just how much this must have cost him over the years;
especially when I remember the pitiful numbers present on some of those I
travelled on at the time.
That particular night’s coach to Leeds was full and everyone was in good spirits as we
arrived at the ground. Everyone that is except Simon whose walk across the
coach park was interrupted by an irate man who I later realised must have been the infamous “Mad Eddie”. Bus driver for the City Psychos referred to in Shaun
Tordoff’s Hull
My regular “Tiger Trekking” days were
about to begin…
[i] From “Home Alone – The 1980’s”, Issue 3 of
the Tiger Rag fanzine
[ii] Hull ’s famous independent
record store based under the City Hall
[iii] ‘City Psychos - From the Monte
Carlo Mob to the Silver Cod Squad: Four decades of Terrace Terror’
According to what I was told on my last visit, Stuart has been "mine host" at The Jet for over a decade. On the evidence of our meeting in April, he remains a most genial chap who couldn't wait to reminisce about his City days when prompted. Depending on our performance at Bentley today, I may just get in early to have another catch-up with the man again...
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