타이거즈의 꿈 | Dreams of the Tigers

Hull City AFC will spend its first ever season in English football’s top division in 2008-09 when it joins the English Premier League, (EPL), and for the club known as the Tigers this is quite an achievement. Even if the club finishes bottom of the EPL, it will be its most successful season ever as the club has never won a major trophy or even been in a major final.

Beginnings

Hull City Association Football Club was created in June 1904 in the city of Kingston-upon-Hull by the River Humber on the east coast of northern England. The city was, and still is, dominated by its two successful rugby league clubs, Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers, and so football has always struggled to establish itself in the city.

The club first played at The Boulevard, then the home of Hull FC, and played its first match in white shirts and black shorts against Notts County and drew 2-2 before a healthy crowd of 6 000. The friendship with the rugby club didn’t last, however, and so the club sought the help of a club from another sport and played at the cricket ground on Anlaby Road.

The club entered the Football League in 1905, joining the Second Division and finishing in a very respectable fifth place. The club adopted its traditional colours of black and amber, wearing a new kit of striped shirts and black shorts and quickly becoming known as the Tigers.

A new ground was built a year later opposite the cricket ground as the club continued to grow rapidly. Hull then had its most successful season ever in 1909-10 when it lost its final game 0-3 against its nearest rival, Oldham Athletic, and finished third, level on points with the victorious team but missing promotion on goal average by the minuscule margin of 0.29 of a goal. Sadly for the Tigers, the dream of promotion to the top flight remained only a dream.

Brief successes

The club’s greatest achievement previously was in 1930 when it reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup as a Second Division club, beating local rivals Leeds United as well as Manchester City and the mighty Newcastle United in the quarter-finals on the way, and held all-conquering Arsenal to a 2-2 draw at Elland Road before losing narrowly, 0-1, in the replay at Villa Park.

In 1933 the club won its first trophy, when it was champion of the Third Division (North) and then in 1949 it repeated the feat. Following this success the club moved into a new stadium on the site of an old golf course at Boothferry Park in 1946 and had crowds approaching 50 000 even in the lower divisions. Then came the visit of Manchester United on 26 February, 1949 which enticed a record 55 019 into the stadium.

Dreams and reality

It all turned sour pretty quickly, however, and the club spent several decades in the lower divisions, with the Third Division North title in 1966 providing the only success before the club spent the ‘80s and ‘90s continually spiraling downwards towards oblivion. The club fell to the bottom of the league but managed to narrowly escape relegation from the league, suffered severe financial problems and was even locked out of its own ground twice due to unpaid bills.

In December 2002, after a series of takeovers and rescue missions, and while still in the bottom division of the Football League, the club moved to a new 25 400-seater state-of-the-art home, Kingston Communications Stadium, (now the KC Stadium), alongside the rugby league club, Hull FC, and a new dawn beckoned.

By 2005 the club was in the second tier and the dream of playing in the top division became a possibility. And in May, the dream became reality when Hull City AFC beat Bristol City 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium to gain promotion to the top flight for the very first time in its history after more than a hundred years of trying.

What do you think?
What position will Hull City finish in at the end of the 2008-09 season?

© Andy Wray, British Council Thailand and Bangkok Post

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_City_A.F.C. (retrieved 29 July 2008)
http://www.hullcityafc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/History/0,,10338,00.html (retrieved 29 July 2008)

<Questions>

Understanding the story
1. Which club is the story about?
2. In which city is the club based?
3. Which other sport is popular in the city?
4. Has the club in the story had a successful history?
5. Why are they nicknamed the Tigers?

Answer

True or false?
1. The club has never played in the top division before this season.
2. The club has never won a major trophy.
3. The club once played in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
4. The club has always played in black and amber colours.
5. The city has two successful rugby union clubs.

Answer

Vocabulary
Match these meanings with the words in bold in the story.
1. achievement
2. quickly
3. winning
4. extremely small
5. by a small amount
6. spinning
7. persuaded with an offer of a pleasurable experience
8. became unpleasant
9. nearing
10. total destruction

Answer